April24

............	A Word In Due Season April 2024 4/1/24 FASHIONED BY GOD Scripture: Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you." What an awesome thought, that you were in the mind of God before you were ever conceived. Before the Almighty God ever began to form you in your mother's womb, He envisioned your being. Whatever the circumstances of your conception or birth in the natural, you were no accident of humanity or surprise to God. He planned you from the beginnings and designed your purposes for life. When He formed you, He made you into the person that He, Himself, wanted you to be. As in Genesis, when He called all things good that He created, when you came forth, He again said, “It is good.” All of your thoughts of self-worth should be wrapped up in the knowledge that you are who you are by God's perfect design. Every beautiful diamond started as a piece of coal from the Earth. Every smooth lustrous pearl began with an insignificant piece of sand or other foreign matter that was lodged in the shell of an oyster. Every precious gem had to be cut from a rugged rock and polished into perfection. Every beautiful pot was first a lump of clay that was filled with rocks, hard clumps, and impurities. Every precious gold and silver ornament or vessel came from the Earth and had to be discovered and then refined by fire. All of these beautiful things had a glorious future, but each had to be individually worked with, sculpted, and refined until the finished product was complete. Your life is no less significant than the most beautiful diamond, lustrous pearl, precious gem, or beautiful vessel of gold or silver. God alone is able to create beauty and life. Even though you too were made from the dust of the ground like Adam and Eve, you were created and formed by God, Himself. The creation of your total being is a miracle of God. Your voice and your fingerprints are like no other. Your thoughts are totally individual. You are a special being handcrafted and fashioned by God and He values you and your life. You are important to the Lord and He is concerned about you and all of your needs. Even though He takes special interests in the flowers of the field and the birds of the air, you are more valuable to Him than any of these creations. When situations fail and relationships cease, leaving you with thoughts of self-worthlessness, allow God's powerful Words to defeat those thoughts. He created and designed in His own image and set your destiny before you. You will always have value and be worthy in God’s eyes, for He confirms His work and declares that He knew you before He formed you. +++ 4/2/24 WAGES OF SIN Scripture: Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Satan is very clever. He offers you the pleasures of sin for a season, but fails to mention the consequences that will result when the sin has completed its course. James 1:15 says, "When lust is conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death." The sequence is very simple; lust leads to sin, which leads to death. From the beginning in the Garden of Eden until now, Satan roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. His purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy you and your relationship with God. In all these years, he has not changed his tactics. Satan still challenges God's Word in the same manner that he did with Adam and Eve, saying, "Surely you won't die. Eat the fruit. It is good and it will make you wise." He appeals to your lust, draws you into sin, and then mocks you when you fall into his trap. Satan's words and his offers of relief are very tempting. However, he never tells you the terrible side effects of his product. He draws you into unforgiveness but never explains that an unforgiving spirit opens the door for torments in your own life and that to be forgiven, you must forgive. He does not explain that substituting an immoral lifestyle for your loneliness will keep you from inheriting the kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. He does not tell you that a greedy selfish spirit will keep the windows of God's blessings closed to you. And worst of all, the devil tries to cover your eyes with scales so that you cannot see that rejecting Jesus as Lord and Savior will lead to an eternal death and separation from God. Satan's fruit and the temporary relief that he offers is no different than some of the products on our market today. For instance, an advertisement for the medical relief of stiff joints and common arthritis pain lists several side effects that may occur if you use the product. It lists infections and inflammation of different sorts, headache, dizziness, a host of other disabilities, and even death itself. This leaves one to wonder which is worse, to have stiff joints or suffer the side effects of the medication? When you are tempted to sin, look at God's Word, study the side effects or the end results of your actions, and consider if yielding to the temptation is really worth it. You will find it is not because Satan's wages are very high. He gives you death in exchange for a short season of pleasure. God's wages, however, are priceless. God not only gives you life and life more abundantly, He also gives you eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. +++ 4/3/24 CREATE AND RENEW Scripture: Psalms 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me." The Prophet Nathan exposed and brought to light the sin that King David had committed in his relationship with Bathsheba. As David owned up to his personal failure, his sin against God, and his indiscretion as the King of Israel, he began to plead for God's mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing. He also asked God to do something new in his life and to create within him something that he had lost. David wanted a clean heart and a right spirit but he recognized that without God, he could not change. This is an awesome revelation! It declares that God is still creator and shows us that we too cannot truly change without the work of the Holy Spirit. We may cover our faults over with pretense for a season, but unless God changes our heart and renews our spirit, our sin nature remains within us and will eventually manifest outwardly. This truth not only applies to the temptations of sin that knock at our heart's door but also to our daily spiritual lack. We may feel the tugging of God's presence in our lives but struggle with the simple things that He calls us to do. This is the reason that we need God to create within our being something that will effect a change. David's prayer gives us great insight and shows us that we too can pray and ask God to meet any lack that we may have in our lives. God can and will create within us whatever it is that we need if we cry out to Him. You may have lost the passion that you once had for spiritual things. You can ask God to create within you a passion to pursue Him. You can ask Him to create a fresh desire and hunger for His Word and a thirst for His Spirit. You will be amazed as He begins to work in those areas. If you find that you no longer worship as you once did in the past or find