Keep kicking the doors

Greetings:
We read about open doors in Isaiah 54:1-2 where it is written:  “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. "
Isn't it encouraging that God goes before us to level those mountains we face and breaks down those gates and doors and strongholds that can block our paths?
Remember the Lord opened the Red Sea to make His people pass through it. But He closed it when the Egyptians tried to use the same way He had opened for His people.
Many times we live in fear even after the Lord has opened a door for us. We live in constant apprehension and worry about whether the door will be closed again by anyone and we begin to suspect everyone that they might do something harmful to us. When that happens, we become immobilized, and we just sit there
On the other hand when the Lord opens a way for us, we should not try ourselves to close it. Sometimes the Lord may lead us in a difficult path. At such times we should not try to escape from it. When Jesus faced the cross, did he did not run away from it?
When we’re obedient and diligent to obey what God is telling us, He will open up doors of opportunity that we never saw coming.
I am also reminded this morning that every opportunity is not from God. Some come to distract and to make us frustrated. Yet others close without much notice, and the closed doors are for a purpose as well.
Jesus said in Revelation 3:7, “What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”
How many of you know there is no use in trying to pry or force a door open? We should focus on the open ones.
We should focus on what is open, pray about it, then act.
Be blessed.

On earth as it is in heaven

Greetings:
Many people wonder how they should pray.
To learn this, I looked at a Bible passage that I am very familiar with. It is where Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray, and in that prayer Jesus says in Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV), “This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, you will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
What does that mean when it says...” on earth as it is in heaven”?
We can get a glimpse of God's will for humanity here on earth today by looking at what Jesus went about doing during his earthly ministry.
What did Jesus go about doing in His earthly ministry?
The Bible tells us that Jesus went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.
Now Jesus could have just come down and died for our sins and taught us nothing else. He also came to demonstrate what he really wanted to happen here on earth by healing, delivering, and carrying out the work of the kingdom. It is the will of God for the sick to be healed, the lame to walk, and the demons are cast out! Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and the fruit of Satan's labor ––  sickness, disease, bondage, and all oppression.
I recall the story of Job, and how the devil tore his life apart. Then God turned things around and blessed him with twice as many blessings.
Many of us hear of the kingdom of God, and the first thing we think of is this will be done with God in heaven.  Yes, that is the kingdom of God, but we must know that the kingdom of God can be entered into right here on earth. We have to know what the kingdom of God really is.
Luke 17:21 (NIV) says, “nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Does that mean we have to wait until we get to heaven to experience God's will for us?
I don't think so.
Be blessed.

Relief offered in world of stress

Greetings:
Sometimes this world we live in can become a haven for stress, if we allow it.
Psalm 131 offers relief.
The psalm is short and to the point, but it is worth reading and praying about.
In the New Living Bible the psalm reads, “Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty.
I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp.
Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord— now and always.”
Our stress levels escalate when we are asked to perform tasks that are far outside our comfort zone and when we’re expected to “be” someone we are not.
In Psalm 131, it is interesting to note that David’s confession of his inadequacies is prefaced by a declaration of humility.
Humility is one of those traits that if you think you have it, you probably don't.
Psalm 131 reminds us that we should not be pursuing 'great things', unless we turn and become like children. We are called to become like children like a weaned child, who has learned the secret of contentment in his mother's arms because the secret of contentment is humility.
We have nothing to prove to God. We can come with empty hands, because everything was provided for us at Calvary. When we see what Jesus accomplished in dying in our place, taking the judgment that belonged to us, we’ll be able to find our true rest in God.
Let us all put our hope in God and Godly things.
Let us focus on being content and to humble ourselves in service to God and to one another to find real peace and relief from the stress that is all around us.
Be blessed.

Sometime we just have to stand

Greetings:
There are times in our lives when we simply have to stand firm, not waver and believe.
Those are the days that it's difficult to understand God's plan.
Instead of standing and waiting for clear direction, we get anxious, our patience wears thin and we want to step out and do what we think God is telling us to do.
We proceed to do our own thing.
Believe me from experience doing our own thing in front of God's timing is not a good thing.
This usually leads to trouble, disappointment and unnecessary detours.
There is a solid Rock we can turn to when storm clouds fill our lives and it looks like everything is crashing down.
I know it sounds simplistic and hard to understand, but those are the days, weeks, months and sometimes years we just have to pray without ceasing.
If we listen, God will speak.
When he speaks there will be a peace that passes all human understanding. We will know that we know that we know.
There are days when we want to move forward, but we can not.
But know that you don't have to move backward either.
In Psalm 18:30, we are reminded, "God way is perfect. Alll of the Lord's promises prove true."
Many times in the Bible we read about people who were simply commanded to stand.
Christian teacher and author Joyce Meyer tells us to be on guard about 'passively yielding' to the enemy.
When that happens, she tells us to say, “This is the gro

