Philippians 2:12-13

Philippians 2:12-13
12b work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

2 Corinthians 10:12
12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

For over a year our pastor has been pleading with us to come up higher. Every evangelist that has come through has told us that our church is destined for great revival and great impact in our area. We have seen modest growth, but not the explosion we feel God wants to pour out.

Why? I feel like one of the answers is submission. We compare ourselves among ourselves. Instead of aspiring to what God wants from us, we look to our neighbor. Does he "get away" with a behavior that may be less than Godly? Well, then it should be OK for me too. Instead of seeing how closely we can walk with God, we see how close we can get to the world and still be "Godly".

I challenge each of us to ask God what He would have us do to get closer to Him. Then take that answer to heart. If He tells you to pray 3 times a day when your spouse is only praying once, pray 3 times a day. If he tells you that you spend too much time watching football, don't worry about the fact that you can list 3 men who spend more time than you do. If He wants your wardrobe to be more conservative than those around you don't judge them by your standards. Ask God to help you with your salvation, not your spouses, your classmates or coworkers. While it is our duty to lead as many people to God as we can, ultimately, the only relationship that will matter is the one you have.

In His service for His glory,

Deborah

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Romans 12:1
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

In the gluttonous, feel good, "me first" society of 21st century America, this concept is one of the hardest for us to accept. Most of us have been raised in society that tells us we "deserve" good things. That good times are accompanied by alcohol, tobacco and drugs. That "comfort food" is necessary in our life. That excess is a sign of our prosperity.

We certainly have bought the lie from the pit. In 2004, the average debt level representing credit card and car loan debt, but excluding mortgages, was approximately $18,700 per US household. In 2005, 30% of Americans were obese and well over 1/2 were overweight. I can only assume the numbers have increased. We bombard our senses with trash from every imaginable source. The Internet, television, radio, magazines and billboards show us that excess is fun and being conservative is fuddy duddy.

Even in the face of the bill: the epidemic of diabetes, the car title loan companies springing up like mushrooms in our community, the studies that show us the damage that alcohol and tobacco does, we stubbornly cling to our right to destroy ourselves. We say that denying ourselves is legalistic and that Christ came to free us from the Law. However, the only time you see Christ display anger and violence in the scriptures is when He sees the temple being profaned by the money changers. Christ does want our temples pure and holy. Pray about what He would take from your life to purify your temple.

In His service for His glory,

Deborah

Genesis 26:15 & 18

As I was going back through old Breads, I found my problem!

Genesis 26:15 & 18
15 For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. 18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

My pastor preached a message not too long ago based partly on these scriptures. He talked about how, sometimes, your well gets stopped up and filled with dirt. Whether its dirt put there by the enemy or dirt put there by our own struggles in the flesh, sometimes we have to dig again the well of water. There are some warning signs that your well is being filled with dirt:

· You have noticed a decline in your prayer life.
· You have noticed a decline in your Bible reading.
· You find yourself becoming critical of the pastor or the congregation.
· You find yourself resenting the time/expense being spent on your congregation.
· You find yourself easily offended by your pastor or the congregation.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. I'm sure you can come up with more. So once we realize that our well of joy and peace and strength is being stopped up by all this negative dirt, what do we do?

James 4: 8
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Romans 12:2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Ephesians 4:22-23
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

By doing a quick search on cleanse and renew, it pretty quickly comes right back to holiness. Unless you are willing to live a holy, separated, righteous life, your mind is not going to be renewed. If you stray away from that holy separated life (usually by going back and digging up something that old man had held dear) that dirt will start to fill your well again. So draw nigh to God, present yourself once again as a living sacrifice and put that old man down again! Don't you wish it was just that easy? It is vital though. Whatever is keeping your well of peace and joy from flowing must be dug out. Whatever pride, unresolved anger, bitterness or conflict is robbing you of your worship must be dug out. Whatever hidden sin is standing between communion with you and God must be dug out. Pray, fast and ask God for help in clearing away the anger, hurt, pride, sin, etc., that has found its way into your well. Don't be surprised though, when you start digging up wells, water will flow.