it difficult to be thankful, ask God to create within you a spirit of thanksgiving, adoration, praise, and worship for Him. He will begin to work on those areas, for He loves to be worshiped. If your actions are not as they should be, ask Him to create the fruits of His Spirit within your heart. He longs for you to manifest His fruits. If you feel spiritually lethargic, ask God to ignite a fire within you and cause you to burn with His glory, for you are the hope of His glory in this Earth. Whatever the need, God desires to make the change within you, but He is never forceful. As He did with David, the Lord will wait for you to yield your heart and submit your spirit to Him. When you do, He will create in you a clean heart and He will renew a right spirit within you. +++ 4/4/24 POWER TO GET WEALTH Scripture: Deuteronomy 8:18 "But you shall remember the Lord your God: for it is He that gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant ..." These words spoken by Moses make two things very clear concerning finances and blessings. First, Moses identifies the Lord our God as being the source of our wealth. He instructs us to remember the Lord because He is the One who gives us the power to gain wealth. We have nothing that did not come from God's gracious hands. We may think that we earned it all by ourselves. The truth is that the Lord gave us the abilities and He placed us in positions to gain and accumulate our wealth. If you think about it, the power to get wealth is worth more than the wealth itself, for wealth in itself can be lost in a moment's time. We have witnessed this truth throughout the world as the tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, and fires have suddenly destroyed the possessions of many. Their wealth failed as their possessions were destroyed. Yet the power to get wealth will enable them to regain everything that was lost, for God is able to restore all things and cause all things to work together for good in their lives. Second, Moses states the purpose for our wealth and blessings is so that God can establish His covenant with His people. This is much the same as the unspoken covenant that we have with our own children. When they are born, we become committed to provide their food, clothing, meet their emotional needs, and allow them their special place at the family table. As they grow and continue to mature, we allow them other special opportunities such as the privilege of driving the car. As the parent, we are the source of their blessings and we share those blessings with them simply because they are our children and we love them. They are not expected to earn a place at the table or purchase our love. God feels the same towards you. Your prosperity is never about you. It is about what God wants to do with you because you are a steward of the material blessings that God has bestowed upon you. Remember that God's wish is that you prosper and be in health and this will happen as you put God first in your own life and as you seek His kingdom. As your soul prospers, God's blessings will come upon you so that He can use you to establish His covenant in the Earth. That means sharing with those who have nothing and who are not gifted with the power to gain wealth for themselves. God is never limited by our circumstances, but we must understand that contrary to everyone's wishes, not everyone is going to be rich in this world's goods. Jesus, Himself, said that you will have the poor with you always. If you really want to be blessed with the power to gain wealth, then begin to be a blessing to those about you and seek to meet their needs. God will see your compassion and faithfulness. Even the smallest gift that you share to establish His covenant in the Earth will become a seed. That seed will reap a harvest in your own life so that God can give you more wealth to share. Remember whatever you do in life, remember God is the One who gives you power to gain wealth. +++ 4/5/24 REGARDLESS OF YOUR FAULTS Scripture: John 4:26 (Amplified) "Jesus said unto her, "I Who am speaking with you am He." In this scripture setting, Jesus revealed Himself to the woman at the well. This woman had been married five times and was now living with a man that was not her husband. Many of us would have passed her by as a hopeless case. We would have judged her with our own self righteous standards and wondered if she were even deserving of God's amazing grace. It seemed that she could never get her life right. She had failed so many times that it would have seem useless to us to put our trust in her one more time. We would want to write her off as a loss. We would also fail to consider that areas of our own lives were actually in just as much disarray in the eyes of our holy God as her life was to us. It is interesting to watch Jesus as He ministered to the people because His thoughts and actions are so contrary to religious thinking. He passed up the clergy and made His way to meet with the publicans and sinners and to minister to the demon possessed. He also invited the tax collectors and dishonest men into His closest circle of associates. He even spoke kind words of forgiveness to the prostitutes. Now Jesus, who was a Jew, was speaking to this Samaritan woman who was living in open sin. Time and time again, she had sought for love with the wrong people, but Jesus was able to look beyond her faults and see her need. When Jesus revealed to her that He knew of her marital status, she recognized that He was a prophet and she began to expose her inner most desires. Her need was to love and be loved. She wanted to love and worship God and she wanted to do it right. She questioned Jesus about the proper place to worship God, on the mountain or in Jerusalem. The love of God wonderful! Jesus was weary from His journey, but He sat on the well and waited for this woman to come draw water. She did not come to the well with the other women as the custom was, but came alone because of her immoral lifestyle. She probably was not accepted in the formal places of worship either. Yet, her heart was crying out for God and she was watching and waiting for the Messiah to come. Jesus sought this woman out and met her at her point of need. He reached out to her with kindness and forgiveness and told her that those who worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Like this woman at the well, Jesus is never beyond your reach. Regardless of where you are right now or your mistakes in life, Jesus wants to meet you at your point of need. He knows where you are and He places Himself in the center of your territory. When your heart begins to worship Him, He will find you and make Himself known and available to you. He will minister to you personally, one on one, and give you Living Water to quench your thirsty soul. +++ 4/8/24 STILL SMALL VOICE Scripture: I Kings 19:4 "He requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life." The Prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and fire from heaven came down, consuming the sacrifice that he had placed on his altar. When the fire consumed the sacrifice, the people repented and turned to God. Elijah