Trust and walk with God

Greetings:
We know that sometimes doing things that you are called to do by God may look to other people, who see only through their own eyes, as being foolish or irrational.
How many of you know that God's plan for you might have you stepping out in faith and doing something that is different, out of your own character?
How many of you know that our lives are unpredictable?
Have you ever watched the swell of  ocean waves that looked menacing from far away become only a ripples by the time they arrived on the shore.
Life is that way. An approaching problem may look menacing, like a huge wave coming toward you, but by that time it confronts you it may not be nearly as bad as imagined in our minds that many times don't see the whole picture or the whole plan.
Being obedient to God is want matters.
The key is to pray, and learn God's plan for your life and act on it, even if it takes some faith and stepping out into unknown waters where you can't see the bottom and don't know what lies ahead with each small cautious step forward.
The place to start understanding is reading God's Word –– the Bible.
It's the road map, the instruction manual, the fix-it guide, the source that has more answers to your questions than Google, Yahoo or any online search site.
When God calls you out, you’ll find yourself in a totally different environment–a place you’ve never been before, a place you’re not used to, a place where you’re different or doing something totally different from everyone around you,  a place where you must depend on God and no one else or no one else can or is willing to help you.
Be encouraged. God is not calling you out for nothing. God is up to something. God has a plan, and his plan is always for your good.
In Jeremiah 29:11 we read: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
In Hebrews 11 we also read that 'without faith it is impossible to please him'.
So, if you find yourself in an unfamiliar place, and you don’t know what to do, there’s really only one thing to do – trust God.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Feel blessed for your blessings

Greetings:
Life comes at us so fast and it seems the older we get more it seems like the days, weeks and months just fly by.
Many  times good things happen, and other times we face an onslaught of difficulty after difficulty. When the waves of strife drive our faces to the ground, we must not give up, lose heart, or stop trusting God.
God has ordained things for us to do to keep our minds fixed upon Him. It is a willful act that we must do to think upon him and remember who he is and what He has done.
Paul says in Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” We are vulnerable to getting overwhelmed by the nonsense of this world, and it is imperative that we remember some things, particularly, that which is true about the many blessings which we have in Christ."
Even when we are feeling down and out,  surely, we can think of instances of answered prayer, of God’s provision, of God’s graces, of God’s good and perfect gifts to us, and of the mercy of God.
God is so gracious, and we cannot take his grace for granted. Rather, we should thank him for his provision, trust him in the present, and think on the great blessings coming to us in the coming kingdom.
Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:8, “If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.”
There is so much to be thankful for, and so many blessings to count.
If only we could see all that God does, we would have more mercies than we could ever account for. Let us not let the fiery darts of the devil knock us down such that we forget that we have Christ and the many blessings of God. We should never lose hope, and we should always have reason to be thankful.
Be blessed.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Angels all around us

Greetings:
How many of you believe in angels?
They are watching over us, all around us.
They are protectors of physical and spiritual dangers.
Angels are commanded to "encamp all around us”.
I shot some photos at an early morning wreck last week and I can tell you the woman driving one of the cars surely had some angels encamped around her. Her vehicle was smashed, twisted and turned upside down. You had to look twice to see that it was actually a car.
Yet, she suffered only a broken leg and was treated and released at the local hospital.
It was miraculous, but reminded me that we do have angels with us.
The angels we are talking about are not the chubby little baby angels that are often depicted. Those angels are not biblical. 
This is not fiction stuff, but the truth that is confirmed in the Word of God. Angels are powerful, spiritual agents under God's sovereign will.
God's holy angels are not passive, but active and powerful in nature.
Ask daily for God's angels to be dispatched around you and your family.
We may have even encountered and entertained angels without even knowing it or without being aware of it. That's an eye-opening thought. It makes me want to always treat people with love and respect.
Protection is vital since that roaming lion hides and lies in wait for us and evil spirits that rule this world that seek to destroy His own. However if God is for us, who can be against us!?
And since God's Word is true, then why should we fear what anyone can do to us?
We should take comfort that angels are there for us.
The New Testament in Luke 16:22  mentions that Lazarus was "carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom" after he had died so it may even be that even we may have more than one angel who is assigned to us.
Take comfort in the knowledge that we are secure in Christ's very own hands and in the hands of the Father and that he's dispensed angels for our physical protection and strengthening.
Let us remember Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”
We can be thankful that God has his angels watching over us, every move we make and every step we take.
Be blessed.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Fix your thoughts on whatsoever is good

Greetings:
We all go through periods of trials, difficulties, pain, and suffering in this life.
The Lord's message today is one of hope and encouragement.
Regardless of our age, intellect, responsibilities, or experience various trials will likely come our way.
When those events happen –– and they will –– God wants us to come to him to seek his will and his direction and to quit attempting to carry the burden ourselves. 
This requires faith.
Faith means trusting him in everything
Pray for help to forget the pain, the failures, and the fear from the past.  Forget the past glories and achievements.  Then move on day by day, in faith, towards the promise of God that lies ahead.
Let's all be encouraged by the words of  Philippians 4:8,  which states: "Fix your thoughts on whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things."
Do not fix your thoughts on the problem. With a thankful heart dwell on all those things God has blessed you with ... and dwell on the hope and the promises found in Jesus Christ.
Remember it’s his will we seek, not our will, his time, not our time, and his way, not our way.  Only God knows the end from the beginning.  Don’t be discouraged when prayers aren’t answered exactly the way we want or when we want. 
We will not escape the pain, heartbreak, sorrow, and distress found in this life, but the Lord promises to help us, strengthen us, and to see us through all of them.  His promise is not to take us out of the bitter storms of life, but to safely lead us through the storms.
He truly cares and knows what is best.
Be blessed.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Find peace

Greetings:
Many times in life things happen that we don’t understand, and we may wonder why.
Life is supposed to be fair and just, for it is not.
What is a Christian to think and do when life isn’t fair and hardship befalls the righteous?
We must understand and accept the reality that the rain falls on the just and the unjust as it says in Matthew 5:45.
In this life, sometimes the wicked prosper, and other times the righteous reign victorious. Sometimes evil people get away with things, and the righteous are unduly condemned. In this world, we will experience trouble.
Our hope is in Jesus.
We believe he will settle all accounts, avenge all wrongs, and make all things fair and just. But in the meantime, things will be out of balance, unfair, and unjust. Thus, we must accept the reality of being in a fallen world, and we must then look forward to the day when Christ will make all things right. We will be rewarded for our faithfulness and stewardship because God sees all.
We must by faith trust that God hasn’t forgotten us or betrayed us as if He is giving somebody else preferential treatment or answering their requests and not ours. God knows what He is doing, and He shows no partiality.
We must understand that though God understands all things, we don’t understand everything.
Paul says in Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Paul is saying that not only is the peace of God so wonderful that it defies our minds’ ability to understand it but that the peace of God is even preferable to our trying to figure out our lives and understand our circumstances. We are not God, and we don’t have all understanding.  However, we can have His peace despite our lack of understanding as we trust God that He will help us know what we need to know. 
Peace makes it possible for us to have rest even when things don’t all make sense to us because we trust God that they make sense to Him. 
We only see such a small part of the entire picture that we are much better off simply trusting than trying to understand God’s every move. Life on this earth is not always smooth and easy, but God has not forgotten us. 
He is always busy at work causing all things to work for our good.
In confusing times, we can still have rest and a supernatural peace that is a fruit of the Spirit.  This internal tranquility and comfort requires that we trust God, that we rest in His plan, that we cast our cares upon Him, and that we accept the fact that we may not understand what God is doing.
Be blessed.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Lord, teach us compassion

