Will You Serve God When Things Are Bad?

The question a lot of Christians need to ask themselves is, how do I serve God when thing are just horrible in my life. When things are going right, it is so easy to walk around with a smile. It's even easier to get up on Sunday morning to attend Service.That is something I refer to as Praising God, because we are giving him thanks for what he has, or what he is doing in our lives. But what happens when things starts to go downhill. I'm not just speaking about one event. I'm talking about numerous things that is happening at once.Losing your job, marriage falling apart, house going into foreclosure. What do you do when all of these things begin to take shape in your life? Do you still serve God with the same zeal you had when things were going good? Most times as humans we act like we feel. If things are going good, we let the world know with our praise. If things are going bad, don't ask us to sing the solo,or pray for the sick.
If you are a person who Worship God, it does not matter what is going on in your life, because knowing that God is able, is enough for you.In my book that is true christian faith.Without the belief and trusting, it is impossible to serve God to the fullest.In the book of Job, we see a man who had it all, and was continuing Serving and Thanking God.But one day, out of no fault of his own, everything was taken away from him.Even though we can see the affects this had on Job, he did not let that interfere with his Services toward God.His Praise and Worship was still at a high level. It didn't mean Job didn't question God, because he did.We will always have questions when things are happening to us, we just have to keep in mind that, if we keep our Praise and Worship front and center, God is able to give us more than we could ever imagine.

How Would You Live Your Last Days On Earth?

Yesterday, I was sitting watching the verdict in the death case of Casey Anthony, and was wondering what could have been going through her head. If convicted, she was facing death.It made me think, what if I knew I only had a short time to live.How would I spend my last days on earth if I knew for sure I was dying.Would I visit Disney Land, a place I’ve always wanted to go since I was a kid? Would I spend that time with my love ones? Would I call the people that I’ve wrong to say I’m sorry?All these questions started flooding my mind as I sat and watch for any sign of fear in this girl. I’m not saying if she was innocent or guilty, because that’s not what this message is all about.When you face something of that magnitude, the thought of being spared another chance is overwhelming.A lot of Christians came to the Lord because death knocked on their door, but God spared them.We never know what God would have us go through to get us to come back to him.

If you are a person today that is holding on to some kind of grudge toward someone, or you are just walking around feeling defeated, what would you do if you knew you were dying in a few days?Would you sit and be defeated, or would you try and make the best out of what time you have left? We all have to think that today is our last day here because we are not promised tomorrow.So today, go tell that person you have wrong that you are sorry. Tell those you love that you love them.Give a smile to the person you see feeling down. Don’t put off today for tomorrow because it just might be too late.

Studying The Bible

Consistency is a saying of a friend of mine who all but destroyed himself by inconsistency.Knowing the problem does not always guarantee a remedy.Doubtless more Christians have gone down the spiritual path drain or failed to grow in their daily devotional lives more than any other one thing.As we know,it is absolutely essential to get into the word daily,to keep fresh and filled with the spirit,but unfortunately only a small percentage of God's people have found this key.Self discipline is not the hallmark of this affluent age in which we live,but I believe that self discipline is the name of the game as far as success is concerned.Whether it is a Micky Mantle,whose 3-5 hours a night as a youngster hitting his fathers right-hand pitching and his grandfather left-hand pitching produced the greatest switching baseball player of all times,or Terry Bradshaw a premier Hall Of Fame Quarterback,or Paul Anderson whose daily hours of lifting weights made him the strongest man in the world,discipline is the name of the game!Admittedly they had talent,but so do thousands of other people,but they added the discipline of practice to their talent and became established superstars.You will never be consistent in bible reading until you train your mind and body.Ask yourself,are you willing to get up an hour early to study the word?Remember you can't grow in the word unless you study the word.

Has God Put You On Hold

Over the past 25 years we have become a right now society. We don't believe in being put on hold for anything.If we are on the phone and get placed on hold for more than 2 minutes we will get impatient and hang up the phone. Caller ID has allowed us to screen calls we don't want to accept.But, what if God put you on hold? Would you hang up(give up) the line or would you be patient enough to wait on the answer? God has a place and time for everything. We pray and ask God for things, and most time we feel that God is not listening.We have to understand that God always hear us when we pray to him.At the particular time we are asking for something, God know that we may not be mature enough to handle it, so he puts us on hold. Those of us who are parents can probably remember back when our children were younger and pleaded with us  to get them something that we felt they were not mature enough to handle.We put them on hold until a later time when we felt they were able to handle whatever it was they wanted.It is the same way with God and us.We can literally destroy ourselves and others if God were to give us things before the right time.
In Genesis you can read the story of Joseph. At the age of 17, Joseph was plotted against by his brothers and was sold in slavery to the Egyptians. Joseph was a faithful servant to God, but now Joseph life is put on hold.Little did Joseph know that God was preparing him for something great. 13 years later, a severe famine swept across the land. There wasn't any food to be found anywhere except in Egypt. Joseph was placed second in command, so he was in charge of the food supply.Because of the shortage of food, Joseph brother were sent to him by their father for food. The brothers had no idea who Joseph was, but Joseph recognized them right away.Joseph was able to save his family from starving. The point of the story is, that if God would have given Joseph that kind of authority 10 years earlie,r he may not have been mature enough to handle it then.Could you imagine what Joseph would have done if his brothers would have come to him years ago?God always have an appointed time for everything. So, if you have prayed for something and God has put you on hold, have patients and don't hang up the line.