then commanded that the prophets of Baal be killed. After this, he prayed for rain, which came in abundance even though there had been many years of drought. Elijah experienced great victories because he was a man who had power with the Lord. Yet, even though Elijah was a mighty prophet of God, he was still subject to the same passions that we have. James 5:17 says, "He was a human being with a nature such as we have, with feeling, affections, and a constitution as ourselves." After Elijah had displayed such great courage and zeal, he ran for his life from Jezebel, who was threatening to kill him in retaliation for the slain prophets. Elijah ran until he reached a place of such weariness and discouragement about his own situation that he requested to die. He said, "O Lord, it is enough, take away my life." Maybe you have not come to this point of utter discouragement or ever felt that life itself was a burden and not worth living. Maybe you have never had to run in fear that your life would be taken. Yet, at times we all face situations when we say, "I have had enough. I just cannot take any more. I cannot go on." In the midst of these wearisome and stressful situations, if we would just stop and listen for the voice of God, we would hear Him speak to us as He did to Elijah, "What are you doing? Stand up. I want to talk to you" (I Kings 19:9). As Elijah began to listen for God upon the mountain, he had to wait through many distractions. God's voice did not come in the great and mighty wind, the earthquake, or the fire. God finally spoke to Elijah in the sound of a gentle stillness. God also wants to speak to you in this same still small voice. He wants to calm every fear and encourage you in your season of distress. Do not be distracted by all the noise about you but wait upon the Lord and listen for His faintest whisper. Psalms 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." Stillness is very powerful. When you are still, you cease from yourself and do not give in to the voices of the strong winds, earthquakes, and fires. It will be in the stillness of His presence that you will come to know God. It will be in the quietness of His presence that your answers will come and that your strength will be renewed. +++ 4/8/24 WHO YOU SHALL BE Scripture: John 1:42 “ And when Jesus beheld him, He said, "You are Simon the son of Jona: you shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone." Peter was originally called Simon. When Jesus first met Peter, He saw his potential and knew that God wanted to do mighty works in Peter's life. Yet before Peter reached the state that God intended for him, he faced many failures. Even after Peter received a revelation from God the Father in Heaven that Jesus was the Son of God, Jesus found it necessary to rebuke Peter. Jesus had described His own sufferings that were to come and that He would be killed but raised to life again on the third day. This was God’s necessary plan for the redemption of humanity, but Peter took Jesus aside and declared that he would never allow anything to happen to Jesus. Jesus told Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan: you are an offense to me" (Matthew 16:23). Peter was giving into the carnal issues and missing the spiritual necessity of the matter. Later, Peter denied the Lord three times, cursing and swearing that he did not even know Jesus. Peter was also very impulsive, as in the situation when he cut off the ear of the servant of the High Priest. Yet despite all of Peter's faults, God had a future and a hope for him and planned for him to stand one day before thousands of people and preach the message of Jesus Christ. Through Peter’s sermon thousands repented and were added to the church (Acts 2:47). From the beginning of your life, God had plans and a purpose for you individually. Philippians 2:13 says, “For it is God which works in you, both to will and to do, of His good pleasure.” The moment He breathed life into you, He began to sovereignly work to bring His desired plans to fruition. Jeremiah 29:11 says that God's plan for you is designed for good and not evil. God even sacrificed His Son Jesus, His most precious possession, to give you an abundant life, a future, and a hope. His ultimate goal is to make you an expression of Himself. As God works in you, He works patiently as a potter does with clay and from time to time remakes you over and over again. He works tirelessly, cleansing you of your sins and forgiving you of your faults. God was patience and determined as He worked with Peter. He is just as determined as He works in you. He does not expect you to be perfect, just pliable in His hands. Seasons of discouragement may come, but whatever the enemy means for evil in your life, God causes it to be for good. "All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Remember Jesus' words to Peter, "You are Simon right now, but when I am finished with you, you will be Cephas or a rock." Your future is inside of you. Like Peter, you may see yourself as a common person right now, but as you surrender to God and allow Him to complete His will and His good pleasure in you, you will become as solid a stone. +++ 4/10/24 IN THE IMAGE OF THE CREATOR Scripture: Genesis 5:1 & 3 "When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God ... When Adam was 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness." Adam was created in the likeness of God and clothed in His glory, but Adam rebelled against God's Word and partook of the forbidden fruit in the garden. When he committed this act against God, the image of Adam’s innocence was destroyed and his nakedness was exposed. From that point on, Adam and all his descendants that came after him would carry a sinful nature. Even though they would be created in the image of God, they would have to strive to take on His character. Romans 5:19 says, "For by one man's (Adam) disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one (Jesus) shall many be made righteous." It was because of Adam's sin that we inherited the nature to sin. This sinful nature makes it very easy to do wrong and a struggle to do right. Even the Apostle Paul said, "The things I want to do, I do not, and the things I don't want to do, I do" (Romans 7:19). Adam's sin brought us into condemnation and set our souls upon lust and self-fulfillment, but Jesus died on the cross for us so that we could be cleansed from sin. His sacrifice and His blood brought us into justification. Jesus places within us His very nature, and it is only through Him that we can walk in righteousness and live in the image of our Creator. Yet, living in the image and the likeness of our creator instead of the image of Adam is a daily process that requires a conscious effort on our part. We have to "put off the old self" that is corrupted by our desires and we have to form new attitudes so that we can "put on the new self" that is created to be like God (Ephesians 4:22-24). When we are born again, our new man waits to be instructed through the Word of God, for it cannot change on its own. We can only change as our minds are renewed in the knowledge of our Creator. Even