und that I have gained and I am not giving it up to the devil. You are not driving me back into the hole God pulled me out of.”
Are we standing on the promises in the midst of our life storm or challenge?
Are we standing on the promises in the good days and the bad?
Good things will follow, if we just stand.
Be blessed.

This is a battle, not a recreational game

Greetings:
This is a message that should never get old.
As Christians, we are in a battle every day.
It's an intense and deceptive spiritual confrontation that is real.
Ephesians 6:12, says "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Who are those principalities, powers, rulers or darkness and such?
We are talking about evil demonic spirits that can and will attack each of us if we allow it.
In spiritual warfare, demonic spirits are launched as fiery darts or flaming arrows as Ephesians 6:16 tells us: “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."
These fiery darts come in one of three forms; temptations, deceptions, and accusations.
The devil tempted Eve in the garden. If Satan wants more legal grounds in our lives, we can expect some temptations to come our way. That's his way of getting us to fall and give him a place to operate.
Countless believers are living in defeat because they have been deceived.
The enemy has deceived them and caused them to believe and live a lie. If we allow deception to take hold, strongholds can then be formed in our minds.
Many Christians feel guilt-ridden and worthless because they don't see themselves they way they ought to because of deception.
Ephesians 6 speaks of the weapons that we are to use in spiritual warfare, and in verse 17 we are told to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."
The devil tells us: "You're a failure! Look at your past!"
God's Word says: "What past? The blood of Jesus has washed it away!" We are clean and redeemed by the grace of God.
This warfare is not a recreational game. It's the real deal and a real challenge, if we are not prepared, studied up and prayed up. Remember, God, wins this battle.
Be blessed.

God is the master creator

Greetings:
Look around.
What do you see?
God's mighty hand has created a world of beauty that surpasses description in the finest poetry, creative writing,  music, art, photographs or by any creative genius.
God is the author of color, design, plan, order, craftsmanship, beauty, majesty and artistic skill found in the creation of the universe.
Nothing can compare to it or duplicate it.
What does it say in Psalm 19:1-4 about the beauty of God's creation?
It reads: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,  their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens, God has pitched a tent for the sun.”
Continue to look around and soak up God's majesty like water is soaked up by a sponge. Let all we do to be creative, be an expression to glorify God, our maker and creator.
Be blessed.

Without hope we have nothing

Greetings:
The world we live in is filled with troubled situations.
People are losing their jobs. Prices of essential items are going up while wages are not. An ever-present threat of war looms over us. Christians are being innocently persecuted and slain just for proclaiming their Christian faith.
There are natural catastrophes around the world. There is plenty of uncertainty in what the future holds for us each day, even here in southern Indiana.
We are not the only ones that have ever felt that there is no hope. 
Even Bible heroes, like David, Job, Moses, Jonah, Jeremiah, and Elijah had their times when they wanted to give up.
Humans have definitions of hope that is far different from God’s definition.
The biblical definition of hope is not a 'hope-so', but a 'know-so'. Our hope in God is surer than the sun rising in the morning.
Where is hope found?  It is in the Bible - the Word of God.
Psalm 119:74 says, “I have put my hope in your word”.
Psalm 119:81 states, “… I have put my hope in your word”.
Psalm 130:5 we read, “… in his word (The Bible) I put my hope”.
Hope includes difficulty. Action naturally follows from hope. Hope is not a passive waiting for something to happen.
Do you have hope?
Do you really hope?
Do you hope in alll things?
Do you believe all things?
We desperately need to understand the power of Christian hope.
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Hope reminds us that the Father who works with us in the field is the very same Father who plays with us at home. Hope gives us this pleasure. Hope gives us this rest. And hope gives us the courage we need to get up in the morning and head out to the fields again tomorrow.”
We must remember there is nothing on this earth more certain than hope in God.  He will never leave us nor will he ever forsake us.  He is our anchor in the present day storm and for any future storms, we might face.
Be blessed.