Your Daily Devotion

It would be unrealistic to suggest that every morning when you awake 15 minutes early,your brain will be 100 percent "on" and you will be eager to get into the Word.There will be mornings like that,and there will be some when you awake feeling like the rapture occurred and you have been left behind,particularly if you are a late night worker.But don't give in to that lackadaisical suggestion your mind offers.

If you awake feeling drowsy take a shower and get dressed before your quiet time.But put in your 15 minutes minimum reading time whether you feel like it or not!If you are a beginner in studying the word,it will be beneficial to your growth in the Lord that you start with a 15 minute study each morning.Starting with the 4 Gospels will really take you on a journey of getting to know the Lord.There, you will see how he, as a Man, lived upon this earth and doing the "will of the Father".What a great example for us to follow.Getting the mind of Christ will take getting to know him, so make a vow with yourself that no matter what's going on around me,my 15 minutes with the Lord will bring peace unto my soul.I encourage you today!Get to know the Lord for yourself starting this day!

Are You A Negative Or Positive Influence On Your Child

When our children reach their teenage years and become rebellious, one of the statements most parents make is, I don't know where this attitude come from. Could it be that we taught it to them? In the early stage of a child life all they want to do is love and obey their parents.So, how did it go from love and obeying to being rebellious and lying? In life we as parents have the biggest influence in our child life. Now that influence will either be a negative influence or a positive influence.My children are all grown now and are doing great, but those teenage years was something I could have done without. The talking back and lying was getting to me. I was always asking them, WHERE IS THIS COMING FROM! After a few years, I was reading the story of Jacob and almost fell out my chair.The Holy Spirit let me know that it was me who taught them.I was taken back to when my son was about 6 years old and always loved to be around his daddy. I use to take him everywhere, and one of the main things I engraved in him was, never tell mama where we been or what we did. It worked like a charm. Everytime his mama asked him about our activities, he had my back. By the age of 11 he knew how to avoid the truth very well.The influence I had on him as a child was a very negative influence. I mentioned the story of Jacob because you can see how his mother had a very negative influence on Jacob life. She taught him to lie and be very deceiving.If you are a parent and are teaching your children to tell the person on the phone that you are not there, or tell the person at the door that you are not home, you make be setting your children up for a very rebellious teenage and adult life.

God Answers Prayer

Are you a Christian that is still waiting on their blessing?You pray,fast,and pray some more each week and it just seem as though God is not listening.Well I have a question for you.Has your prayer been answered and you didn’t receive it?Sometime in life we can get in our own way of receiving our blessing.We continue to ask God why is he not answering our prayer.The fact of the matter is, he has already answered us and we just won’t receive the answer.We just continue to pray about it and God is telling us to quit praying for things he has already answered.Our problem is that we need to learn how to recognize the answer so we can receive it.
How many of you remember the story in the book of Acts when Peter was in jail and the church was in prayer across town.I can imagine that this wasn’t just normal praying but some Holy Ghost praying.When you read the story you will see that God answered their prayer while they were still praying,but watch what happens!Peter knocked on the door and when the girl looked out and saw who it was, she didn’t bother opening up the door.Instead she went and told the praying church that Peter(the answer)was at the door.Their response to her was that she was crazy because Peter was in jail.Finally when they did come to the door and saw it really was Peter,they were shocked.It was as though they wasn’t expecting for God to answer them.If you are praying for something and want God to move in your behalf, you have to be willing to receive the blessing.Don’t just let your blessing continue to stand at your door knocking.In order to receive the blessing you must open the door.

Activating Gods Word By Faith

God said that his word will never come back to him void,which means his word will do exactly what it said it would do.Now the main problem most of us Christians have is that we expect God to do all the work.We pray and ask God for blessings and then we just kick back waiting on the blessing.I stopped by to tell you ,you will be waiting a long time.It’s not that God can’t do it without you,but it will be your faith that moves him.The bible say faith without work is dead.The problem is that most of us don’t activate Gods word.

Hebrews teaches us that the Word Of God is quick,powerful, and sharper than any two-edge sword,which means the word is only alive when you activate(apply) it to your life.The word quick means “to revive,bring back to life”.In the Old Testament, we saw that Sarah in her old age body was quicken(revived,stimulated)in order for her to conceive.In order for you to receive that which God has promised you must apply it to your life.Once you do that then the word becomes powerful to do what it was sent out to do.

Let me give you an example.Most of us have Credit Cards.When the credit card is first issued to us it tells us we have $500 to spend.Even though that is true, if you take it to the store and try purchasing something, the card will be denied even though you know the money is there.You had not given the card the power to do what it was intended to do.If you take that same card and activate it by calling the number on the back, you have just given the card the power to do what was intended for it to do and you will be able purchase what you need.The same goes for Gods word.You must take the Word and apply it daily to your life so it can accomplish that which it was sent out to accomplish.