nature itself teaches us that things left to themselves will not prosper. They must be maintained on a daily basis. A house that is left to itself without maintenance will soon deteriorate. A yard or garden that is not kept will become overrun with weeds and vines in just a short time. Children who are not cared for will become dysfunctional and if not corrected, they will become undisciplined. Friendships and marriages that are not nurtured will soon grow apart. So it is in the spiritual realm. II Peter 1:4 says that God gave us "great and precious promises that we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Yet, to partake of His divine nature, we must maintain ourselves spiritually. As we yield ourselves to the gentle molding hands of the Creator through prayer, communion with Him, and study of His Word, changes will take place in our lives and we will be transformed from the carnal into His image. +++ 4/11/24 KNOWING HIS CALLING Scripture: Ephesians 1:18 "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling." God is working in your life to bring about His plans, and He is working in a far greater way in the spiritual than you can see in the natural. From the moment God created you, He placed within you gifts and abilities so that He could use you to fulfill His desires and accomplish His purposes. Within you lies the potential to be His hands, His feet, His ears, and His voice in the earth. Upon you rests the responsibility to share God's heart with a hurting world. Colossians 1:27 sums it up with these words, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." You are God's hope as you walk through this spiritually dark world carrying His light in your life. You must be careful not to hide that light under a bushel, but let it shine for the entire world to see. Just as the Apostle Paul prayed for the church's eyes to be opened so that they could know the hope of God's calling for their life, God wants your eyes opened. He wants you to catch His vision, for without a vision your gifts and callings will never come to fruition. He wants to open your mind and fill it with His knowledge and His wisdom. God wants to unlock your soul and spirit so that He can empower you with His Holy Spirit. He has good plans for your life, but the Holy Spirit cannot do it all. You must do your part by submitting to Him and making every effort to stir up the gifts that reside within you. Only then can God resurrect those talents that have lain silently dormant for all these years. You may have doubts and fears that God has passed you by and that your time is over, but Romans 11:29 tells us that "the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance." God never changes His mind; we just grow complacent and give up. What gifts has God endowed to you? What desires has He placed in your heart concerning His Kingdom? If there is a desire within you to do something special for God, then there is a place and a time for it to happen. God will not put something into your heart that He does not equip you to do. Look at the birds. God gave them the ability to fly and a sense of desire to go South in the winter. He would not have stirred them to go south unless there was a South that was waiting for them. Yes, it may be frightening for the birds to leave their safe homes and head for the unknown places that are hundreds of miles away. They have to work hard and fly long hours to get there and may face storms and dangers along the way. It is true that there may be struggles and they may grow weary and become discouraged. Yet as they fly one mile at a time and face each day as it comes, they will eventually complete their journey. Just like the birds of the air, God has created a special purpose for your life and He wants to bring you into that new place. It will be a process of time and it will take effort but the energy you spend will be well worth the journey. So begin to allow the Lord to flood your heart with His light so that you can see and know what is the hope of His calling. +++ 4/12/24 OUR MIGHTY FORTRESS Scripture: Psalms 91:2 "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him I will trust." In this verse, the psalmist says four things about the Lord. 1) The Lord is his refuge. 2) The Lord is his fortress. 3) The Lord is his God. 4) The Lord can be trusted. The psalmist had great confidence in God. He not only believed that God could deliver him, but trusted and believed that God would. He felt that he could turn to God in any situation and find help and relief. Like the cities of refuge that provided escape from the avenger in Moses' day, the psalmist depended upon God to be his escape. Not only was God a place for him to run to in the times of trouble and danger, but once there, God was his mighty fortress, providing him with protection and shelter. A fortress is defined as a "large and permanent military stronghold." It is a city fortified with weapons. Psalms 46:2 says that it does not matter if the earth is removed and the mountains are cast into the seas. There is nothing to fear because God is our refuge and is present to help us. God is permanent and will never leave us or forsake us. As our refuge and fortress, God provides amazing grace for us when we face difficult situations. The refuge God gives us is so amazing that it causes us to be a wonder to many (Psalms 71:7). Even our own friends cannot comprehend how we are able to endure the duress of our season of pain and hardship. Yet, God's grace disallows the adversity in our life to bring us shame and confusion. Instead, He uses the things that come against us in life to infuse us with greater strength and understanding. Review your life for a moment, and remember some of the places where you found God as your refuge and fortress. Look back at the times that you ran to God and He protected you or showed Himself as your provider and met your needs in a way that only He could do. Think about the hard places, the dark valleys, and the dry deserts that you have passed through. And recall the love you experienced from the Gentle Shepherd in the midst of your tears and fears. Then for today's trouble and anxieties, focus upon God. He is there if you will call on Him. God is your refuge and your strength. He is your city of security. See Him as your mighty fortress and allow the promise of His deliverance be your peace. He is your God. He can be trusted. +++ 4/15/24 PURPOSE OF PRAYER Scripture: James 4:3 (Amplified) " You fail to receive because you ask for the wrong purpose." We have all wondered why some of our prayers are answered and why some of them are not. There are many guidelines in the scriptures concerning prayer and receiving answers, but the Apostle James states that one of the reasons that we do not get the things that we ask for is because our prayers are centered around our own lust. He declared that we are not able to obtain the contentment and happiness that we seek because of our own evil and selfish motives. James' words of judgment are hard and painful, but we must acknowledge that it is very easy for us to fall into this kind of selfish trap. Even two of the disciples of