Greetings:
This morning I've been been impressed to look at compassion.
We would all like to think we have plenty of compassion.
But the reality is far too many people have become callous rather than compassionate in our world and the communities where we live.
It may be we’ve lost sight of the compassion of Christ and the teaching He left us on compassion, as well as other things that are important and impact upon our eternal lives. If we are to learn to be compassionate, we could go to no greater, more perfect source than the compassionate Christ.
Webster's Dictionary defines compassion as “suffering with another, hence, sympathy; sorrow for the distress or misfortune of another with a desire to help; pity; commiseration.”
We need to practice compassion.
In order to learn compassion, we need to turn to the source of it. We need to cry out, “Lord, teach us compassion.”
In biblical days people were fearful of lepers and the terrible, contagious disease leprosy. Lepers were pitiful, outcast individuals separated from society. Yet, Jesus was willing not only to heal them, but he reached out to touched them.
Jesus was willing to touch the lives of all men, regardless of race, regardless of social or economic standing. Jesus Christ, the compassionate Christ, had time for others. He had time to touch the children who were brought to Him. He had time to pray for them.
Do we have that kind of compassion?
Jesus taught compassion as he lived among men by His touch, by His willingness to touch others. The hands of Jesus touched those who were sick to heal them.
In Matthew 9:36-38 (NIV) we read: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Jesus was willing to touch the lives of all men, regardless of race, regardless of social or economic standing. Jesus Christ, the compassionate Christ, had time for others. He had time to touch the children who were brought to Him. He had time to pray for them.
Jesus touched those shunned by the religious elite of His day, the Pharisees and others who were His critics and His enemies. Jesus answered His critics with  powerful lessons on the value of one soul, one individual.
Are we willing to do that?
The apostle Paul, the man who admonished us to follow him as he followed Christ in  was one who learned well this attitude of compassion.
How many tears are being shed today for millions who’ve never known the compassionate Christ?
When we are sensitive to the soul’s value, to its immortality, the impending judgment, and the destination of the disobedient, hearts will be filled with compassion as tears fill the eyes. But, we will not only weep, we will work as did the Jesus to take the saving message of truth into all the world.
Our compassion will compel us to do so.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for prici

Mercy come close to me

Greetings:
How many times have your heard, "I don't get mad – I get even."?
This seems to be the way many people view the world nowadays. We should be more than thankful that God takes much different view of things.
Although the Bible makes it clear that God is the Great Judge who hates all evil-doing, he is also the God of Mercy, who forgives and accepts people who turn to him.
It's that amazing grace that we sing about in our church.
Mercy is a precious gift to be cherish and practiced.
The word mercy means compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or any person in one's power. A second definition is the disposition to be compassionate or forbearing. Another meaning of the word mercy is something that gives evidence of divine favor or a blessing.
Mercy may be hard for us to understand, but with God it's a way of life.
We read in Matthew 5:7," Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
When we as believers see ourselves as we really are, when we have mourned over our pitiful condition, when we have walked in meekness before God and have hungered and thirsted for his righteousness, then it will produce mercy in us. We will be more merciful, because we recognize how much mercy has been extended to us.
Mercy is something we do, not just something we feel.
Mercy means to help a person in need, to rescue the miserable and to pour out an act of kindness – expecting nothing in return.
Mercy means a sense of pity, plus a desire to relieve the suffering.
Simply saying, "I feel your pain" is not mercy. Mercy is meeting the need, not just feeling it. Real mercy is pity plus action.
Mercy is taking a step forward, sometimes in faith, and doing something –  not just thinking or praying about it.
The gospel tells us that some things are excusable and everything is forgivable.
Mercy
If we give no mercy, we can expect none. If we show mercy, we shall—absolutely for sure — obtain mercy.
Be blessed today.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

God is able to do above and beyond our highest dreams and prayers

Greetings:
When I reflect on the deep and true love of God for each of us, I continue to be in awe and my spirit becomes uplifted.
And troubles that I may be facing at the time, suddenly seem to me of little importance in light of this awesome truth.
Look at Ephesians 3:18-20 (Amplified Bible) to better understand this love.
It reads: “That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
[That you may really come] to know [practically, [a]through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses [b]mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] [c]unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and [d]become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]."
Think for a moment about your highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes and dreams, God is able to do above even those things.
Sometimes we struggle with a sense of need for  spiritual motivation. We are aware of certain failures which have occurred in the past year, even though we began this year with the best of intentions. Somehow things have not gone quite as we expected. We haven't been able to do just what we determined to do. So we are asking ourselves, "How can I do better? How can I motivate myself really to do what I know I ought to do?"
The answer is to meditate on the vast love of God for each of us.
God has picked us up, cleaned us up and presented us worthy as forgiven sinners, when we didn't deserve a thing. God sent his son Jesus to walk among us to die on a cross for the forgives of our sins and the sins of all generations in the future. He was the perfect and lasting sacrifice for you and I.
This was done because of God's love for us. Is there a better gesture of love?
The late Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones once said,  "Have you been feeling sorry for yourself, and somewhat lethargic in a spiritual sense? Have you been regarding worship and prayer as a task? Have you allowed the world, the flesh or the devil to defeat you and to depress you? The one antidote to that is to meditate upon and to contemplate this love of Christ.”
We also must remember the Apostle Paul was accustomed to asking God for extravagant blessings on behalf of his Christian readers. He often petitioned God for spiritual blessings of extraordinary value, including the request that they might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. When we pray, we should pray boldly as Paul did.
Of course, Paul also lived boldly for Christ. Perhaps often times we do not pray boldly, because our lives are 'bald' and lacking faith and not 'bold' and filled with confident faith.
Be blessed.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my daily blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Dying to self

