Sunday, December 20, 2015

Committed Disciples

 
Deu 20:4  For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
Deu 20:5  And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.
Deu 20:6  And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.
Deu 20:7  And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.
Deu 20:8  And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.

These were conditions that excused men from going to battle. The LORD was going to go before them, yet some may lose their lives. A victory requires that God go before you. They were fighting for their inheritance in the land. What if all made excuses? What if the people were complacent? Then the enemy would take over their lives. To be a disciple of Christ has a greater commitment then these who would be excused. If you are to be his disciples it required that he be most important to you, you must put him first.
 
Luke 14:33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. 

Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

We are not to be lazy complacent Christians. It is the work of Christ that gives us our victory, but others need to know of him too. We are called to go deeper in his word and to share with those around us,
 

1Co 4:1  Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
1Co 4:2  Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
 

By his grace we have the victory.


Friday, December 18, 2015

A Stranger Over You


Deu 17:14  When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
Deu 17:15  Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
 

Seven years of a stranger as president and the only promise he has kept is change. This is not the direction our founding fathers chose for our country. I pray that our leaders will have an encounter with the Most high God, the God of Israel. It is supposed to be the United States of America, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all. An illegal president bringing illegal's into our country, with the purpose to change the god and soul of America? We who are the children of God are to be the truth bearers and not be silent. God is a God of righteousness and truth, not of lies and deceit. One nation under God, and if disobedient, one nation under the wrath of God. His wrath will not be on his own people.


Thursday, December 17, 2015

Too heavy a load

For many years I have been filling propane tanks at a local supplier, hauling it home and using a dolly to bring it to the back of the house where it is hooked up. There was a fire at the place that I go to fill my tanks so when I brought my tank to be filled this time, I had to bring it to the feet of the young man who fills the tanks. There was a new policy that they would not help move the tanks. He filled the tank handed my a receipt to know how much I was to pay the cashier, then he walked off. Always before I had help pushing the filled tank up into the pickup. It weighs about 200 lbs full. Well? I'm a man, even an old one, I will try to pull it up in the truck...no way, it is dead weight. There was a recycling place behind the store where two men were talking. I walked over to these strangers and asked if they would help me to load the propane tank in the truck?  Without hesitation they followed me back to the truck. Three strong arms easily pulled the heavy weight up into the truck. Taking it down from the truck I could do myself without help. It was so good to have helping hands when I needed them.

I was thinking about this in the body of Christ. Often people get upset because the church members do not help them with their burdens. My first response is did you ask for help? If a stranger will help, why not the members of the body of Christ? Often people give their prayers to another, or their needs upon another, but first they asked for help. Do not expect your burdens to be helped by others if you do not ask. We will have burdens and others can help us, but we also must bear some responsability for our own burdens.

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 
Gal 6:3  For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 
Gal 6:4  But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 
Gal 6:5  For every man shall bear his own burden. 

Another time that we are to ask for help is in healings.

Jas 5:14  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 
Jas 5:15  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 

God is glorified in this. How is he glorified if no one has faith in him? If God is hidden from you, it may be because of your unbelief. How are you to help someone who doesn't believe enough to ask for it?

John 12:36  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. 
John 12:37  But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: 


John 16:23  And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 




Monday, December 14, 2015

First Love


Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

It would appear to most that the church at Ephesus was doing well, but Jesus warns them, that they have left their first love. Let's look at another scripture passage.

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

In this section we see prophesy, casting out devils in the name of Jesus and wonderful works; and yet Jesus said, depart from me...I never knew you. It was all done apart from an intimate relationship with the Lord. Jesus did nothing without first going to the father in prayer. These others appear to be busy, but not in contact with the father. They were doing everything by their own abilities. They were not one with the LORD in his will and purpose. One friend mentioned the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was very busy, but Mary set at the feet of Jesus. Mary was commended for her drawing near to the Lord and hearing him.

Tozer said that love is an act of the will, not just emotions. I will serve God, I will be faithful. But, we must take time to hear from God to trust in him. Have we forgotten who and how we were when we came to Jesus? We were needy and dependant on him. He was everything, God was everything to me. Now do we just do everything by our own will and thoughts? The spirit in you shows you things and guides you in all truth. Do not forget your first love. We cannot take the place that only belongs to Jesus.

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

 I would like to hear your thoughts on this topic. Send to Superragman@aol.com.



Saturday, December 12, 2015

Prophet


Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Deu 18:20  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
Deu 18:21  And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
Deu 18:22  When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Moses was the only one hearing from God at this time. When Moses was gone God would raise up a prophet to give the LORD's revelation to his people. He was required to speak what he heard from God without adding to it, it was to be the truth of God. Today if we hear from a prophet, we are to test his words, we know that his words must line up with God's word in the Bible. If a future event is spoken of, then the test is whether or not the event came to pass. He is not to speak his own thoughts. Jesus is the Son of God, yet he spoke as a prophet what he heard from the Father.
 

John 12:49  For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

I heard a preacher say of a prophet who prophecied in error, that he just made a mistake. The word says something else:

Deu 18:20  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. 