Jesus prayed a prayer that was motivated by their own anger. They had walked with Jesus daily and knew that He operated in unconditional love and compassion. They saw Him continually heal the sick and raise the dead and also witnessed the forgiveness that He extended to the most vile people. Yet, the disciples were so personally offended that the Samaritans did not receive Jesus that they wanted to call down fire from Heaven. The disciples entreated Jesus to allow them to do this so that their entire village would be destroyed. They wanted fire to consume the people that Jesus came to give His own life for. Jesus rebuked these disciples with the words. "You don't know what manner of spirit you are of" (Luke 9:55). Jesus told them that He did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. The Lord watches over all and is concerned about every need that we have, from the smallest to the greatest. Yet we must understand that He is also concerned about the needs of others. Jesus is righteous and it would be against His holy character to answer our request at the expense of someone else. God’s mercy and grace for all mankind far exceeds His need to answer our lustful request. What is God supposed to do when the fans of both ball teams are praying to win? What should God do when we pray a prayer that will be harmful to someone else in His Kingdom? What if one of your own children asked you to destroy their brother or sister because of a disagreement or an offense that had occurred between them? What if they ask for something that was against your will because you knew that it would be harmful for them? Regardless of how much you loved your child, you would not give them what they wanted, for this is not the way of love or a request that merits an answer. God feels the same towards us. If we want our prayers answered, we must delight ourselves in the Lord and pray in accordance to His holy will. It is only as our petitions are right and our motives are pure that we will receive the answers that we desire from Him. +++ 4/16/24 CRITERIA FOR GIVING Scripture: Exodus 35:21 "They came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering ..." When Moses instructed the congregation of the Israelites to bring offerings for the tabernacle he gave them two criteria to meet in their giving. He said, "Your own heart must stir you to give and your own spirit must make you willing to give." There is no gift that is too small for the Lord to receive, but the only gift that is acceptable to God is the one that comes from a willing heart. God despises our works of kindness when we do them grudgingly because we feel obligated to meet a need or when we are pressured to give because everyone else is giving. The Lord emphasized that when we do feel stirred to give, He wants our hearts to be willing. He hates to hear us complain about our own personal sacrifice when we are doing a good deed or giving an offering to Him. I saw an elderly lady who was walking in the drizzling rain and carrying packages. I assumed that she lived in my neighborhood so I stopped to offer her a ride even though I was in a terrible hurry to meet a scheduled appointment. She smiled with relief as she got into the dry car, but my thoughts of "doing a good deed for Jesus" suddenly changed to "I am already late, what on earth was I thinking." As it turned out, she did not live in my neighborhood and could only speak a few words of English. Furthermore, she did not want to be taken to a nearby destination, she wanted to go to the bus station and said that she would direct me on how to get there. The problem was that the path she wanted me to take was only accessible to pedestrians and not for auto traffic. What I had thought would only take a few minutes had turned into a time consuming journey with an unknown stranger. I followed her directions as she pointed the way, and after going around several of the businesses and hotel parking lots I finally was able to get her to the bus station. While I was trying to make my way through the maze of this dilemma, the Lord began to show me something. The lady could see me smiling on the outside but God could hear my complaining heart on the inside. God let me know that even though my heart had been stirred to help this lady, my spirit was only willing to cooperate if it was convenient. My good deed for Him was being rejected because my spirit was not right. He did not want me to just give, He wanted me to do it with a cheerful heart. Through the Lord's tender rebuke, I discovered that it was more important for me to do His will regardless of the cost, than it was for me to be on time for my appointment. We are very eager to commit our hearts to love and serve God. Yet, we cannot offer God our hearts without willingly giving Him our feet to go where He leads, our eyes to see the needs of others, our ears to hear their heart cries, our hands to help them do what needs to be done, and our mouths to speak words of encouragement to their soul. The Lord requests an offering from us, but He does not want our offering delivered with a heart that is just stirred to give but also with a spirit that is willing. +++ 4/17/24 THE ROOMS OF YOUR HEART Scripture: II Corinthians 10:5 "Casting down imaginations ..." Have you ever tried to clean a room but found that your determination to do so was met with conflict by your own desires and actions? Your efforts were met with struggle, as you found it hard to get rid of the old junk. You looked at your broken items, declared that you still intended to fix them, and dreamed of having the time to master this feat. Even though you had items that were taking valuable space and that you had not used in years, you were afraid to throw them away because you thought that you might need them again later. You did not want to get rid of the clothes in your closet that were too small because you had hopes of getting back down to that size again. By the time you had finished your cleaning project, you ended up only discarding a few items and straightening the rest of the clutter. You failed to consider that everything left will continue to irritate you and will eventually have to be dealt with again. Like our physical spaces, we have spaces within our hearts that desperately need to be cleaned. I had some hurtful things in the past that I found hard to give up. My mind continually wanted to dwell on these disturbing thoughts that only revived the terrible pain. One day when I began to recall the events and talk about the bitter pain of those days, my son said, "Mom, don't go to that room." When he said those words, I began to realize that I had a spiritual room within my soul where I was harboring all the evil memories from the days gone by. Most of the time, I would visit this room alone, but sometimes I would invite a close friend or one of my children to look inside my heart as I expressed my hurt. The words from others did help and were a comfort, but my heart stayed cluttered. My soul was in total disarray, for I was surrounded by mental darkness and confusion. I could not understand why I had allowed myself to get into such a terrible