Greetings:
We hear that as Christians we should become dead to self and alive to Christ. What does that mean?
In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
The verse says we must submit ourself and our will to the will of God and make it that which is most important to us.
We must not be conformed to the world and its thinking, but rather be transformed by the will of God into one who exemplifies the qualities Jesus possessed while on earth. We must desire to be like Christ in our dealings with family, our job, our service to others, our church.
We need to see the world with Christ's eyes – see it with faith and hope and covered with humility and forgiveness.
Our spiritual growth and maturity as a child of God is seen as we becomes more and more like Christ.
The apostle Paul lived in this very manner.
In Galatians 2:20 he stated, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." 
Paul is a good example of the attitude the Christian must have toward self.
Once we have put Christ first in our life, we must then place others before ourself.
One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 2:3,  which states, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself."
God's standard says each individual is of greater value than all the wealth in the world because every human possesses an eternal soul.
Those in the world have forfeited their souls by giving in to sin. Jesus died on the cross to redeem, purchase back, the souls of those who would submit to His gospel and crown Him King of their lives. Therefore, without obedience to the gospel, without restoration of the soul, without the continual walk in fellowship with God, and without a vibrant prayer life, we truly are not living alive in Christ.
The most important thing we will ever do is establish and maintain a proper relationship with Jesus.  We start this by putting self to death and being made alive to Christ.
Be blessed.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Why God?

Greetings:
Sometimes things get very confusing and we want to simply cry out, “Why God?”.
This past week a wonderful woman of God in the community where I live was stricken by an unusual and rare autoimmune disease that quickly attacks the nervous and reflex system – rendering this fine person unable to walk and on a ventilator in a matter of days.
Hundreds of individuals in our community have joined together in prayer, asking for God's mercy and healing power to be manifest. We remain strong in faith, but here is another instance of where we are seeking God's answer to why this happened.
Unless we have a full understanding as to why God will sometimes allow bad things to happen to good people, we can have our personal faith levels in the Lord shaken to its very core depending on the severity of the storm that may have just struck us,  a loved one or a friend.
The Bible tells us that God’s people can perish for having lack of knowledge – and not having the right kind of knowledge to fully understand why bad things happen to good people, especially to Christians, can cause us to perish in our own personal relationship with the Lord, if we allow it.
We can learn how to keep some of the adversity that may strike us in this life away from us if we can learn how to properly plead the blood of Jesus for deliverance and protection, along with learning how to walk with God’s anointing. If we can learn how to walk with God’s anointing in our life, then we can either keep a lot of these storms from ever hitting us in the first place, or we can quickly defeat them once they do come knocking at our door.
Until we get to the New Heaven and the New Earth after the millennial rule of Jesus from the city of Jerusalem, the curse of Adam and Eve will continue to stay in place on this earth, and as a result, we will all have to face a certain amount trials and unpleasant circumstances.
What gets many Christians in trouble is not having a full understanding as to why these things have to happen to them in the first place, especially since they are now born-again believers who are serving a God who is all-good, all-loving, and all-merciful.
Look what it says in James 1:2 (Amplified): “Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.”
Being joyful in the midst of our trials is difficult to understand. It ranks up there with "in everything give thanks".
We know that God is not trying to frustrate us or defeat us but to conform us to the image of His Son and in so doing He wastes no trial or circumstance, no adversity, no affliction, no sickness, no success, no failure  in achieving his end.  Remember God never commands us to do his will in any area, that he does not also supply us the grace and power necessary to fulfill it
Just study the lives of some of the greatest saints in the Bible, and look at some of the severe adversity each one of them had to personally face in their lives.
The apostle Paul is a perfect example. He literally had to face hell and high water – and that was after he was saved and working full time for the Lord.
The Rev. Joel Osteen recently wrote: “Don't let the burdens of life to weigh you down. We all have tough times, hard things to handle, or heavy loads to carry. Don't allow your problems and circumstances to steal your joy.”
We simply have to develop the mindset that we will to learn how walk through the trials by wearing the whole armor of God, in the presence of God and with God's leading.
If we are willing to take the storm clouds head-on like David did with Goliath and like Paul did in prison, we have no idea how many other people we may be able to save, touch, heal, and deliver.
We must keep the faith, keep our eyes on God and keep on praying, no matter what happens.
Be blessed today.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my daily blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Grace for all

Greetings:
Grace is much more than a short, quick prayer we say before a meal.
It is the same word we use to describe God’s almost immense love for sinners.
It is grace that moves God to make available to us the free gift of salvation and forgiveness.
Grace simply means, “unmerited favor”. Favor that is not earned therefore it is unmerited.
The source of God’s grace is his love.
We should all thankful that God does not treat us we deserve.
Great grace is released when we truly enter his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Make the time to praise the Lord and to bless his Holy Name this day.
In Psalm 46:10 we are instructed to be still and know that God is God.
The scripture reads: “Let be and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!"
Spending quiet time in the Lord's presence is necessary and carries great importance. It is as we wait upon Him that we are renewed in power and strength as we are reminded in Isaiah 40:28-31.
It reads in the Amplified Bible:  “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding.
 He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound].
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted;
 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.”
Each of us must find a special quiet place where we can shut out the cares of this world and get alone with God. Each day, we need to come to our "set apart place" to worship, acknowledge His goodness and grace concerning us, and thank the Lord for His guidance and blessing upon our lives.
There is no doubt that we live in a world that must have the grace and peace of God. Finding our own place of 'amazing grace' is the place to start.
A biblical view of “amazing grace” insists we were blind to the light of the gospel,  but God called light from darkness and gave us sight because God mercifully performed a miracle that opened our blind eyes to see his  truth.
Be blessed today.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my daily blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Go with the flow

Greetings:
I am reminded this morning that in life many times we should probably learn to 'go with the flow'  more and stop being concerned and anxious about things that might never happen.
In our Christian walk, if we truly trust God, a back-up plan is probably not needed.
How many of you get upset in heavy traffic?
What good does it do to rant and rave in that situation?
Sometimes we just can't control the flow or the things around us. They just happen.
The good Lords is still working on me.
I'm a 'everything planned out want to know the agenda' type of person, so going with the flow is a bit of a challenge for me  and rubs against the grain of my personality.
My family will affirm this. I want to know 'the plan' in advance and I try too much to stick to the plan. When we don't go with the plan, that is most of the time upsetting to me.
I can confess, God's not done with me yet in this area of my life.
I and others need to remember the words in 1 Thessalonians 3:7 in the Amplified Bible, which reads: “Brethren, for this reason, in [spite of all] our stress and crushing difficulties we have been filled with comfort and cheer about you [because of] your faith (the leaning of your whole personality on God in complete trust and confidence).”
When we trust and believe God, we are looking through the Eyes of our Spirit and not our carnal or sense ruled mind.
In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment."
 God is love.  And when we are walking in his love you are in his presence.  When we are walking in strife we are out of his presence and love and power. 
James 3:16 confirms this when it states:  "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there." 
A presence filled with the love of God is a atmosphere for God Almighty's power to flow through  us freely. God is telling us that life will always be stressful if we try to keep a hand on it, try to re-arrange it or try to fix it to fit into our schedule and our plan.
Instead, we must strive to just 'go with the flow'  more and really listen in prayer and then trust God's plan.
Be blessed.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

God refreshes the weary soul

Beaming warm thoughts on this cold southern Indiana morning from this southern California oceanfront where I visited last April. The sunshine would sure feel good today.

