KEEPING PROMISES

 Remember when you were a kid and swore a promise with the infamous "pinky swear"? I taught this symbolic gesture to my youngest daughter who took this Japanese inspired practice to new heights. She learned quickly that when she locked pinky fingers with me, and we made promises, whatever we swore to do became a done deal. Although these promises were silly like having waffles and ice cream for Friday nights dinner or having her two best friends for a  sleepover extravaganza these promises became an unbreakable agreement. Back in those innocent days of childhood, this simple gesture signified a promise that would never be broken. She learned she didn't have to do anything to earn these promises, she simply had to believe I would do what I promised to do. Pinky promises were more than a silly way of making a commitment, to us, it was a foundation of trust.

Did you know, in the Bible, there are 7,487 promises for your life. If you decide to read just one of these promises a day you will have a promise from God for more than 20 years of your life. If that's not great news I don't know what is.

 To the point of this blog... we can pinky swear (so to speak) with our Heavenly Father and trust him to fulfill all his promises. "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and Amen, to the glory of God through us." (2 Corinthians 1:20)  In other words, when you agree with God, and choose to believe the promises written in the Bible are for your life, you have in effect, done a pinky promise with God, the creator of all things. God tells us to come to him with childlike faith. He wants to bless you. Below, I have listed a weeks worth of God's incredible promises. Google the verses on your favorite Bible app. Each day, read and think about what God is promising you. You don't have to earn his promises. He actually cares about you and wants to abundantly bless you.  Don't wait to get started on the road to miraculous blessings. Accept his offer of an abundant, promise filled life.

God has a great plan for your life! (Jeremiah 29:11) 

All things are possible for those who believe. (Matthew 19:26)

God will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

When you are weak, God will give you strength. ((Isaiah 40:31)

God will guide you along the right paths for your life. (Proverbs 3:5-6) 

You will prosper and succeed in all you do   (Joshua 1;7-8) 

God loves you and calls you by name. (Isaiah 43:1)

 

 

 

FOLLOW THE LEADER

"When the godly are in authority the people rejoice, but when the wicked gain power they suffer." {Proverbs 29:2)

We tend to look at the outward appearance of our politicians and judge them according to popular opinion instead of taking a step back and weighing our impression by a higher standard. Leadership should be about the platform and qualifications of the person we decide to put in charge of our families, bank accounts, safety and freedoms.When choosing our presidential candidate in the upcoming election, our vote has the power to alter the course of our great nation for generations to come.

We can't afford to put our signatures behind a weak leader who changes their position at the first sign of opposition or worse just to garner a vote. We need to put our weight behind a strong person with moral convictions that mirror our own, not some flimflam who's platform is constantly changing and tossed about by the wind.

Leadership and strength of character go hand and hand and are mentioned 360 times in the Bible. Why is the word of God important when we are talking about following the right leader for our future? 

We have witnessed throughout the past four years how quickly our nation has fallen into spiritual darkness. Without God leading the charge, we are doomed to have chaos and evil of every kind within each branch of government, in the deep state and the special interest groups. When I say vote your conscience I am not using some religious cliche. If  our leadership's ideals don't line up with the Word of God in the Bible we will reap a society that is following the wide road to perdition. 

My friends...we are the country's last line of defense against Communism or Freedom. Choose your leader wisely.  

 

  

 

FINDING THE WAY

Google has changed the way we devour and process information.  With a few clicks of the keyboard we can scour the internet to our hearts content looking for everything under the sun. 

Sometimes our searches are a lot more important and there is more at stake, especially when we are looking for spiritual guidance and direction. Some research engines say there are 4,000 recognized faith's in the world. In that colossal number of religions there are five that are most widely known. So how do we sift through the opinion versus fact of finding and following the one true God.