situation. As I began to look into this chamber within my heart, I saw that there was a spirit of bitterness on one shelf because I felt that part of my life had been stolen from me. On another shelf there was pain because I had been deceived by someone who I thought cared for me, and for that reason, I now found it hard to trust others. There was a space that was full of hopelessness because I could not let go of the past and move towards the future. All of the other feelings such as self-pity, anger, and shame were also crammed into this space that should have been storing thoughts from the Word of God and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. This chamber in my heart should have been filled with light and not darkness. Just like the clutter in my physical closet, all of this spiritual baggage and junk was my stuff and I had to deal with it personally. No one could let go of the past for me or resist the spirit of anger or self-pity that was inside of me. I had to repent and seek God's forgiveness. I had to forgive those who had wronged me and also forgive myself for being deceived and making bad choices. I had to learn to consciously let go and cast down all of the painful memories of the past. I realized that if I wanted total deliverance, I could not just shut the door to the room, I needed to clean it thoroughly and then replace every negative thought with God's Word or something that was good and peaceable. Memories still remain, but I do not allow them to surround me with pain. I choose instead to learn from them and I look to the future with hope and trust God to restore the years that were stolen from me. I have forgiven those who deceived me and am learning to trust others. I disallow myself to store up spiritual clutter. This is a continuing process in my life, for things are still being revealed to me. I encourage you today to allow God to shine His light upon your heart and show you the things that you are harboring within your spirit that are contrary to His will and then begin to work towards removing them. If the weight is too heavy, the Lord will help you lift it. If it is too high, He will help you reach it. If it is too difficult to bear, He will carry it for you. If it is too hard for you to let go, then allow Him to take it from you. Allow the winds of His Holy Spirit to sweep through your spirit and let His precious blood wash you clean. Begin to cast down all of the imaginations that keep you from walking in freedom and towards the destiny that God has ordained for you. The Lord is eager to help you get rid of the weights that hinder you from being able to run the race that He has set before you. The Lord is waiting for you to ask Him to help you cast down imaginations or in other words to clean your spiritual closet. Make a commitment to work with Him and enjoy your day of new beginnings. +++ 4/18/24 WHOSE JOB IS IT? Scripture: John 2:5 "Whatsoever He says to you, do it." Obedience to these words brought about a miracle in Cana of Galilee. It was a crucial time at a marriage feast when the wine had run out. Mary approached her son, Jesus, for help and then instructed the servants to do whatever He said. The servants obeyed Jesus by filling the water pots with water, and Jesus then turned the water into wine. This great miracle shows us several things. First, Jesus is there to help us in the time of crises. Second, His miracle power rises above the natural laws and beyond our physical abilities. Finally, the Lord expects us to do our part regardless of how absurd it may seem. How many miracles have we missed because God told us to do something and we failed to respond? We may have been called to minister to someone needing a financial miracle, deliverance, or healing. There was such a great need and we felt that we had so little to offer, so we just did nothing at all. Yet, many times Jesus used the very small, simple, and insignificant things to bring about miracles. He used a fish in Matthew 17:27 to bring finances to Peter so that taxes could be paid. What would have happened if Peter refused to go to the sea and fish as the Lord had told him to do? And what about the boy who responded by giving his meager five loaves and two fish, which Jesus blessed and multiplied in order to feed five thousand men, besides the women and children? There is a song that says, "Little is much if God is in it." How true these words are. We hold the miracles and blessings of God in our hands by our obedience or we withhold the miracles and blessings of God through our disobedience. If we want to be a blessing to others, we must obey God's slightest command. We must not wait for Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody to take care of the matter as illustrated in the story below. Who's Job Is It? (Copied – Author Unknown) There was an important job to be done. And Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it. But Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody When Nobody did what Anybody could have done. +++ 4/19/24 RECEIVE GOD'S COMFORT Scripture: Genesis 37:35 "He refused to be comforted." Joseph's brothers were jealous of him and sold him to the slave traders who took him to Egypt. His brothers then dipped Joseph's coat of many colors into the blood of an animal and returned it to Jacob, their father. When Jacob saw the condition of this special coat that he had made for Joseph, he assumed that Joseph had been devoured by an evil beast and he immediately went into mourning. Jacob had eleven other sons besides Joseph and also daughters. All of them attempted to comfort their father but he refused to be comforted. Jacob made a decision to grieve over this loss and declared that he would go to the grave in mourning over Joseph. He mourned over Joseph for about 17 years. Jacob did not know that God was working His sovereign purpose in Joseph's life and had spared his life. God planned to use Joseph as an instrument to save a multitude of people from the famine. Neither did Jacob know that he and Joseph were destined to be together again. Sometimes our lives seem to shipwreck on the ocean of life. Things seems to be going along fine until suddenly an unexpected storm comes up and blows us over or runs our ship into a sand bank and tears us apart. Everything in our life turns dark as we sink into the waters of hopelessness where our faith is tested beyond measure. The people whom we love and trust the most may fail us or we might lose a love one to death. Possibly, our finances fail or we do not have direction in life. Perhaps we receive a bad report from our doctor or we find ourselves in legal trouble. After the shock of these shipwrecks, the spirit of grief will attempt to find a harbor within our souls where it can torment us. Grief is a strong spirit, and if it can build a stronghold in your life, it will control you. You will never be able to move forward while you are trying to bear the burden or carry the baggage of present or past grief. It is just too heavy. King Solomon said that there is a time to weep and grieve over the losses in our lives, but mourning should only last for a season. There comes a