Teach me

Greetings:
Psalm 143:10 is an uplifting verse that is actually a desperate cry for help.
The verse bears some mediation.
It reads, “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me into a level country and into the land of uprightness”, in the Amplified Bible.
“Teach me to do Your will” – that's seems simple, but it is difficult thing to do.
How childlike -- "teach me"!
How practical "Teach me to do"!
How undivided in obedience -- "to do Your will.
The verse's object is holiness, its spirit is that of hearty loyalty.
When our heart can sincerely call Jehovah "my God", then understanding is ready to learn of him, the will is prepared to obey him, the whole man is eager to please him.
God is all spirit and all good. His essence is goodness, kindness, holiness: it is his nature to do good.
Learning to do anything new is often hard. I remember learning to ride my bike for the first time. It was hard, and so was the ground that I often fell on when the training wheels were removed..
 However, the reward was good.
On those days that aren't so great, God must have a new bike ready for us to learn how to ride.
Psalm 143 is a cry for help.  David is desperate for God to rescue him.  And in the middle of all his cries for help, David asks God, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.”  David knows God is in control, and the best way to learn His will is to go through and not around the storm.
Are you ready for God to use any circumstance in your life to teach you to do His will?  Today choose to see difficulties as opportunities to learn how to obey the will of God.
Peace and blessings to you as you go forth and know that God is in control. Be open to hear his voice and truly learn to do His will.

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.

Turn the page

Old things crumble. God makes things new.

Greetings:
A new year has unfolded and there are many new opportunities to explore.
Pray that new doors will open for new experiences will come into our lives to improve our walk with God.
In Revelation 21:5  we read, “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
“I am making” is a present, on-going tense.
It doesn't say “I made all things new” or “I will make all things new.”
It says  “I am making – I am in the process of making – all things new.”
What better thing can we look forward to in the new year than a new you, a new me?
We can look forward to changing circumstances, or bettering conditions.
]What greater blessing can there be than being more sensitive or more understanding or kinder or more generous or more knowledgeable?
What better improvement could there be?
On this first day of the new year, let’s take to heart what God's Word is saying ––“I am making all things new.”
Look at Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV , it says "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!"
Today is a new year and a new day. It’s a day to turn the page.
 It’s hard, sometimes, to turn the page away from the chapter in life called 'Regret'. So many of us have regrets. I do.
We can say 'if only I had done this instead of that. If only I hadn’t done that! If only I’d worked harder. If only I’d done more. If only I’d said this. If only I hadn’t said that.'
It’s all under the category of regret.
Fra Giovanni Giocondo, who was an architect, engineer, and classical scholar wrote a beautiful letter to a friend on Christmas Eve, 1513 that should speak to us. It’s words were penned many years ago,  but remain meaningful.
He wrote: “I salute you! There is nothing I can give you which you have not; but there is much, that, while I cannot give, you can take.
No Heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take Heaven.
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present instant. Take peace.
The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet, within our reach, is joy. Take joy.”
It's a new year.
We can't go back and do over what happened last year, last month, last week, or yesterday.
We can only move forward. Jesus is making all things new. Feel his hand on yours, and turn the page. Turn the page away from regret. Keep the lessons learned, but turn the page away from regret.
Forgive yourself.
Turn the page, and ask God to help you.
With a fresh touch of God's loving grace we are new. The slate is clean. Move forward and turn the page.

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.

Thank God and reflect on the year

Greetings:
On this, the final day in the calendar year 2013, let us get ready at the stroke of midnight to pray and thank God for the many blessings that have been bestowed on us in the past 365 days.
A new year provides us with a chance to reflect on what was, to consider what is, and to think about what we want to become.  It is a mileage marker, a point of no return, a chance to draw a line in the sand and begin anew.
After the clock strikes midnight, the year 2013 will be only a memory and the year 2014 will be a reality.
There is something about a new year that beckons us with new opportunity.  Yet Satan will use this new opportunity to remind us of our old failures, our old defeats, and what he perceives as our hopeless future. 
Don't fall for that deceptive snare.
Satan is a liar.
We know that through the power and presence of Jesus Christ in our lives, we as Christians, are truly a blessed group of people of all races, ages and locations around the globe.
The  loving hand of God has never left us.
God was always near us and prayers were answered.
This new year can be the start of different, if we will act differently by believing the truth and doing the good we already know that we should be doing.
James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” 
We have a choice.
Some will continue to waste away their lives chasing the next dollar. 
Others will let another year pass by them by failing to humble themselves and be what they know they should be. 
Others will choose to drown their sorrows in various passions, coping mechanisms, or pointless addictions.
How can we make a break and truly change? 
How can we escape a bad habit?
How can we be free? 
There is much good that we know in our hearts that we should be doing that we are not doing. 
Do we love our wives and treat them properly, or do we yell at them, demean them, and fail to show them proper attention and affection? 
Do wives respect their husbands and give them the admiration and trust that they need? 
Do we evangelize?
Do we see opportunity to bless someone, but walk past it?
Do we read our Bibles?
Do we pray, not just when we need something, but when we just want to thank God for who he is and who he has made us? 
While things are not always perfect, each of us can say we are blessed in some way – even if it's on a smaller scale than we had hoped.
Follow the advice given in Hebrews 3:13 (The Amplified Bible), which reads: “But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamor of his sin may play on him].
Today is the day we can change..
This new year resolve to love God more.
Let our faith not grow weary or weak. Let us remain strong in our commitment to serve God and let the light of God shine in our words – spoken and written.
Let our faith remain steadfast as we serve others in the name of God – reaching out to the needy in our communities, in our churches and around the world.
In this new year, let us never grow content to just go to church. Let us be the mind, hands, arms, body and voice of the church.