Greetings:
The past month or so has been very difficult for me. Some of life's circumstances have provided me an opportunity for immense growth and I'll be very, very honest...I've been a bit of a coward about it all.
I have been timid in my approach to God. For that, I ask forgiveness.
I have been less than the perfect mate. For that, I ask forgiveness.
I have been not always happy – even when I should have been beaming with glory for God's goodness and blessings. For that, I ask forgiveness.
I've probably been thinking too much, over analyzing things, trying to get a game plan for my life lined up, when instead, I should have been listening to God, hearing his voice and taking direction from him. For that, I ask forgiveness.
I've been mad at myself when I should be praising God for his many blessings. For that, I ask forgiveness.
Lately, God's been hitting me practically over the head with his Truth, with gentle admonitions, with loving chastisement.
Yesterday evening, I was at a particularly low point spiritually and I received a telephone call from a friend, who thankfully was obedient after listening to God.
He told me that he was calling to pray and not to pry, but God had placed me on his heart.
 but one thing he said hit me,. He said , “Nick, God loves you and he has got a solution.”
He encouraged me to bring my troubles to the altar, lay them down, and move on in praise.
I needed to hear that because Satan had been working overtime on me, reminding me of my past failures and shortcomings, and mocking me for wanting to proclaim the Word of God in the only way I really know how ––by hammering out words, sentences and paragraphs on my keyboard.
I am thankful for friends who pray, hear and respond when God prompts them.
The words were what I needed to hear at that time.
I ask for forgiveness for times when God has prompted me to pray and encourage some of my friends, and I failed to do it.
I will improve.
I'm learning that His sovereign plan is the best plan, that whatever I entrust to him he can take care of better than I.
Although things have been dark in my soul, God's gracious, victorious  and tender light has been penetrating within me. He has been teaching me about using the gift of faith.
How many of you have tried to bargain with God...as in, praying to "get something out of him".
I hate that feeling. It's slimy. Despicable.
All of this thinking and pondering has made me weary and tired.
Have you ever worn yours with worry, strife, and grasping for control?
I realize that delving into God's word is a pleasant and soul-cleansing.
In Jeremiah 31:25 (AMP) it says, “For I will [fully] satisfy the weary soul, and I will replenish every languishing and sorrowful person.”
Isn't that beautiful? To know that God will refresh us when we're tired and exhausted from our own efforts at trying to figure the world and our circumstances out?
God has been teaching me much about His goodness and His blessings. He's been showing me what real faith is and what it's not. It's not wearing out your brain coming up with all the possible outcomes of a situation. It's not performing the same things over and over again hoping for a different result. It's simply, letting go.  It is focusing on all the rich, sacred words in his scriptures. Emulating the saints by praying, murmuring heart-words from my lips and trusting God.
Be blessed today.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

A ray of hope

Greetings:
We sometimes live is a dark world where the only news we hear is bad news.
People we know are getting sick, really sick and some are dying.
My mind sometimes becomes angry and confused when these things happen.
I have cried out, “Why God? Why are these bad things happening to good people? Why the suffering and pain?”
How is it possible to feel hopeful, to look forward to a more positive future?
The biblical psalmist wrote that, "without vision the people perish." Am I perishing?
I don't ask this question calmly. I am struggling to understand how I might contribute to reversing this descent into fear and sorrow; what I might do to help restore hope to the future.
I have prayed and prayed about it and I've been shown that hopelessness is not the opposite of hope.
Fear is. Hope and fear are close partners.
Anytime we hope for a certain outcome, and work hard to make it a happen, then we also introduce fear – fear of failing, fear of loss.
Two visionary biblical leaders, Moses and Abraham, both carried promises given to them by their God, but they had to abandon hope that they would see these in their lifetime. They we led from faith, not hope, from a relationship with something beyond their comprehension.
T.S. Eliot in the "Four Quartets” writes, “I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.”
Oh, waiting is so tough for me. I want it now. I want relief now. I want to see the sunshine now. I want my hope to spring forth in front of my eyes now.
The world's definitions of hope that are different from God’s.
We might hope our team wins the Super Bowl, or we might hope we don’t lose our jobs or our house. 
But the biblical definition of hope is not a hope-so, but a know-so.
We know that we know that God is with us, guiding us, helping us, carrying us, encouraging us, protecting us.
Our hope in God is surer than the sun rising in the morning. 
Our hope is found in the Word of God.
Psalm 119:74 says “I have put my hope in your word”, in Psalm 119:81 we read,“… I have put my hope in your word”, and in Psalm 130:5 it declares, “… in his word (The Bible) I put my hope”.
We also read in Psalm 71:14, “But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.”
We have a small plaque hanging in our bathroom that on it has written Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer".
That's a recipe for hope in hopeless times for me.
I read it every day. I believe it.
When we read the Word of God (Bible) we can know for certain that we have a secure and certain future for God, who will never allow us to suffer beyond our own capabilities to handle it. 
There is nothing on this earth more certain than hope in God.  He will never leave us nor will He ever forsake us. God is our anchor, our rock in the present and for the future.
Go today and have a good day of hope and sunshine even when it's raining, snowing, storming all around you. God remains the calming ray of hope.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my daily blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Let's pray

Greetings:
How many of you know it is always wise to think twice before telling somebody, “I know how you feel.”
Chances are, you don't really know.
Even if you've been through almost the exact same circumstances as the person in question, every human is designed with a different mind and different emotions, and telling somebody that you completely understand what they're going through likely will not be a comfort.
Instead, try saying a simple prayer with that person asking for God's comfort and strength- not offering your own reasons for the circumstances or how they can be overcome.
God is the ultimate Comforter, and very often it's best for us to simply point the hurting to Him in prayer.
This morning let's look at Romans 12:15 (AMP). It's an interesting verse.
It reads: “Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others’ joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others’ grief].”
“Rejoice with those who rejoice,” doesn't raise many questions.
Simply put, don't be raining on people's parades. When your friend is excited, be excited with him! As your fellowship with the family of believers grows stronger, this mentality will bind your emotions to those of your brothers and sisters.
 A family rejoices and weeps together, and a family is exactly what you and I are a part of in the body of Christ.
Our challenge is not to relate to our brothers and sisters, but to love them.
When they're happy, be happy with them and for them. When they're hurting, point them to God the Healer. Don't just give advice or say you'll pray for them.
Give them  assurance of your love and of God's love and actually pray for them.
I can tell you that when somebody says, “I've been praying for you,” it  carries more weight than when I hear, “I will pray for you.”
Even better is when somebody says, “Let's pray”.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Thirst for the things of God