time when you must let go of every loss and every pain of the past and face the future with joy in your heart. The Lord is waiting to comfort you in your sorrow. You can either be like Jacob, who made a conscious decision to continue in pain by refusing to be comforted, or you can receive the comfort that is available to you right now. Jesus came to give you beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3). If you submit your grief to Him, He will comfort you. He loves you with an everlasting love, so please do not refuse His offer to set you free from your pain. Receive His comfort and be blessed. ++ 4/22/24 NO GOD - NO POWER Scripture: John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches ... without Me you can do nothing." Jesus compared Himself to the vine and His followers to branches that were attached to the vine. The message He was conveying was that if we want to draw continual strength from Him, we must stay in relationship with Him like a branch does to a vine. To walk in light and maintain life we must abide in Jesus and allow Him and His Words to abide in us. A branch must stay attached at all times to its source to maintain life. A branch that is separated from the vine or trunk may flourish for a short season, but it will soon dry up and wither away because it cannot support itself. Like the natural branch needs the vine, God is our life and the source of all of our strength. All the power that we experience comes from God, and God alone. Without Him, we can do nothing. We must have the same mindset that the Apostle Peter had in Acts 3:12 when the lame man was healed. Peter recognized that he was simply a vessel of the Holy Spirit. The people tried to attribute the miracle to Peter, but he said, "Don't look on us as though by our own power or holiness that we made this man to walk." Instead, he gave all of the glory to God. God could have chosen anyone, but He chose Peter and allowed a miracle to flow through him because Peter was attached to the vine. He had an intimate relationship with Jesus and drew strength from Him daily. Peter was filled with the Spirit of the Living God and was fully aware that God was the one who was responsible for performing the miracle. He dared not take the glory. It is so easy for us to forget how insignificant we really are when God immediately answers our prayer or does something supernatural in our lives. When God uses us for something, we may forget for a moment and tend to look at ourselves in grandeur. We become like the woodpecker who pecked continuously at the trunk of a tree. Suddenly, lightning struck the tree and split the tree down the middle. The woodpecker declared, "Wow, I didn't know I had that much power in me!" He failed to realize and acknowledge that he actually had nothing to do with it. The act was wrought by God's power alone. Zechariah 4:6 explains our ability. It says that it is "not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of Host." We have no might or power that we can call our own, for we are simply a branch drawing our strength and power from The Vine. So, let us remember that the power is held in the hands of the Almighty God and that without Him, we can do nothing. +++ 4/23/24 THE THRONE OF GRACE Scripture: Hebrews 4:16 " Let us come boldly to the throne of grace ..." The Message Bible quotes this scripture in a more direct way. It says, "So let's walk right up to Him and get what He is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help." We are encouraged to come boldly and fearlessly into God's presence so that we can obtain mercy for our failures and find grace to meet every need. We are to approach God's throne of grace with a solid confidence in our heart that He will help us with every situation that we are facing. We do not have to shrink before God in fear because of the sins that we have committed or live in shame because of our failures, for He understands our hearts and is able to sympathize with all of our weaknesses. Jesus knows how vulnerable the natural man is and declared that the human spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Jesus experienced everything so that He could become our Mediator and our High Priest. He is ready and willing to help us. When we come before God's throne with our petitions, Jesus, as our Mediator, is sitting at the Father's right hand and supports us as we present our needs to Him. Even though Jesus sits at the Father's right hand, He is not out of touch with reality or the weaknesses that we face in our flesh. Jesus, as our High Priest, is constantly interceding for us because He understands what we are going through. He was tempted in every area that seeks to challenge us, yet He was able to remain without sin. This is not the case with us, for we are not able to remain without sin. The Lord was aware that we would fail and that our faults would overwhelm us so He provided a way for us to find mercy and grace. The throne of grace is a special place where God's unmerited favor is poured upon us. It is a place where we can find total forgiveness when we make confessions with hearts that are filled with true repentance. At His throne of grace, we can find direction for our lives and healing for our souls. There is also physical healing, restoration, and provision for every need at this special place of mercy and grace. Is it any wonder that the devil will try to make us feel unworthy to approach God and present our needs to Him? The devil will condemn us with true and false accusations to keep us from talking with God. We must never allow the devil to steal our blessings by mingling his lies with truth. We cannot listen to him when he tells us that we are not worthy to approach God's throne of grace. Jesus paid too big a price for us to forsake this privilege or to let the moment pass. There is a place where all needs are met and it is at the throne of God's grace. We must be bold enough to go there. +++ 4/24/24 PURE WORDS Scripture: Psalms 12:6 "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." God inspired holy men of old to write the scriptures and then He breathed upon those words, causing them to become spirit and life for all of those who would receive them. His Words are as fresh water to the thirsty and bread to the hungry. Every Word of God is full of power and accomplishes what He intends because He diligently watches over His Words to perform them. God never speaks careless words, for His Words are eternal. His Words have been tried in the fire and withstood all the tests. God asks only that we believe Him and trust His integrity. It is easy to believe the Lord when He is the Good Shepherd leading us through green pastures, beside the still waters, anointing us with oil, setting a bountiful table before us, and restoring our soul. However, when the Lord leads us through the hard places, like the valley of the shadow of death, it becomes very difficult to trust His Word. When circumstances are unbearable, it is hard to believe at that moment that "all things are working together for good in our lives simply because we love God and are called according to His purpose." When your