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.

Pastors need prayer too

Greetings:
Praying for your church pastor is one of the best and most effective things we can do to further the kingdom of God.
Pastors, like the people they serve, need prayer to continue their ministry on a daily, consistent basis.
The apostle Paul, himself a man of deep prayer, knew the effectiveness of prayer in his ministry.
He begged the church to pray for him in Romans 15:30 (NIV): “I urge you, brothers... that you join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.” 
In Ephesians 6:18-20 Paul wrote: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,  for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
 Your pastor knows it is only through earnest, strategic prayer that they will be an effective minister in the hands of God.
Pray for our pastor's personal needs, for their family and for wisdom and power as they oversees the flock of God.
Let the Holy Spirit lead us as we pray in faith that our pastors receive a spiritual freshness.
Pray that your pastor will daily “walk in the light” with Jesus and depend on the power of the Spirit in all areas of their life and ministry.
The Rev. Charles Spurgeon was once asked the secret of his success. In response, Spurgeon led them to the lower level of his church and quietly opened the door, revealing more than 400 people praying for God’s blessing and power to rest upon their pastor who would stand in the pulpit that night to preach the word of God. “There, gentlemen,” said Spurgeon, “is the secret for God’s blessing his work here.”
The pastor's hardest job will be to keep spiritually fresh, so pray they will always remember:
• Ministry is not merely a job or a profession, but is intense spiritual warfare.
• Life’s pressures can easily result in spiritual decline unless the pastor is careful to maintain a close walk with the Lord.
• Pastors needs spiritual enlightenment. Pray they will continually grow into Christ-likeness, and be transparent before God.
• Pray that your pastor will prioritize their prayer life despite the busy schedule that is maintained.
We should also pray that our pastors will resist moral temptation. Pray that their  words and actions will always be a godly example, and pray that their thought life will glorify God and not pave the way for themselves or others to fall into sin.
Pray for church leaders who will hold your pastor spiritually accountable.
Pray that our pastors will be held accountable to God, knowing the effect their words and actions will have on the testimony of our Lord, on the church at large, on their own flock, and on their family and themselves.
A pastor's work is never done, nor should our prayer life be done each day until we lift up our pastors in serious prayer.

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.

Resolve to follow God's lead and do His will

The beauty of a winter evening sky.

Greetings:
Another new year is almost upon us – a celebration of  the passing from one calendar year to another.
It the time when many make New Year’s resolutions as a way of  walking away from a habit or making a  lifestyle change.
Among the most popular resolutions are: spending more time with family and friends; to get more fit with regular exercise; lose weight; quit smoking; get out of debt; help others more; or get organized.
These resolutions that we promise to commit to every year are supposed to make us feel better about ourselves and our loved ones and do better.
There is something about the start of a New Year that gives us the feeling of a fresh start and a new beginning.
I have for years made resolutions – only to fail a few weeks, even days into the new year.
I've done a little reading the past few days and found out that the Bible does not speak for or against making a resolution.
As Christians, what kind of resolution should we make?
Do we need  to pray more, read the bible more or attend church on a regular basis?
John 15:4 (The Amplified Bible) reads: “Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.”
Before making resolutions this year I am going to pray and ask for God's wisdom.
I will pray that God gives me the strength to complete my resolution goal.
I am not going to allow failures to stop me, and I ask God to help me stay motivated.
Whatever happens I am going to give God all the glory.
Proverbs 19:8 (Amplified Bible) says, “He who gains Wisdom loves his own life; he who keeps understanding shall prosper and find good.”
I am unable to do anything without God’s help.  I do humbly ask God  by his grace to enable me to keep my resolutions, so far as they are sensible and agreeable to his will."
In making resolutions for the glory of God and before the face of God, we must not come into His presence pounding our chests in  arrogance as if God must now love and bless us more because we have made certain resolutions to follow Him more.
We should approach God in humble reliance on his grace as we seek not merely the blessings but the one who blesses others.
The whole matter of making resolutions is not just goal setting so that we might have happier lives. We are called by God to live according to His will, not our own — for Christ’s sake, not our own.
We need to remember the words of Psalm 115:1 (The Amplified Bible) which reads: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy and loving-kindness and for the sake of Your truth and faithfulness!”
Let God guide our resolutions and depend on him to make every day a new day, a better day, a day filled with more happiness, love and mercy than the previous day.
Let every day also allow us draw us closer to God, the author and creator of all.
If we want to change for the better, walk closer to God and we won't need to depend on some spoken resolution to do better. Make it a heart and soul resolution this year to put Christ and His will first and foremost.

