Isaiah 43:18-19 (from the OLD Testament...)
"Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert."
Have a HAPPY and BLESSED NEW Year! Don't look back!
\O/
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Some 2010 Insights and Observations, Part 2
While away this past week, I had the blessed opportunity to spend more time than I usually spend reading God's Word. I was blessed in ways I cannot begin to describe as The Lord spoke to me about various things. I wanted to share some of these things with all of you, and I hope that you will be both encouraged, and convicted-just as I was.
1) God spoke to me about sharing The Gospel. He led me to Matthew 10:32-33, which talks about sharing about Jesus. He also led me to Romans 10:13-15, which talks about preaching The Gospel. The Lord revealed to me that He will open up new doors for me to do His work, and that He will empower me and use me mightily this year. He also told me that He will be glorified through this, and that I must decrease so that He may increase.
2) God spoke to me about my focus on Him. He told me that I need to get rid of anything in my life that will cause me to lose focus on Him, or cause me to focus on the things of this world. He led me to Romans 12:1-2 for confirmation.
3) God spoke to me about how I spend my time. As many of you know, I work 2 jobs-my main job that can take up 50-plus hours per week, and my 2nd job-which is usually around 16 hours per week. I have been blessed to have been used by God to share about the Love of Jesus in both jobs. God specifically stated that He wanted me to spend more time in The Word, to spend more quality time with my family, and to devote more time to Ministry. God also told me that The Jesus Freak Blog will reach more people, and that it will be taken to another level at some point this year. I was blessed to hear this, since the feedback has been VERY POSITIVE from the messages that The Lord has given me to share.
I count it a privilege to be able to share about Jesus, and to be used by Him in any manner that He sees fit. I am always blessed, and I look forward to seeing what Jesus has in store for me and my family in 2011. The URL for The Jesus Freak Blog says it all: "...here I am Lord, send me...".
I'm not sure if there will be a Part 3, or not. That being the case, Have a BLESSED New Year! Serve Jesus!
\O/
1) God spoke to me about sharing The Gospel. He led me to Matthew 10:32-33, which talks about sharing about Jesus. He also led me to Romans 10:13-15, which talks about preaching The Gospel. The Lord revealed to me that He will open up new doors for me to do His work, and that He will empower me and use me mightily this year. He also told me that He will be glorified through this, and that I must decrease so that He may increase.
2) God spoke to me about my focus on Him. He told me that I need to get rid of anything in my life that will cause me to lose focus on Him, or cause me to focus on the things of this world. He led me to Romans 12:1-2 for confirmation.
3) God spoke to me about how I spend my time. As many of you know, I work 2 jobs-my main job that can take up 50-plus hours per week, and my 2nd job-which is usually around 16 hours per week. I have been blessed to have been used by God to share about the Love of Jesus in both jobs. God specifically stated that He wanted me to spend more time in The Word, to spend more quality time with my family, and to devote more time to Ministry. God also told me that The Jesus Freak Blog will reach more people, and that it will be taken to another level at some point this year. I was blessed to hear this, since the feedback has been VERY POSITIVE from the messages that The Lord has given me to share.
I count it a privilege to be able to share about Jesus, and to be used by Him in any manner that He sees fit. I am always blessed, and I look forward to seeing what Jesus has in store for me and my family in 2011. The URL for The Jesus Freak Blog says it all: "...here I am Lord, send me...".
I'm not sure if there will be a Part 3, or not. That being the case, Have a BLESSED New Year! Serve Jesus!
\O/
Some 2010 Insights and Observations, Part 1
Well, I finally mad it back home to 2 feet of snow. While driving back, I kept noticing chains-just lying in the roadways in various spots. For those of you who know me, the first thing that came to my mind was that these chains were left there from people who had been set free from their bondage. I kept telling my wife Jenny, "Look-somebody else has been set free!!". I was excited and uplifted all the way home!
This leads me to talk about bondage again. Most of the people I run in to (believers AND non-believers) seem to be bound by something. The most prevalent bondage I seem to run into is UNFORGIVENESS. Let me just say a few things about this.
Jesus forgave us for ALL our sins-past, present, and future. (1 John 1:9).
We MUST forgive others for ANY offenses against us. (Mt 6:14, Luke 11:4,Luke 17:4,Eph 4:32,Col 3:13).
These verses, straight from God's Word say it all. Never mind what I have to say-look to Jesus, the One who forgave you to set you free from your bondage.
If we do not forgive, we can be carrying around those chains for a LOOONNNGG time. I don't know about you, but I think that chains can get very heavy after some time. Add to that-the weight of more unforgiven offenses, and the burden can become unbearable. It's a good thing that Jesus can not only set us free, but can carry our burden for us!
Matthew 11:28-30 (Amplified Bible)
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne."
This leads me to talk about bondage again. Most of the people I run in to (believers AND non-believers) seem to be bound by something. The most prevalent bondage I seem to run into is UNFORGIVENESS. Let me just say a few things about this.
Jesus forgave us for ALL our sins-past, present, and future. (1 John 1:9).
We MUST forgive others for ANY offenses against us. (Mt 6:14, Luke 11:4,Luke 17:4,Eph 4:32,Col 3:13).
These verses, straight from God's Word say it all. Never mind what I have to say-look to Jesus, the One who forgave you to set you free from your bondage.
If we do not forgive, we can be carrying around those chains for a LOOONNNGG time. I don't know about you, but I think that chains can get very heavy after some time. Add to that-the weight of more unforgiven offenses, and the burden can become unbearable. It's a good thing that Jesus can not only set us free, but can carry our burden for us!
Matthew 11:28-30 (Amplified Bible)
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne."
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Luke 2:8-20 Fall on Your Knees!
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“ Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Has Your Walk Turned Into a Crawl? (Part 2)
Has Your Walk Turned Into a Crawl? Part 2
It seems like professing “Christians” are always losing focus on who the reason for the season is. We all know that it’s really Jesus, whose birth we celebrate this time of the year. I’m continually seeing professing Christians lose sight of what Christmas is all about, and focus instead on wishing everyone a “Happy Holidays”, or focusing on what gifts they can get at the best price on Black Friday.
Now-before you all begin to call me judgmental, let me just state that I am only observing what I see. The Bible is clear that if you put anything above God, it’s idolatry. We need to focus on Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Focusing on anything and everything else can cause our walk to turn into a crawl! We need to focus on following Him, and doing what He would do-not what our flesh wants to do. The Bible is also clear on certain things-in both the old & new Testaments. Let me list them here to remind you, no-to remind us all what God says.
1) Exodus 20:3 – “You shall have no other gods before me.” I think this is clear!
2) Exodus 20:4-6 – “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Sounds clear to me, although many professing Christians clearly have issues here.
3) Exodus 20:17 – “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” This is clear. Sounds clear to me.
4) Exodus 20:22-23 – “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.” Sometimes, we can unintentionally do this-we need to be careful.
5) Isaiah 29:9-10 – “Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless;
be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.
The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets);
he has covered your heads (the seers).” It’s easy to get caught up in all these ecumenical circles, and then find that you lose track about the Reason for the season…
6) Isaiah 29:13-16 - The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the LORD,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You know nothing”? Sometimes, Christians even put God in a box at Christmas time. They tend to forget about Jesus altogether…
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the LORD,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You know nothing”? Sometimes, Christians even put God in a box at Christmas time. They tend to forget about Jesus altogether…
7) Romans 12:1-2 –“ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” It’s easy to get sucked into all these worldly things going on.
8) Romans 8:1-11 - “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” Freedom in Christ is NOT a license to do whatever you want-even if you know it’s NOT of God!
9) 1 Corinthians 10:21 - “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” I think this explains itself-all you Twilight fans out there…
10) 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1 - We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12 We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 13 As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.
11) Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. “ As God has said:
“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
Therefore,
“Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”
And,
“I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” Can we as believers in Jesus Christ straddle both sides of the fence?
12) Galatians 1:8-9 –“ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” There are lots of false gospels being preached at Christmas time. You need to be aware of them. We all need discernment in this area!
13) James 4:4 – “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” I believe this is not only self-explanatory, but also confirms some of the earlier Scriptures I used.
14) 1 Peter 2:11 – “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” We MUST ask ourselves this important question: Does the world see Jesus Christ in us? Do we reflect His glory in all we do? Or-are we just like everyone else?
15) 1 John 2:15 – “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” I think these verses are easily understandable.
OK-WHY am I posting all these scriptures which God gave to me? I believe that Jesus is trying to tell us that we need to act in such a way that the non-believers out there will see Jesus in us. We need to NOT be afraid to say Merry Christmas. We need to tell people about the Love of Jesus Christ, and share The Gospel with them. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus, and not on what Christmas we get (or don’t get). We need to help others who are less fortunate than us, and in doing so-show them the way to Jesus. We need to show the world what The Father’s Love is!