Greetings:
We all know that there are some mornings when we spring out of bed, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and say, "Good morning, God."
Then, there are other mornings when we only manage to pry open our eyelids, sit dejectedly on the side of the bed and say, "Good God, it's morning."
These are the mornings that are in view in Psalm 42. The answer to each blue mood is, "Hope thou in God;" i.e., wait for God. He is working out his purposes and if we hang on we will praise him.
In Psalm 42, we learn about longing for God from the deer’s thirst for water.
In the Living Bible, Psalm 42:1-7 reads:
“As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. Where can I find him to come and stand before him? Day and night I weep for his help, and all the while my enemies taunt me. “Where is this God of yours?” they scoff. Take courage, my soul! Do you remember those times (but how could you ever forget them!) when you led a great procession to the Temple on festival days, singing with joy, praising the Lord? Why then be downcast? Why be discouraged and sad? Hope in God! I shall yet praise him again. Yes, I shall again praise him for his help. Yet I am standing here depressed and gloomy, but I will meditate upon your kindness to this lovely land where the Jordan River flows and where Mount Hermon and Mount Mizar stand. All your waves and billows have gone over me, and floods of sorrow pour upon me like a thundering cataract.”
Just as a deer needs the streams of waters for survival and pants for those refreshing waters, so also our souls should long for God.
Testing our thirst is one of the best test we can perform on our hearts to determine our true love for God.
Do we thirst to study God’s revealed word?
Do we thirst to worship the Lord?
Do we thirst to talk about spiritual things?
Do we thirst to study the word with other brothers and sisters in our Christian family?
Do we have the thirst that causes us to ask, “When can I go and meet with God?”
Psalm 42 continues the same inquiring message in verses 8 -11
“Yet day by day the Lord also pours out his steadfast love upon me, and through the night I sing his songs and pray to God who gives me life. “O God my Rock,” I cry, “why have you forsaken me? Why must I suffer these attacks from my enemies?”  Their taunts pierce me like a fatal wound; again and again they scoff, “Where is that God of yours?” But, O my soul, don’t be discouraged. Don’t be upset. Expect God to act! For I know that I shall again have plenty of reason to praise him for all that he will do. He is my help! He is my God!”
As we go about our activities and business today, we can ask ourselves, have we really developed a thirst for the things of God?

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Seeing the world through God's eyes

Greetings:
Don't you wish you could see through God's eyes and take a look at the situations or circumstances that you might be facing today?
I  am sure we would take comfort and not be so anxious if we knew and could understand what God sees.
When we look at life through our own eyes, we only see what we are living at that moment. We get so absorbed by conditions around us that we let the conditions dictate our lives and our thoughts. We let conditions dictate our responses.
When everything is going our way, we consider ourselves to be happy.
When things are not going the way we think they should be, we become discouraged, unhappy and depressed. Sometimes, we even panic.
We allow our circumstances to fuel the way we feel. We see our problems as bigger than they actually are.
In Jeremiah 32:17 we read: “O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!”
Who can match the awesome power of our God?
Our abilities, no matter how great and refined they may be, simply don’t amount to even a  small speck when compared to God's mighty abilities.
Who are we to doubt that God can do what He says he can and will do?  God is not limited by our human frailties and shortcomings.
Is anything too hard for God?
We should never allow our own thinking to persuade us to think that just because we think that something is too hard for us to accomplish that it is also too hard for God. 
In Luke 18:27 Jesus tells His disciples, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Mark 10:27 also states, “Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”
No matter what the situation, the problem, the mountain that needs climbed, the hurdle that needs leaped, the sickness that needs healed, the need that needs met – nothing is too hard for God.
Scripture teaches that we can cast all of our cares on God.
But do we do it?
Do we let our doubts and worries take over and dominate our faith?
We all must get it down in our heart and soul that God is the God of miracles and the God of impossibilities.
Nothing is too hard for God. We need to believe it, pray fervently and wait for God to move in a great and might way.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Faith is like air

Greetings:
Faith is like air, you can't see it or taste it, but you know it's there and you have to have it to live in true communion with God.
The entire 11th Chapter of Hebrews is the biblical record of faith.
In Hebrews 1:1 it is written, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”
In simple terms, faith is trusting in God. Lack of faith is doubting God.
In looking at faith we have to realize that Satan tempts and God tests our faith.
Tempting is for our failure and destruction. Testing is in order to make our faith stronger. Testing reveals to us where we are in terms of our faith as God already knows whether or not we will pass a given test. It is as we go through the fire of testing and trial that we can be strengthened, sanctified, and purified.
 James 1:2-4 emphasizes the sanctifying and strengthening results of testing when it says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
We need grab hold of God's promises If He said we shall cast out demons, then it means He's given us the ability to drive out those evil spirits. If He's said we have a right to be healed in Jesus' name, then we have that right, and we ought to start trusting Him and believing it.
Faith is basically taking God for His Word and believing the promises He's made to us.
Knowing what God's Word has to say about something gives us the ability to believe it. Our faith should be based upon God's Word.
Faith believes in the unseen, walking in faith, not by sight. It’s a hope for something that is not yet – believing in the promises of God. Holding fast to the thing that is afar off and trusting that God is with me.
It doesn’t mean I sit and wait for the Lord to have a plane fly overhead with a banner reading:“Go this way!”
That would make it pretty easy to know a direction to go in a situation we are facing, but God doesn't operate like that.
We all have promises from God already given to us in his Holy Word – the Bible.
He says, 'I am for you, not against you'; 'I have a plan to prosper you and help you'; 'I am with you. I will provide'.
God says by the stripes that Jesus took for our sins, we are healed.
God says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
 No matter what hurdles, challenges, circumstances, situations, hurts, bruises, wounds we face, when we look with eyes of our faith to our Lord, we see the Lord calling us.
His hands are outstretched like when I was teaching my small daughters to walk – and said to them, “Come on, you can do it. Come on, come to me.”
We must never forget Hebrews 11:6 which states, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Discouragement is a torment that can be overcome

