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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

A Message to All Sinners

Imagine a sponge that has been used to wash the dishes. It's all full of dirt and food and old water. It needs to be filled with clean water!

But how can you do that? Easy.

You wring it out, rinse it off, and wring it out again. Only when you have done this can you fill it with clean water.

It's the same with the Spirit. Here we are, all full of sin and grime and filth. There is no room for Him. But once all the filth has been removed, and we have been emptied, the Spirit can come and fill us anew.

Empty yourself to God and allow the Holy Spirit to move in your life.

In your daily schedule, give room to God by starting your day with scripture memorization and meditation.

Fact is, only you can choose how intimate your relationship with God is.

How God answers prayer...

John Maxwell writes in his book, Partners in Prayer;

"In the summer of 1876, grasshoppers nearly destroyed the crops in Minnesota. So in the spring of 1877, farmers were worried. They believed that the dreadful plague would once again visit them and again destroy the rich wheat crop, bringing ruin to thousands of people.

The situation was so serious that Governor John S. Pillsbury proclaimed April 26 as a day of prayer and fasting He urged every man, woman and child to ask God to prevent the terrible scourge.

On that April day all schools, shops, stores and offices were closed. There was a reverent, quite hush over all the state.

The next day dawned bright and clear.

Temperature soared to what they ordinary were in midsummer, which was very unusual for April.

Minnesotans were devastated as they discovered billions of grasshopper larvae wiggling to life.

For 3 days the unusual heat persisted, and the larvae hatched. It appeared that it wouldn't be long before they started feeding and destroying the wheat crop.

On the fourth day, however the temperature suddenly dropped, and that night frost, covered the entire state.

Result - it killed every one of those creeping, crawling pests as surely as if poison or fire had been used, It went down in the history of Minnesota as the day God answered the prayers of the people."

That is an awesome story!

God surely answer prayers but unfortunately some Christians are not praying enough.

Ever wonder why?

That's because their minds and hearts are not completely in tune with God.

Monday, October 8, 2012

The BIG truth about fear...

Shohoiya Yokowai spent 28 years of his life in prison. It was not a prison of bars & locks & wardens, but a self-imposed prison of fear.

He was a Japanese soldier on the island of Guam during WW2.

And when the American forces landed, he fled into the jungle & found a cave in which he hid for 28 years because he was afraid of being captured by the Americans.

He learned that the war was over by reading one of the thousands of pamphlets dropped into the jungle. But he was afraid.

So for 28 years he lived in the cave, coming out only at night to look for roaches & rats & frogs & mangoes on which he survived.

Finally some natives found him & convinced him that it would be all right for him to come out of his jungle prison.

We think, "What a waste! Imagine, spending 28 years living as a prisoner of fear."

Yet, there are a lot of people who are prisoners of fear.

Fears like...

fear of failing
fear of succeeding
fear of disappointing people
fear of losing our child
fear of the unknown
fear of dying

Frankly, I can have a long list of different fears that people have.

They're not aware of it simply because they call "fear" with a different name.

How about you?

Do you have fear that's preventing God to fully bless your life?
Are you trying to control your life instead of letting God have His way?

Listen, the best way to overcome your fear is to have a strong faith in God and you do this by regularly meditating scripture.
In Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

No doubt, in developing your faith there's no better substitute to scripture memorization and meditation.

So I encourage you to take action, be bold, and make a decision now to start memorizing scriptures.

How to know if you're really saved...

"Let's say you have an appointment in another city, and you need to fly there. You purchase your ticket on the internet, you get your confirmation with times and flight and gate numbers.

But you are delayed enroute to the airport, and when you finally arrive, running through the airport you come to your gate only to be told that the plane you see rolling away outside the window is the one you were supposed to be on, and you've missed your flight.

You were very, very close.

But there's no such thing as being half on and half off a commercial flight.

You're either all the way on the plane and heading for your destination, or you're standing in the airport with your hands dangling at your side because you're helpless to change your circumstances.

This is the difference between children of light and children of darkness. There is no in between. You are light, or you are dark. You are heaven bound, or you are destined to an eternity without God. You are saved or you are lost.

The only way you're going to get on that plane; the only way you can ever hope to be made a child of light, is to go to Light Himself and on His terms."

That's why it's critical that you have a regular communication with God. Every time you read, memorize, and meditate scriptures, you're keeping yourself with the Light Himself.

With scripture memorization, you're deciding to stay with God, embrace Him, and love Him.

He read the Bible with his tongue...

A man in Kansas City was severely injured in an explosion.
Evangelist Robert L. Sumner tells about him in his book The Wonders of the Word of God.

The victim's face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands.

He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible.

Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille.

Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion.

One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them.

Like a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue. At the time Robert Sumner wrote his book, the man had "read" through the entire Bible four times.

How many of you can say you've read through the Bible four times--with two good eyes? This man had a craving--and even losing his eyesight wouldn't prevent him from reading God's Word.

So don't let laziness or procrastination prevent you from reading and memorizing God's Word.

Be a "no-excuse" Christian and start memorizing scriptures starting today.

How does God measure success...

In Washington D.C. there is a building called the "National Institute of Standards & Technology." This facility is responsible for storing perfect samples of weights and measurements.

They have what are called "prototypes" of pound weights and kilograms. Measuring rods for feet, yards & metric measurements like meters.

For example, they have a "Meter Standard" a reinforced bar of platinum alloyed with exactly 10% iridium. When they want to know the exact measurement of a "meter" they cool this bar down to 0 degrees Celsius at a sea level of 45 degrees latitude then they know they will have the exact tip to tip measurement of a meter.

That bar is known as prototype #27, because the original is kept in a suburb of Paris at the International Bureau of Weights & Measures.

We Christians also have a measuring rod that never changes. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Remember, there's no substitute having scripture in your heart and mind. Do not allow this world to dictate who you are and what to believe in.

Memorize scripture and let it be your life's standard.

It's your protection from devil's lies and deceptions.

The recipe to a victorious life...Biblically.

Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in '71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn't call his own signals was a source of trial for him.

Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!).

Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team.

Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory."

The point of the story is simple.

And that is in our relationship with God it requires full submission and obedience.

If God is convicting you to do something or to get rid of sins or habits...just do it.

Like in our story, once you learned to obey that's the only time you'll experience harmony, fulfillment, and victory in your life.