Ask yourselves this important question: Are you crawling in your Christian walk? Think about the points above, and if needed, correct yourself. By not obeying the scriptures above, it becomes very easy to stumble in our walks. Get your face off of FaceBook, and get your face into The Book-God’s Holy Bible! If you only listen to that one piece of advice, you’ll see how quickly you get off the ground, and run the race to the finish line!
Merry Christmas!
\O/
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Majesty of Heaven
I thought I would share this with you. It's from the new Chris Tomlin CD called ...And If Our God Is For Us...
This is an absolutely AWESOME worship song called 'Majesty of Heaven".
It will be posted separately in the next Jesus Freak Blog post.
Enjoy!!
\O/
This is an absolutely AWESOME worship song called 'Majesty of Heaven".
It will be posted separately in the next Jesus Freak Blog post.
Enjoy!!
\O/
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Has Your Walk Turned Into a Crawl? (Part 1)
So-your life seems like it's going nowhere. Things just stopped "happening" for you. You haven't heard from God in a long time, and you have no desire to even pick up His Word. When you do pick up your Bible, you can't get a handle on the Scriptures-The Holy Spirit is nowhere to be found. Everything you try to do ends in failure, and you even fall into hopelessness.
Sound familiar? This time of the year (Christmas Time!!!), people tend to fall into deep depression. I'm not sure why, but it's a known fact that hopelessness drives the number of suicides up about this time every year. Suicide isn't the only thing that happens, but this time of the year. Many professing "Christians" actually turn away from God during these trying times.
Believers in The Lord Jesus Christ are not immune from this type of satanic attack. Satan wants you to feel depressed, and to give up hope. Satan wants you to stop reading God's Word-because it says that he loses in the end!
Brothers and Sisters-we MUST not let the enemy gain a foothold in our lives! We MUST read The Holy Word every chance we get! We MUST pray for God's Holy Spirit to give us insight and understanding when we read it! We MUST study it, and understand what we're reading! We MUST apply it ALL to our own walk with The Lord! And-we MUST live it! If we say that we are Christians, then we MUST be Christ-like!
Brothers & Sisters, it says in 1John that:
"We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did."
We cannot be "in The World AND of The World". We cannot straddle both sides of the fence. We either must be ALL for Him, or ALL against HIM! My friends, Jesus Christ, Savior of the world wants ALL of you, not PART of you. He is a FULL-TIME Savior!!! Be a FULL-TIME follower!!!!
Friends, make a commitment today to follow Jesus Christ with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You'll see-if your walk has turned into a crawl, just how fast you'll learn to walk again. Jesus Christ will be there, urging you on, ready to catch you in His arms if you stumble or fall! He loves you, and He wants you to not only be able to walk, but to be able to RUN! Like any loving father, Jesus doesn't make it about falling. It's all about getting up again!
OK-Now I'm all excited! Can somebody PLEASE shout AMEN?
Stay tuned for more......
Sound familiar? This time of the year (Christmas Time!!!), people tend to fall into deep depression. I'm not sure why, but it's a known fact that hopelessness drives the number of suicides up about this time every year. Suicide isn't the only thing that happens, but this time of the year. Many professing "Christians" actually turn away from God during these trying times.
Believers in The Lord Jesus Christ are not immune from this type of satanic attack. Satan wants you to feel depressed, and to give up hope. Satan wants you to stop reading God's Word-because it says that he loses in the end!
Brothers and Sisters-we MUST not let the enemy gain a foothold in our lives! We MUST read The Holy Word every chance we get! We MUST pray for God's Holy Spirit to give us insight and understanding when we read it! We MUST study it, and understand what we're reading! We MUST apply it ALL to our own walk with The Lord! And-we MUST live it! If we say that we are Christians, then we MUST be Christ-like!
Brothers & Sisters, it says in 1John that:
"We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did."
We cannot be "in The World AND of The World". We cannot straddle both sides of the fence. We either must be ALL for Him, or ALL against HIM! My friends, Jesus Christ, Savior of the world wants ALL of you, not PART of you. He is a FULL-TIME Savior!!! Be a FULL-TIME follower!!!!
Friends, make a commitment today to follow Jesus Christ with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You'll see-if your walk has turned into a crawl, just how fast you'll learn to walk again. Jesus Christ will be there, urging you on, ready to catch you in His arms if you stumble or fall! He loves you, and He wants you to not only be able to walk, but to be able to RUN! Like any loving father, Jesus doesn't make it about falling. It's all about getting up again!
OK-Now I'm all excited! Can somebody PLEASE shout AMEN?
Stay tuned for more......
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