Tag: Saints

I am sending the promise of my Father

“And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you”

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

John 16:7  Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

Acts 2:33     Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

Zechariah 12:10     “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Ephesians 4:10     He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Jude 1:17  But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.  They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”  It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.  But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,  keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.  And have mercy on those who doubt;  save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

The promise of the Helper, Holy Spirit, and Spirit of Grace and Mercy has been given to all who believe.  The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to lead, guide, teach, convict, comfort, and encourage our heart, mind, and soul.  The Holy Spirit’s influence in our life is not through some mystical void but rather through bringing God’s word alive and flooding our inner soul with understanding and knowledge of God.  The Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us peace. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus“. Staying in His word gives fertile ground for it to be brought to life and being led into action by the Holy Spirit for the purposes of God.  The promise of God for the Helper will equip us for all of God’s plans and purposes this side of eternity.  It will also equip us for everything we experience this side of eternity.  Stay in His presence, study His word, be open to hearing His whispers of leading, pray, and above all desire and commit to humbly serving, honoring, following, and obeying Him.

Peace I give to you

“May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!”

“ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”

Psalms 85:8  Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.

Hebrews 12:25     See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

John 14:27     Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Acts 10:36    As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)

2 Corinthians 5:18     All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;  that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Acts 3:26    God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

Galatians 4:9    But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

2 Peter 2:20-22    For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.  For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

God gives us a peace that is foreign to the world.  This peace is present in both times of blessings and troubles.  Having knowledge of this peace and living in it have two different outcomes.  A choice is made with the knowledge to either believe and claim it or reject it and it’s power in our life.  Many times we seek this peace when we face trials and troubles.  We run to God and seek His intervention.  Yet in times of blessing it seems as though it is a foreign thing to think of God, His sovereignty, His steadfast love, and His mercy and grace.  It is in His hands we find and live in this peace of mind.  The world will throw many a sense of false peace.  In the end these are nothing more than distractions that lead down paths of false hope and satisfaction.  The peace that God gives and is found in Him leads us through times of trials with hope, peace, refuge, courage, strength and power.  Through times of blessings it leads us to praise, thankful hearts, contentment, rejoicing, and kindness.  Read His word and search it for knowledge of God’s sovereignty, power, promises, peace, hope, joy, kindness, and steadfast love.

Thankful – God will supply all our needs

“Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?”

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

“Whoever walks in integrity will be delivered”

Psalms 84:4  Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!  Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.  As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.  They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.  O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!  Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!  For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.  For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.  O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! 

Philippians 4:19     And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Psalms 34:9     Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!  The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Proverbs 2:7     he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

Proverbs 28:6    Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.

Have you ever thought of what it is that hinders walking with God?  Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, greed, and pride all lead down a path of ever wanting and never finding.  These are all temporary satisfactions that have no end and will never satisfy the heart, soul and mind.  Satisfaction the world offers is tied to that which cannot satisfy the heart and soul.  Searching for satisfaction outside of God is like chasing the wind – (never caught – only a temporary sensory feeling – always changing direction). Those who desire and seek God choose to be humbly serving, honoring, following, and obeying Him.  Their eyes are on Him and eternity promised.  Holiness, purity, genuine love, kindness, faith, hope, generosity, obedience, service, and humbleness replace complacency, neglect, lust, greed, and worldly satisfaction.  Their hope is in the Lord.  Their trust is in the Lord.  Their strength is in Him.  Their peace is in Him. Their want is to honor Him.  Their desire is to serve, follow and obey Him. Their wisdom and food for life this side of eternity is found in His word and promises.

Hidden for Ages

“ A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

“ the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Malachi 4:5  “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

Matthew 11:13  For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,  and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.