Greetings:
Are you tired of feeling discouraged?
Discouragement and disappointment are often used as synonyms. But there is a difference.
Disappointment is unavoidable. When our expectations aren’t met, we feel disappointed with people, events, and circumstances.
But discouragement –– a feeling of despair and despondency –– is a choice. We can choose to remain dejected or determine to work through our feelings and overcome them.
Discouragement is universal problem and not a unique one. Sometimes we might start thinking that we are the only ones that get discouraged. We need to realize that everyone has to learn how to deal with discouragement.
Dr. Charles Stanley tells us, 'Whether or not your situations change, you can experience joy, peace, and contentment. Circumstances don't have to dictate your emotions. You have someone on your side who is always available to help you, strengthen you, and uphold you. Avoid those who indulge in negativity and self-pity since discouragement is contagious. It is unpredictable—you never know when it will strike. Finally, it is temporary—it will pass if you respond to it correctly.”
The most common cause of discouragement is being overwhelmed by goals and tasks that seem too big to reach. The expectation to make the grade appears awesome and, in some cases, the mountain seems almost impossible to climb. Consequently, people view their shortcomings with doubts and misgivings. This leads to the tendency to  simply give up and quit.
Look at Deuteronomy 20:8 (NIV) to further understand.
It reads: "Then the officers shall add, "Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too."
God is letting the children of Israel know that when it comes to battle he cannot use one who is fearful or fainthearted. This is talking about those that were discouraged. God wants the discouraged people to go home because if they stay they will begin to influence the others to loose heart. We have another example in the story about Gideon.
God wants Gideon to lead an attack on the Midianites. Now Gideon belonged to the smallest tribe of Israel. He started out with 32,000 people but God said that’s to many. Keep in mind that Gideon is going up against 135,000 Midianites.
Look at Judges 7:3 and you can see what happens when discouragement takes over.
It reads, "Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.' And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.”
We learn that 22,000 people were discouraged and left. But you see God wants it that way, because he can’t use discouraged people and he didn’t want these 22,000 to affect the remaining men’s attitude.
We can see that discouragement is serious and we should deal with it as quickly as possible or we can infect others with our discouragement.
Discouragement is a very effective tool of our adversary the devil. The devil has whiles and schemes and one of these is discouragement. Satan will try to deceive you, he will try to deaden you and he will try to devour you. If none of these things will work he will settle with discouraging you  because if he can accomplish this he will still have you where he wants you. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that we are not ignorant of satan's devices and he should not be able to take advantage of us.
Stay in tune with today to avoid being discouraged.
In Matthew 6:34, we read, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
To many times we allow ourselves to become discouraged because we are continually thinking about tomorrow. Today has enough problems to keep us busy without dragging in tomorrows problems. So we need to work on this and take the advice of the word of God and take life one day at a time.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Stay on track

Greetings:
“Staying on track” –– we hear people say it all the time.
The first thing in life that keeps you off of the track is discouragement.
 Discouragement wakes up with you, when you have a shower it’s there with you tapping you on your shoulder telling you all of your shortcomings.
When eating, you are discouraged because this isn’t the food you were expecting.
Even wearing your clothes you can feel discouraged and you might change them several times before leaving for work.
You have  prayed for that new job,  a promotion and more money to provide better for your family, but you hear nothing. That's discouragement.
Discouragement can push you off track when you allow it.
When it comes, tell it, “no your place is not here, there is no seat for you here, you stay away from me”. 
Discouragement will listen.
Having patience is the best tool to stay on track.
By not being patient the prodigal son in Luke 15 wanted his blessing now from his father because he wanted to do his own thing in life. 
Maybe I have prayed like the prodigal son in my life telling God I want it now. 
The father said, do you really want this, do you think this is the right time?  The son said, give it to me now.  The father was so kind and gave it to him.  Some Bible theologians believe it was a big amount of money, gold and silver worth around $50 million in today's standards.
The boy packed everything and said goodbye, saying this is what I was after and I have to go. 
When God blesses you and you receive from God, is that the time you tell God, good bye now because I don’t need you anymore, I have to take my own direction?
 Blessings are already there. God has prepared all the blessings for us and He is now working on us to be ready for those blessings.
 Read your Bible, meditate on it and stay on track.  Read for yourself what is written there, and ask, “what are your directions Lord”.
  Do you believe God has a plan for you? 
 Many of us have a GPS in our cars our on our smart phones and we  put all our hope and trust in this.  We put in an address and this little gadget it will tell us how long it will take and the route to take.  If on the way, there will be delays, the GPS will modify the time and advise on taking another route.
 When you are going in the wrong direction, the GPS will tell you.  It will tell you, “You are out of the track, make a you turn, turn around”. 
What is your GPS in your Christian life, do you have one? When you off the path from God and it says turn around, do you turn off the GPS?
 If you don’t want to get lost, you will listen to the message and turn around, but if you turn it off you will get lost.
 Look after your GPS  –– your conscience –– check it, listen to it and make sure you are on the right track. 
Proverbs 3:1 tells us we can forget most anything else in our life, but don’t forget the laws of God. 
 God has the solution and the solution is already with us.  He is preparing us so you will be ready to receive it.  Don’t be discouraged or down because you don’t get what you need as soon as you ask for it. Keep your hope and faith strong as you walk step by step to receive what you will need at the right time. 
Be blessed.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photos in my blog are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Let go and let God do His thing

Greeting:
How many of you know it's difficult to let go and let God do his thing?
Too many times we want to hang on to the 'me' in a situation and not let our trust rest with God.
We want to put God in control, but we won't leave it all at the altar.
We either won't put it all on the altar or we'll pick it up before God's moved.
I'll admit letting go for me is no easy task.
I like to be in control and I am learning to trust God for things that are beyond my control.
I am constantly reminded that I serve God best when I'm stepping aside in obedience and watching God work. It's then that I realize that God really is in control.
I remember the action of Moses' mother. She physically let her baby go when she put him in the basket and placed it in the water to save him. Because she trusted God, she was given the opportunity to do more for her son than she could of ever hoped for.
What does it say in Psalm 50:15 in the Amplified Bible?
It reads: “And call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall honor and glorify Me.”
This morning, I ask you to join me in asking God to help us to be able to get out of the way and let go and let God work in our lives.
Letting go is not giving up.
Giving up is quitting.
That's not what I'm talking about.
Letting go is allowing God to direct our paths and next move.
Letting go puts God in charge.
Letting go releases the power of God's Word to remedy the situation based on scripture.
It all comes down to is this: We need to let go of our own will. We must claim as our own the difficult prayer that Jesus prayed in Luke 22:42: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done”

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photo images in my blogs are available for sale. Email me for pricing.

The voice of the Lord is many things

Greetings:
In Psalm 29 we read a powerful message about the glory and strength of God.
Notice how many times David mentions 'the voice of the Lord' to hammer home the theme of this Psalm.
In the Amplified Bible, Psalm 29 reads:
“1 Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness or in holy array.
3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; the Lord is upon many (great) waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion (Mount Hermon) like a young, wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord splits and flashes forth forked lightning.
8 The voice of the Lord makes the wilderness tremble; the Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord makes the hinds bring forth their young, and His voice strips bare the forests, while in His temple everyone is saying, Glory!
10 The Lord sat as King over the deluge; the Lord [still] sits as King [and] forever!
11 The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.
The Lord can give us strength and peace
May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!”
This psalm show us that the same God who has power over all things, is the same God who takes care of his people – you and I.
He can give us strength when we need it, when we are weak and when we are overwhelmed.
The Lord can help us through any and every circumstance.
This same God who has power over the chaotic waters, is the one who can give us peace in this chaotic world that we live in. We can have wholeness, settled calm and experience  in life.
The Rev. Billy Graham once wrote, “How do we find peace with God? We must stop fighting! We must surrender! We must serve! Of course, these steps will be motivated by faith and mingled with love. Having found peace with God, next we experience the peace of God. This peace of God is not a mere abstraction advocated by preachers and theologians. Thousands of people can witness that they have actually experienced the peace of God and have found it wonderfully adequate for this present day. For He is our peace.”
Almost the entire psalm is talking about how God is powerful over all the earth. He conquers the trees and the mountains and the desserts and the weather. Specifically, these are the things that we cannot conquer and that, typically, are intimidating and threatening to us as humans. We see God crushing all these things that can crush us. But then, at the very end, we see this powerful being turn and deal with us with such kindness, imparting his own strength and peace to us.
Thank the Lord for his strength, power and the many lessons he leave us.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box. Also, all of the photo images in my blogs are for sale. Contact me for pricing.

Seek God when the dark clouds are looming

Greetings:
I am trying to be mindful that everyone I meet is fighting a battle that I know nothing about.
I must be kind to them, encouraging to them and keep them in my prayers.
We must tell them to trust God when the sky looks bright and when it's dim, cloudy and cold.
Impress on them that good things do happen to those who wait and diligently seek God.
It's the waiting and diligence that gets most of us in trouble.
We come from a 'hurry-up-give-it-to-me-now' society and waiting is difficult, uncomfortable, scary and full of anxiety.
But God tells us many times in The Bible to simply trust him.
How many of you know that trusting God many times involves waiting, praying and diligently seeking his will?
How many times have you been tested and challenged only to realize that God is still in control –– regardless of how you feel, how you think or what you say?
As Christians we maintain a unique discipleship that is based on faith that finds expression in deed, not feelings.
How many of you have dreamed of something or a certain situation only to find yourself soon disappointed, mad at God and angry when those dreams fall apart?
I've been there too many times.
But you know, taking our frustration out on God will never provide the answer or the solution we are seeking.
In 1 Corinthians 2:5 we read: “So that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.”
In man's eyes and man's limited wisdom something we seek or want might seem logical so we pray for it. But in God's eyes the time might not be right, the object of our prayers might not be in God's will or we me might have just missed it.
In Romans 12:12 we read, “Be joyful in hope; patient in affliction.”
That is were a diligent practice of prayer comes into play.
Just like a well-polished athlete we should to develop an exercise of prayer, a routine, so to speak, that hits the weights of God's Word on a regular basis so we know the road map or the game plan for our walk with him.
Remember practice makes perfect.
Our practice always starts with prayer and ends with prayer.
Pray that God opens the eyes of your heart to see him, hear him, seek him and feel his presence.
It's not always easy to praise God when the dark clouds are looming overhead. But know for sure that God does answer the prayers of those who diligently seek Him.

We are never alone, even when it feels like it

Greetings:
Have you ever grown weary in prayer?
You pray and pray and nothing changes, nothing happens.
Everything remains the same.
The days of discouragement, trouble, tears and real pain continue.
If you are struggling, it's not God. 
If there are mountain in front of you and you can not move it or climb over it alone, realize you are not alone.
God is there always, even when you can't hear him, or feel his presence.
When I'm down and out, feeling sorry for myself when things are not going as I had them planned, I can take comfort in the words in James 1:2-4.
It reads: “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
The passage tells us that if we want to enjoy our Christian life, we need to keep a godly attitude of strong steadfast faith in the time of testing.
We must never give up and never give in
There is no turning back. We have to press forward in prayer to boost up our faith.
If our “God-hole “ is filled up with faith and we know his Word, then when tough times come along, we will be ready for the attack.
Know for sure that struggles are an attack – not from God, but the devil.
Spending time with God will keep you, calm, stable, steadfast and hopeful.
Let God be your anchor in that churning sea of circumstances.
Remember the words of Deuteronomy 31:6, “So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you."
If you believe those words, then whatever wall your are facing won't seem so bad. Keep the faith and press on.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box.

God's warning system

Greetings:
In the last couple of days we've heard a lot about winter weather advisories and warnings.
But did we know In the Lord’s perfect design, each of us has two built-in warning systems working to keep us from danger and harm.
The first is pain. Most of us think of pain as a bad thing, but actually it’s a gift from God. You know something is physically wrong when your body hurts and feels pain.
Pain is also God’s way of protecting us from destroying ourself.
I was recently reading about Hansen's Disease, or what is often called leprosy.
Long ago people believed that leprosy ate away a person’s extremities, ate his fingers, his nose and ears, his chin, his toes, feet, and legs. It was only in the 1800s that biologists discovered that leprosy doesn’t consume the body at all.
Instead, it destroys nerves and the sense of touch. And without the ability to feel the pressure or pain, a person an literally wear off the nose, ears, chin, and  forehead by scratching because they are without ever feeling the damage they’re doing.
Without the basic ability to feel pain, we’re able to do incredible damage to your body, and we’re open to all kinds of other physical dangers. Without that built-in warning system, we slowly destroy ourself. Pain protects us.
From a spiritual perspective, our other built-in warning system— our conscience — does the same thing. Just as pain warns us of physical danger to our body, our conscience screams at us about a violation of a moral law.
But our conscience alone can’t save us. It’s only a mechanism—a warning device. And unless it has been guarded and trained, it won’t be able to alert us to spiritual danger. A confused, and twisted conscience won’t be able to protect us —in fact, it could actually lead us to sin and corruption.
Our conscience won’t function properly unless it has been informed by reality and trained like a muscle. It needs to be developed and protected and sharpened.
If we’re going to live the pure, holy life the Lord has commanded you to live, we need a conscience tuned to his perfect standard. And then we need to listen to it carefully and heed its warnings.
In 2 Corinthians 6:1 we read, “Receive not the grace of God in vain".
Be smart and walk wisely in God's grace.
God wants us to enjoy skating on his lake of joy while we are on this earth, but he also wants us to keep away from the area marked "Thin Ice". This is simple to do, for he has clearly marked the warning signs in the Bible.