I first wrote this in 03, I believe. As I read it again, I said "That's it!" It's those weeds of the bad habit creeping in. The cares of this world that start to overcome us again. The tapes in our mind that start playing ever so softly at first and with growing volume as we don't erase them. In other words, life happening. So once again....I drag myself to the alter, confess my slipshod ways, ask for forgiveness and healing and start anew. That is the awesome thing about God though, I can do that as often as I need to and He is always willing to meet me at my point of need. Do you need your shovel again?

In His service for His glory,

Deborah

2 Chronicles 7:14

For the past several months, I have found it very difficult to come up with anything for my Breads. I was in such a quandary that I thought I would look over some of my past Breads to see if I could reuse one. I had to laugh at the sameness of the themes over the years. Here are some:

Pray!
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

I Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing,

There are 82 Old Testament verses and 57 New Testament with the word pray. There are 106 verses in both with the word prayer. Prayer is the only way you can maintain a relationship with Jesus Christ. Prayer is how you tap into the power of the Spirit, how you stay focused, centered, grounded and able to show Christ's love to the world. When your walk with God gets shaky, it is generally because you have stopped praying at some point.

Read your Bible!
Acts 17:11The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Psalms 119:11-11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

When you know what the Bible says for yourself, it can teach you, cleanse you, heal you, provide comfort, hope, strength and salvation. Without knowing the Word for yourself, you have no way of knowing if what your church teaches is truth or not. The Bible is Jesus Christ in a book. The more intimately you know that book, the more insight you have into the character of God.

Be ye separate!
1 Corinthians 6:17-18 Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord; do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you. 18 I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

James 44: Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

As the end approaches, satan makes it more obvious all the time that he is in control of this world. As the prince and power of the air, he floods the airways with filth in media of all forms. We as the church need to be a shining beacon of hope and purity in a hopeless, sinful world. I've seen a church sign that says "Come as you are but don't stay that way." If the world cannot tell the difference that Christ makes in your life, why would they want to serve Him?

He is coming soon!
Mark 13:28 "Learn this parable from the fig tree: As soon as its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that He is near--at the door!

As I remind myself again of the basics; prayer, fasting, reading my Bible, living a holy life and reaching for lost souls, the drumbeat of His soon coming punctuates my every thought. We who are privileged to be the end-time generation and see the latter rain are also charged with the tremendous responsibility of making sure we have done all we can to prepare the world around us. I heard an evangelist say one time that his hearts desire was to be praying for someone to receive the Holy Ghost when the rapture occurs. If we could ever see the world the way Christ sees it, we would put aside all our reasons for not witnessing and reach for everyone we could with the same intensity as if we were pulling them from a burning building. We are you know.

In His service for His glory,

Deborah

1 Corinthians 13:4 - 7

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Matthew 19:4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

Anyone who has been married more than a few days knows that marriage is not always an easy and pleasant state to live in. There are times when you are just tired of being patient and kind. Times when your trust is broken and hopes are dashed. Times when it becomes almost impossible to not keep track of wrongs done to you. But we have to realize that marriage here on earth is a type of our marriage up in heaven. It is those who live with us day by day that build our patience, teach us about unconditional love and see all our faults as we see theirs. In the daily, conscious commitment to that relationship, we learn how to also stay in a committed relationship with Jesus Christ.

It shocked me recently to see an AOL poll that asked if Brittany Spears should "commit to making it work with the father of her kids," Kevin Federline. AOL generally has a conservative base and I feel this question was worded in a conservative "pro family" way. Nonetheless, 63% of the respondents said no! I was saddened anew at how callous we are. The god of this world, who only wants to destroy, has succeeded well in destroying family values. Even though we now have years of research about the effects of divorce on children and future relationships, we still put no value on marriage as a nation.

Marriage is not easy. Indeed, living in a day to day relationship with any person, regardless of age, sex, or marital status has it's challenges. It is by facing these head on that we grow, mature and develop the skills necessary to rule and reign with Him one day. Are you willing to learn? I ask that you would pray for the marriages and attitudes about marriage in this country. One prayer at a time, we can make a difference.

In His service for His glory,

Deborah