cupboards are bare and there is not enough money to pay the rent or the utilities, we may begin to wonder about the words, "I shall not want." The devil tempts us with these words, "Hath God said? Did God really mean that He would supply all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus? Will God really do exceedingly beyond what I think or ask?" In times of testing and temptation, our thoughts may challenge God's Words by wondering, "Is God going to come through with His plan of escape?" These questions plague all of us at times regardless of our station in life. The poor man may not be able to buy all the things he needs, but likewise the rich man cannot buy health and life. The luxury of peace and happiness are not for hire. These things come only from God. In every situation, whether good or bad, God's Words must prevail in our hearts for us to experience the abundant life. His Words remain pure. In the lives of countless men and women throughout the scriptures, His Words have been tried like silver is tried in a furnace. God’s Words have been tried in the wilderness, dungeons, lion's den, fiery furnaces, and against giants, and have always prevailed. We must learn to treasure the value of God’s Words, for they are as pure as silver that has been tried in the furnace seven times. "The grass withers, the flower fades: but the Word of our God shall stand forever" (Isaiah 40:8). +++ 4/25/24 BE AN EXAMPLE Scripture: I Timothy 4:12 "Be an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." There is an awesome power that dwells within our being and it is so powerful that it quickens our mortal body. Romans 8:11 tells us that this power within us is the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. This Spirit also empowers us to minister to others as we touch their lives in a personal way. Our mission does not start with a vision and then end when we reach that goal. Our mission occurs in the dash between the starting date and the ending date. Our purpose is fulfilled as we are making our journey toward our goal. Our assignments are our family, our jobs, our friends, and our church. Each and every gift that God has so graciously endowed to us belongs to them. There is a great need and an abundant harvest before us. If we remain sensitive in our spirit, we will recognize that no place is meaningless. No matter where we find ourselves, that place is an open mission field to hurting souls because everyone has needs of one kind or another. Those who deny their need for others are living behind walls of deception that they have constructed to protect themselves for one reason or another. These individuals need our love most of all. It may be a stranger that you meet who has a scowl upon his face. A consistent smile on your part may turn his life around. I ventured to smile at someone each morning as I passed them on the way to work. The initial response that I received caused me to never want to smile at them again. But as the days went by, the smiles that I gave away soon started to return to me. I began to understand that the scowl was a billboard that simply advertised the pain that was in the heart of that individual and that they just needed to be recognized and loved. The Apostle Paul told Timothy to be an example of the believers. He was supposed to show what a believer should do through the actions of his own daily life. He was to put God above the system of the world. We must make a decision to do the same and then keep that commitment. An example of a believer is one who is willing to make sacrifices as Christ did for the church. We must allow the anointing of God's Spirit to flow through us and quicken us in such a manner that as we touch others it will cause them to come alive. Our words should be examples, ministering grace to the hearer. Our love and faith should ignite the love and faith in others. Our conversations and the way we live our lives should enhance the way others live their lives and our purity should convict them to remain pure. These six words can change the world about you if you obey them; "Be An Example Of The Believers." +++ 2/26/24 STRENGTHEN THE WEAK Scripture: Isaiah 35:3 (NRS) "Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees." We are instructed to bring cheer to the discouraged and to encourage the fearful of heart to be strong and not to fear. We are to strengthen those who are weak and feeble. We are to tell them that God is coming with vengeance to destroy their enemy and that He will save them. These words of encouragement and our acts of kindness are meant to bring hope and strength to the weakest warrior and give courage to the most fearful heart. When the enemy came to fight against the Israelites, Moses went to the top of the hill with the same staff in his hands that he had previously used to do mighty miracles. Moses had used the staff to bring several plagues on the Egyptians, to part the Red Sea, and to cause the waters of the sea to swallow up the armies of Pharaoh. He had also used the staff to strike the rock, which brought forth water for the thirsty people. The staff was still working, for the Israelites were victorious in the battle as long as Moses was able to hold the rod in the air. However, when Moses lowered his hands to rest, the enemy prevailed. When Moses finally became too tired to stand and too weary to hold up the rod any longer, Aaron and Hur came to his rescue. They placed a stone underneath Moses so that he could sit down and then they stood on each side of him and lifted his arms as he continued to hold the rod. Because of this joint venture, the Israelites were able to win the battle. Aaron and Hur may have thought that Moses could do it all by himself because they had witnessed so many miracles by his hands. Likewise, Moses may have felt that he had everything under control. Sometimes we are like this. We forget to pray and uphold those whom we think are more spiritual than ourselves because we think that they have it all together. Other times, we think that we are strong enough to stand alone, but the truth is that we all need each other. Even Jesus had His close friends and associates. He had the seventy that He sent out to witness for Him and He had His twelve disciples that stayed near Him as He ministered to the multitudes. Among those twelve, He had Peter, James, and John, the three who were closer to Jesus and who shared special experiences with Him. Then Jesus had John, the one whom He loved the most. These men ministered to Jesus in special ways while He taught them and made them strong in the faith. We all need each other. We should never feel that we are beyond helping others or being helped by others, for God never designed man to be alone. He gave us each other so that we could encourage and give strength to one another because life's battles require allies. So let us be humble enough to look to others when we need help and let also look for those that we can help. Let us be ready to strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. +++ Copyright © 2024 Mary Padgett Ministries. All Rights Reserved www.widsonline.com			..............................