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.

Keep your eyes on God's power line

Keep the power line to God open with your eyes focused on Him.

Greetings:
In Thursday's message we learned about the importance of prayer and the ability to simply communicate or talk with God.
It is widely acknowledged that the Lord's Prayer is the model prayer left for us by Jesus. We can read about it in Matthew 6:9-13.
We also find a powerful prayer in 2 Chronicles 20:5-12 (NIV) as King Jehoshaphat prays for deliverance.
He was faced by an overwhelming force of enemies bent on his destruction, and the king called out to God with a prayer that acknowledges his own powerlessness, and he asks God to intervene.
His closing statement “We don’t know what to do, so we’re looking to you” could be the motto of any Christian faced with challenges or tough decisions.
“Jehoshaphat stood in front of his people and said, “Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.  Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying,  ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
“But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them.
See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
How many times have we been in the midst of a life storm and started out with our focus on Jesus but got distracted by what was going on around us?
Everything the devil does in our lives is to get us to take our eyes off Jesus. Every bill, every irritation in your marriage, and every pain in your body is designed to prevent you from walking in the fullness of God's deliverance, healing, and prosperity.
Taking our eyes off Jesus is the most dangerous thing we could ever do.. We can let past hurts, troubles, and disappointments distract us from the ultimate prize, which is Christ alone.
Keeping our eyes upon Jesus is rarely an easy thing.
Our old, fleshly natures conspire against any attempt to remain faithful to God. We can forget that our reward is Christ Himself and wander off into the vain pursuit of other things. We can allow the cares of this world to push us away from the Lord instead of looking to Him in the midst of our pain and difficulties.
Being in a relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important part of our life. In Him is everything we will ever need to be successful and overcome any challenges we go through. We must remain established in the fact that Christ is within us, and because of that, we are empowered to get results. We keep our eyes focused on Him by meditating on the Word of God and declaring what God says in the face of adverse circumstance to be the truth.
We are over-comers if we keep our eyes focused on God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

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.

Pray the Word

Greetings:
Prayer is simply our conversation with God.
In prayer, we offer praise, worship and thanksgiving.
Sounds pretty easy to understand, doesn't it?
But I imagine prayer to many of us is simply putting our petitions,  needs, wants, desires , and all of our 'need this and need thats' before God.
We pray when we, family members or friends are in a panic, when times are bad, when we are in trouble, scared, sick, confused, perplexed and backed into the corner with no where else to turn.
We cry out in prayer when we hit bottom and there nowhere to go, but up.
But do we pray, I mean really pray, when we appear to be blessed, content and things are going well?
It's a question of what value do we place in prayer.
Look at Colossian 4:2, it reads, “Devout yourself to prayer being watchful and thankful”.
I guess it's a matter of do we regard prayer as a gift of grace or an unbearable burden.
Prayer is a privilege that takes disciple and practice. Prayer is a personal invitation from God to enter into his holy sanctuary to talk with him and listen to him.
Prayer is also a time to get still and quiet before God offering praise and worship in a manner in which you feel comfortable and speak sincere words of  thanksgiving.
Prayer will prepare us for the unknowns, the disappointments, the challenges, the troubles.
Prayer provides us with strength in moments of weakness and is a caring arm wrapped around us in times of sorrow.
Prayers is not done only when we feel like it or when we feel worthy.
If we are making excuses for not praying, we should be honest with ourselves and ask why.
Throughout the Bible we read of God's mercy and grace that reaches out to all people – the good and the bad, the worthy and the unworthy.
God’s will is to keep His promises to us.
 In prayer the Word of God should be in our hearts and in our mouths.
 In our prayers we should use the Word of God and remind God of His promises to us. This builds our faith and it also pleases God because it is an expression of our confidence in His Word and His integrity.

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.