At this time, Christianity is still leading the pack in theory, but 65% of people who claim to know God, believe Jesus is NOT the only way to eternal life. Unless we begin to think of the Bible...not the internet... as our life compass we become like ships without the correct coordinates to guide us through the storms of life. If you find you are lost and in doubt of the truth, search the Word of God for answers. The gospel of John 14:6 covers all loose ends. Jesus said, "I AM the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." For me, that's the end of the story, but to really bring this passage home we read in the book of Acts, "There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which you can be saved."( Acts 4:12)  Jesus is the only name!  He died on the cross and rose from the dead and took our sins and guilt upon himself.  Why? Because God loves us and wants us to repent, follow Jesus, and live with him eternally in heaven. "Like sheep we have all gone astray, each one of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all." Isaiah 3:6

We can google whatever we want, and believe what we choose, but there is only one book to base our eternal life upon. The Bible is our road map leading us on our way home. 

 JESUS IS THE WAY

 

 
 

IDENTITY THEFT

I have realized over the years that one of the worst things we can do to ourselves is compare ourselves with others. Always thinking we are not as good as someone else will eventually pull us into full blown defeat. At first, unhealthy comparisons might seem like an innocent obsession. We enjoy imagining what it would be like to have their car, their house, their family, their life. However, comparison has a friend named discontentment and a cousin called ungrateful who will quickly move into your head space to steal your joy and in it's place will leave you feeling depressed and believing you are not enough. 

If you have ever found yourself thinking you just don't measure up let me share with you some really great news from our life coach...the Holy Spirit.

 "For we are God's masterpiece, he has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10

Not only does God tell us we are each his special masterpiece but he has good things planned for each one of us. His plan is unique for you...just you. That means when we trust what his word says even the bad things that happen in our lives he can turn around and help us use them for good. God doesn't play favorites (Romans 2:1)  I realize some set backs are totally traumatic, like a bad diagnosis or the loss of someone you love but God can turn the worst situation into your biggest blessing if you will trust him.

Give God your paintbrush. He is preparing you for a 'one of a kind' life of purpose.

WATCHERS ON THE WALL

One of my favorite political commentators always reminds his viewers that,"Cutesy Time Is Over." I couldn't agree more. Believers are called to be Watchmen in order to sound the alarm when enemies approach our gates. At this point, our adversary  Satan, and his sinful ideologies, have surrounded the fortified city we call planet earth.  Unfortunately, many of God's Watchmen have abandoned their post for fear of offending someone. This is not the time to sugarcoat the Word of God. Sinful beliefs are running rampant in our halls of justice, our government policies, the entertainment industry and even our churches.  Calling sin what it is, rebellion against God and His commandments, is not 'hate speech.' Intimidation tactics should not bully us into silence and compromise...It should empower us to speak against the growing evil causing many to fall away from the faith we have long held as our standard in America. 

If sin is not such a big deal...why did Jesus have to die such a horrible death to pay the price for our rebellion? As Watchmen we have to stop calling evil good and good evil to appease the gods of this age. We have all sinned and fall short of God's glory. That's why we must admonish the unbelievers and backsliders to repent now, before its too late. Each one of us has a circle of influence. Our homes, our workplaces and social media are in dire need of Watchmen who will speak the truth and lead the lost to safety. God is waiting for sinners to have a sincere desire to turn from their rebellious ways and turn back to him.  If the Watchmen don't tell them who will? Repent and be saved.

"If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness."( 1 John 1:9)

"If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)
 

DISPATCHED... INTO THE WAR ZONE

The dictionary tells us dispatched means to be sent off or sent away with promptness or speed. When we are dispatched quickly we are on an important mission and we should take the call very seriously.