These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box.

Hope when things are hopeless

Greetings:
Hope.
What is the world is hope?
Natural hope, according to Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, is a noun that is a desire of some good, accompanied with an expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable; an expectation of something, which is thought to be desirable; confidence; pleasing expectancy.
This hope gives us a reason to go on, based a premise that the desire can be achieved.
If you watched Saturday's Indianapolis Colts vs. Kansas City Chiefs NFL football game you saw what a team and a gifted player – Andrew Luck – can do when they have hope.
In natural eyes the situation when they Colts came out of the locker room from the half time break was somewhat hopeless.
But they believed they could win – even down 28 points in the second half.  They had an expectation of obtaining a win. They had confidence and achieved their goal exercising their God-given talents to provide a stunning epic comeback victory.
Bible hope is similar in that it is also a belief in the possible expectation of a desire. The difference is that the foundation for Bible hope is not founded on earthly reason, but rather on the promises given to us in the Bible from God.
Romans 15:4 (AMP) says, “For whatever was thus written in former days was written for our instruction, that by [our steadfast and patient] endurance and the encouragement [drawn] from the Scriptures we might hold fast to and cherish hope.”
Hope is a desire based on a promise of God.
Bible hope is based on faith.
We see hope as a promise that communicates the possibility of God blessing us.
Hope encourages our soul and gives us the ability to go on when our minds says give up, there is no use, there is not hope.
Without hope life has little or no meaning.
Hebrews 11:1 (AMP) says faith is based on hope.
It reads, “Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].”
Like faith, if we can see it in the natural physical form, then it is not hope.
You can't see, feel, taste or hear faith or hope. But they are there for our taking, if we desire it.
It's kind of like asking someone to describe the taste of chocolate. You know it's delicious, but how do you put that into words to someone who has never tasted it.
Hope is the start of the walk of faith. Hope believes we can have it someday. Faith believes that we have it now (in our heart). Hope is the possibility; faith is the surety.
Faith transforms hopes into realities. Hope is the raw material from which faith builds the house. Transforming our godly desires into reality is the purpose of hope and faith.
When the Bible talks about ‘hope’, it is not talking about wishful thinking.  Many say, “I hope to have (something)” when what they really mean is “I wish to have (something).” Therefore, it is important to get a good grasp of what hope means to the Christian.
Hope can be defined as ‘a desire of something good, with a certain expectation of obtaining it’.
Is biblical hope a 'wishy-washy' maybe or a kind of unsure optimism? 
Biblical hope is certainty, not ‘probability’.
God is called “the God of Hope.”
He is the source of all real hope. If we are going to have hope, it must come from him for he alone has the power to give it.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box.

Don't let your heart be troubled

Greetings:
Why does it seem sometimes that weapons formed against us do prosper?
Did we forget what it says in Isaiah 54:17 (AMP), which reads: “But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord”
As Christians, we become established in our righteousness by faith, not by our works.
If our works could make us righteous, then Jesus died in vain.
When we believe we are the righteousness of God, sin has no more dominion over us.
In Colossians 1, it says we have been delivered from the realm of darkness
In the realm of darkness, there is depression, sickness, poverty, and all types of lack.
In the realm of light, there is joy, peace, love, prosperity, healing, righteousness, deliverance, and victory.
Our first reaction is going to determine the outcome in a crisis situation. Seldom do we have the luxury of sitting back and looking at things. The attitude we have when Satan comes against us is going to determine the final result.
In John 14:1 (AMP) Jesus says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me.”
The first thing you have to do when Satan comes against you is to make the decision that you are not going to let your heart be troubled.
The vast majority of people who are attacked by Satan don't really understand this. A lot of them believe that in a given situation, there is no way that they can help but to be depressed and discouraged. They justify emotions that are contrary to God's Word.
So the very first thing we have to do is say, "I am not going to let my heart be troubled."
We can learn about faith, we can learn about confession, we can learn everything the Bible says. Yet, in our heart, if we've taken offense, if we've been hurt, if we submit to feelings of depression or discouragement, we'll wipe out everything good. Nothing is going to work.
That's why some people can take all the steps people outline for them, memorize them and carry them out, but if their hearts are discouraged to begin with, it won't work. They never were standing in faith.
The enemy plans to deceive us. He wants us to believe that God doesn’t love us
However, nothing can separate us from God’s love. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us as is written in Romans 8:35-39.
When we come into a crisis situation, if we haven't chosen to seek the Lord, if we haven't already made some decisions, our heart is going to gravitate toward fear. It's going to gravitate toward depression, toward negativism, toward defeat. We've got to commit yourself. We've got to fix our heart so that no matter what the devil does, we're going to walk in victory. We're going to keep your eyes on the Lord.
We can choose to love the very people who hate you. It doesn't matter what has been done to us. It doesn't matter how we've been abused. There is no justification for being discouraged and depressed. There are reasons for it, but no justification.
These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box.

Wisdom and understanding

Greetings:
I'm thinking this morning about the importance of understanding the grace of God and the bearing of fruit in our Christian walk.
In the first chapter of Colossians the Apostle Paul lays out the foundation for this relationship.
We are privileged to see into Paul's prayer life. Sometimes we have a tendency to think that people's lives cannot be touched by us without us physically being there. Paul showed us that through prayer, God will impart such things as knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and strength in helping others in their spiritual walk, even without the physical presence of an individual.
Paul says we are to be thankful for faith, love, and hope.  His prayer is that the Colossians are to be filled with the knowledge of God's will, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, strengthened by God's glorious power, and ever thankful that the Father has qualified them to be partakers of the
saints' inheritance. 
We should all claim that for today and claim it for ourselves.
To grasp what Paul is saying we have to have wisdom and understanding, two key elements to aid us in our Christian walk.
The Rev. Andrew Wommack says the words "wisdom" and "understanding" are used in combination a total of 53 times in scripture.
To utilize our facilities fully, wisdom and understanding have to work together.
Rev. Wommack says, “These terms can be explained in relation to a computer. The mind is like the hardware of a computer. It has the capacity to store all kinds of information, but it is useless without software and data. The understanding is the data, and wisdom is the software that allows us to retrieve, combine, and put out that information.”
As we go about or work and activities today, let us remember the words of Proverbs 3:6, which reads in the Amplified Bible: “In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.”


These morning messages are now available by email. Simply write me with you email address at schneider.nick@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to forward them to your in-box.