One should not presume to be a prophet when he is not. I do not think there should be schools teaching people to be prophets. It is not of man, but of God.


Thursday, December 10, 2015

Truth and Delusions


Deu 11:11  But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
Deu 11:12  A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
Deu 11:13  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deu 11:14  That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
Deu 11:15  And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.
Deu 11:16  Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

The LORD made the earth and all that is in it. He made the land of Israel for his people. The Muslims were not given the land that God made for Israel. The original inhabitants worshipped false gods. The God of Israel chose the land for his people Israel, and he watches over it. The LORD will give rain for their land in due season.
 
I was reading a scientific magazine as I was waiting in a doctors office with Faye. It said that the earths water came from asteroids from outer space. Science is getting delusional and in part, because they will not acknowledge God as creator. Darwin's picture was in an ad in a magazine from the Freedom From Religion group. They quoted him as saying the Bible teaches hell for non believers and they do not accept this, it isn't fair. Well, it is the LORD God of Israel who is creator, life giver and judge. Even if all the world's people are delusional, God is true to his word in the Holy Bible.
 
Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 

Rom 3:4  ... yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
 
Many Scientists and Colleges are teaching lies for truth. The Word of God is truth. Come to Jesus for a new mind and a new heart, forgiven of sin.



Sunday, December 6, 2015

Broken Laws

 Deu 9:16  And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you. 
Deu 9:17  And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.
Deu 9:18  And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

The people were given ten commandments on the mount where Moses communed with the LORD. Is it possible to break laws if you do not know what they are? God knew that they were sinning and cut off from him. Even as Moses was on the mountain, the LORD saw them sinning and was angry with them. Moses saw their nakedness and the idol that they had made, so he cast the two stone tablets containing the laws on the ground, breaking them as the people were breaking the laws. Moses spent forty days and nights fasting in repentance and intercession for the people. The tablets and laws would be made again.
 
Deu 10:1  At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.
Deu 10:2  And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.
Deu 10:3  And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.
Deu 10:4  And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.
 
The ten commandments were morally and physically broken, but they did not disappear. The laws of God remain for as long as there are sinners. They are not going away. The grace of God allows us to be forgiven through Jesus Christ, but grace is not a free pass to break the commands of God.
 
Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Grace protecting us is like a kind parent, but even a kind parent may spank a child who disobeys. Learning the commands of God will help us to live in grace. In sin their is bondage and death. Jesus has given us freedom from sins penalty. To live in freedom we obey God out of a new redeemed heart, He then blesses us abundantly. Thank you Lord for saving me.




Saturday, December 5, 2015

A Nations Decline


We would do well to meditate on these verses.

Deu 8:11  Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:
Deu 8:12  Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
Deu 8:13  And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
Deu 8:14  Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
Deu 8:15  Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
Deu 8:16  Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
Deu 8:17  And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
Deu 8:18  But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
Deu 8:19  And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
Deu 8:20  As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.


Friday, December 4, 2015

Iron and Gold


Deu 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

 The LORD speaking to Israel, a people who had been under bondage and affliction. I see the furnace as a great trial to bring forth pure iron. Iron is strength. When we go through things we become stronger as we trust the LORD. The furnace of affliction and the furnace of purifying. We do not know our faith in the Lord so much as when we are tried by fire. One thing that strengthen me is to not want to go back to the way it was, we go forward. Trusting in the LORD it burns off all that does not please him. The spirit of fear is replaced by his perfect love that casts out fear.
 
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
 
Iron rusts, so there is something more precious that is pure that comes from the furnace of affliction and that is pure gold, that comes by trusting in Jesus who endured much to be our standard of righteousness, purity and truth.
 
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
 
If you say you are rich, then buy what Jesus offers, the fire of affliction. You must be broken before you can receive the true riches of salvation in Jesus Christ. The trial of your faith is more precious than gold, because it brings forth honor, glory and praise at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
 
1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

What we endure now is nothing compared to our eternal inheritance.


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Judges


Deu 1:16  And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
Deu 1:17  Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

Judgment is God's, so do not be afraid of the face of man. How we need judges who turn to God for righteous judgments, rather than to man. Political activism and political correctness have resulted in ungodly judgments. To go against the word of God is to call God a liar and to take his place. I see godly judges, but also many ungodly judges who fear those in power. Lets apply this to ourselves. Are we judging righteously, that is, are we knowing right from wrong? Do we chose to do what is right? If we do not know what is the right thing, pray to God for his wisdom and direction and seek godly counsel from spiritual Christians. We are not to judge others harshly. God's word says that if we see someone in need of correction that we are not to think ourselves better than they are. People do not like to be judged, but to be loved and directed with kindness.
 

Gal 6:1  Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Gal 6:3  For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 

We like to think of ourselves as the children of God with his power, but too often we act as our sinful nature, with stubborness and pride. The old way of thinking is  vain, we are nothing in the flesh mind. Walk in the Spirit of Christ and we will be as the children of God full of grace and mercy. Pray for our judges to obey the commands of God and we shall obey the will of God.