The last thing Jesus instructed his followers to do before he ascended into heaven was to GO and share the Gospel with those who don't know the Good News of Salvation. We are all called to be God's ambassadors, his spokesmen on earth. Some of us will be called to mission fields across the ocean and to remote place not yet explored. But let's face facts...most of us won't be called to the remote jungles of the Amazon, however, we are all Sent into our own backyard mission fields.  "GO..and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Matthew 28:19

Take a look around. Society today has a polluted view of Jesus in spite of the fact that there is a church on every corner. Many of us shy away from engaging our lost family members, coworkers and friends because calling out sin is considered hate speech. However, the truth of the situation is that people will burn in hell for lack of spiritual knowledge. Many people today have bought into the lies of the secular culture that perverts the grace and love of God into a license for immorality and deny the real word written in the Bible. The new fake gospel touts living a life of your own misguided choosing. No matter how loving and inclusive this ideology is cracked up to be, in truth its deliberate deception created by Satan is meant to lead the uninformed astray. Many ungodly people are trying to push their agenda into our churches. We can't live contrary to God's teaching and call ourselves Christians.

Jesus said we are the salt of the earth but if salt looses its flavor its useless. We are 'sent' into a tasteless world to be like a preservative to add truth to what is spoiled in the culture by sin and falsehood. Salt is God's standards that we are encouraged to live up to. We are not to try to bring the error of the culture into church teachings we are to speak truth and allow the Holy Spirit to do his transforming work in the heart of the unbeliever. Our responsibility is to know what God's word says and be willing to defend our stand and not be swayed by opposing opinions.  

We don't need to be intimidated by a counterfeit gospel. God's word equips us and qualifies us to stand up for the souls of the lost. Jesus was known to eat and socialize with sinners in order to show us how to engage the lost without assimilating into their world. Like Jesus we are to inspire people to change their ways and follow in Jesus footprints. Build yourself up in faith by really knowing what the word of God says. Pray in the Holy Spirit and keep yourself free from sin that easily entangles all of us. Confess when you fall, turn back to Jesus and keep moving forward. Be merciful to those who doubt; speak truth to those running head first into a sinful lifestyle; show mercy mixed with fear. (Jude 1:20)

Jesus said,"the harvest of souls is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into his fields." Luke 10:2

 

WHEN DARKNESS FALLS...WE SHINE

As a fantasy writer, I love stories about warriors brandishing swords to slay dragons while the Angel Armies of Heaven cheer the hero's on and demons writhe in fear at their coming doom. Back in the day when I first put my ideas to paper few people saw the spirit world of 'good verses evil' as a force to be reckoned with in our everyday comfortable lives. Unfortunately, over the decades we exchanged the truth of God's principles with the current cultures condemned view of reality. 

Today, its easy to see our crumbling society through spiritual eyes. The veil has lifted and dragons, demons, and angels are living among us (figuratively speaking). Christians must lead the charge against the onslaught of darkness with the only weapons worthy of fighting a holy war.

Why do we need weapons and who are we fighting? We have an enemy, Satan, who comes to kill, steal and destroy our lives. Like it or not spiritual warfare is a reality for everyone, and you are a target.

" For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood..."(Ephesians 6:12-13)  As warriors in 2024 our weapons are not physical. Our weapons are spiritual and powerful for fighting lies and misinformation. The current culture has turned everything upside down. They preach good as evil and evil as good. Many people are confused, fearful and angry because they don't know what to believe. In these last days our rule of thumb must be...If its not in the Bible...don't believe it. Fight lies with the word of God. His truth is our spiritual sword to be used to correct, encourage and rebuke those who are stumbling through the growing darkness. (2 Timothy 4:2) If we don't speak up now, and tell them the truth, who will?

So...how do we engage the enemy? Read your Bible, our basic training manual. Don't just read it, do what it says. Memorize verses, and surround yourself with like minded people. When we hear bad news and feel powerless against the darkness surrounding our future... don't fear. God tells us our words have power. We need to speak life and hope, to ourselves and others, especially when it looks like victory is out of reach. It's in the darkest hour our light of truth will shine the brightest. Be a warrior. Rise to the occasion. "We are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us." (Romans 8:37)  

ALL THE FORCES OF DARKNESS CANNOT STOP WHAT GOD HAS ORDAINED. (Isaiah 14:27)