Matthew 17:10  And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?”  He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things.  But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”  Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

Luke 1:17    and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

Luke 7:26  What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’  I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

1 Peter 1:10  Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,  inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.  It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

“The mystery hidden from ages now revealed.”  God chose to reveal this mystery to us.  He chose to make known that which had previously been vague.  I wonder if we, on the knowing side of the mystery, fully understand the magnitude of this great gift.  Do we treat it as though it is something special or just a bit more information.  It would appear as though we have been brought out from designed ignorance into God given wisdom in things so wonderful and blessed that our voices should ring with praise and thanksgiving to God.  But reality is we don’t truly understand the ignorance others lived in so this comparison can only be a mental exercise.  We live in a time where there is so much information at our finger tips.  World troubles are seconds away from us knowing they happened.  World accomplishments the same.  It would appear we are living in a time of testing our resolve to remain true to God even though all of this bombardment of information is happening.  We have been given access to God through His son.  We have been given His word to better understand Him and what it means to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him.  Do not let the speed and influx of this world’s information take one second away from spending time with God and His word.  Do not underestimate satan’s attempt at deceiving us into believing we are too busy or this other stuff is more important.  We leave this world with nothing and enter into eternity with true hope, faith, and assurance of salvation through Christ and promise of life with God.  Or, we spend this life totally cold or lukewarm to living for, trusting in, relying on, or clinging to Him ending in a life lived for self and no true hope.  The only thing that awaits is utter torment for eternity.

Far From Me

“He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.”

“And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.“

“But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls”

Psalms 45:7  you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

Psalms 101:3  I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.  A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.

Psalms 101:8     Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the LORD.

Revelation 21:27    But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life

Proverbs 23:31  Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.  In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.  Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things.

Jeremiah 22:17    But you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.”

Hosea 7:6  For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

Micah 2:2   They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

James 1:13  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.  But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Romans 12:9    Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Psalms 97:10   O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

It is our choice what we focus our eyes and heart upon.  For sure there is plenty in this world that so easily takes our focus and attention away from humbly serving, obeying, honoring and glorifying God. Why are we so easily distracted?  What can we do to lessen or remove these distractions?  Knowing and understanding God’s word and His purpose for our lives will change our focus, wants, and desires.  Staying in his word will result in changing our heart.  Day after day we are refreshed by it.  Morning by morning it is made new and revives our soul.  The warnings are clear for those who hang on to this world and what it has to offer, and as well to those who want to stand on the fence of this world and the one to come.  These people will encounter death, destruction, and will have no part in heaven.  Their lives will forever be in hell.  Choose to keep your eyes, heart, mind, and soul focused on God, through His word each day.  Commit to humbly serving, obeying, honoring, and glorifying Him.

Receive my words

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;”

Psalms 34:9  Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

Proverbs 4:1   Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

Proverbs 7:24  And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.

Proverbs 8:17  I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Proverbs 22:6   Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Ecclesiastes 11:9  Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.  Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Ecclesiastes 12:1  Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

Isaiah 28:9   “To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message?

Matthew 18:2  And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them  and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

“Listen to my words”, “humble yourself”, “be attentive”, “remember your creator”, “seek diligently”, and “fear (reverence and respect) God” are all spoken with the intent of the hearer taking action – making a choice to do it or not.  We make choice each day on how we will act, what we will say, how we will react, what we expose our eyes to, and what we listen to.  Staying close to God, seeking Him, humbly serving Him, listening to Him, and obeying Him will certainly guide the previous choices and how we face each day.  One path seeks only what is right in our own eyes and the other seeks what is right in God’s eyes.

 

Giving from the Heart

Giving comes from the heart.  If we give out of compassion or thankfulness our heart is pure.  God gives us opportunity to love others through giving and serving.  Being blessed by God allows us to share that blessing.  If we are not willing to give from what we have already been given then our heart is not in line with God’s intended purpose for our life.  Choose a life of giving.

Matthew 10:42
And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward

Proverbs 14:31
Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
but he who is generous to the needy honors him

Proverbs 19:17
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will repay him for his deed

Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises