Thought For The Day

There are two ways of spreading light.  One is being the candle that is lit, the other is being the mirror that reflects that light. Light repels darkness, It drives it back by a strong force. We all have areas that we need that light to penetrate, areas we do not see in ourselves, but others can see them in us. We all are blind to our own faults , yet we can see other peoples problem areas plainly. Why is that ? Because when one part of the body hurts, we all hurt. That is the reason we need each other, to hold each other up, and share what we see that could be weakening our faith in Jesus. Matthew 6:22 " The lamp of the body is the eye, If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness. Have you ever noticed someone who carries a spirit of  heaviness or bitterness, or ...

Worry comes to all of us, but do we pass the worrisome thoughts onto the Lord? Or do we allow stress to take over? God wants to take those worrisome thoughts and change them to hope, and peace of mind, free of fear. Worry will rob you of God's peace. Worry is full of "what ifs" Worry is connected to fear.   2 Timothy 1:7  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind.   It starts with a thought, you have allowed in your mind. Either from your flesh or the devil. Worry is borrowing trouble for tomorrow. It causes us to be anxious and fearful. It is an open door for the enemy to magnify things and make them worse than they are. Proverbs 12: 25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad. Worry will cause you to feel uneasy, and unsure, pressured, and stressful. Something God never intended for you to carry. Col 3:15 Let the peace of God rule in your hearts , to which also...

What seems impossible to you, may very well be God's plan.  He loves to create what looks impossible to those of us with finite minds. Look up at the stars, He has named each one. Who would have believed that a virgin, never knowing a man, would conceive a baby, she did, His name is Jesus. Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign; Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. The name means, God with us. Who would have ever believed that the dried up Desert in Israel would be fertile and blossom, being so fruitful that it exports its fruits and vegetable all over he world. Isaiah 27:6 Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. Who would believe that Jesus would live in our heart through the Holy Spirit. John 14:15-17 "If you love Me, keep My commandments, And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper, th...

When we try to play God and go ahead of His plan, we are only setting ourselves up for another trial that God alone can bring us through. There will be nothing you can do in the natural. When will we learn to let go and give the reigns to the Lord.  He is patient and waits for us to let go. We are only becoming frustrated each time we try to hang on. We are our own worst enemy. Listen for the Lords voice to calm your spirit, to reassure you all will be alright. The longer we hang on, the longer it will take to come through whatever we are going through. Rest in the Lord, trust His judgment, it is perfect. When God is silent in a situation, it is because He is working on your answer. Praise Him! Listen and Silent have the same letters, learn to listen to the Lord when you think He is silent. You can always hear from Him in His word. He is always speaking to us in His word. Psalm 31:19 Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which you have laid up for those that fear Yo...

These things are mostly in the natural, to drive us to the spiritual. James 4:17 Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Are you driven by a bad habit? Give it to Jesus, He is your healer.  Habits are : a tendency to repeat an action in the same way. It becomes a mental condition acquired by practice. We have heard that saying, old habits are hard to break. If they are bad habits, then the power of God can break them. Sometimes we think we have a habit, but in reality it is a stronghold we have given over to the enemy of our soul. Our reactions: Is the response to the stimulus of influence of events. Our reactions reveal where we are in our spiritual growth, are we reacting as Jesus would, or are we reacting by our old nature in the flesh? Think about this! Are our desires , the desires to grow and be more like Jesus? Are we reading God's word and allowing it to shine on areas that need correction? All...

It seems the greatest work of God in creation was begun in the dark. Genesis 1:1-5 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said let there be light ; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God is still dividing the light from the darkness in our life. He reveals that there are strongholds that the enemy has set up in our life, so God reveals it and light comes in those dark areas. They are exposed by the light of His word and gotten rid of. When we are going through a dark time, it is because the light is about to dawn. Growth in new areas will appear. The enemy will try to convince you to give up and be frustrated and unbelieving, but don't buy into his lies, light is at the end of the tunnel. God uses our darkness times in orde...

Praise Our precious heavenly Father for sending us the Holy Spirit, because we need His help daily. When we obey God's word to the best of our ability, we will see the blessings of God pour out in our life. God is not looking for those with great talents, He is looking for those of His children that will obey His word . When the disciples were told to stop preaching, and God had supernaturally took them out of prison, they continued to preach the word of salvation. Preaching about Jesus. Acts 5:27-32 And when they had brought them, they set them before the counsel, And the high priest asked them, saying "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in His name? And look you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood on us!" But Peter and the other apostles answered and said; "we ought to obey God rather than men. "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalt...

Making changes isn't easy for some of us, however it will facilitate growth in your walk with the Lord.  I have noticed through the years, that if I try to make those changes I will fail, and revert right back to the old way of doing things. But when I ask the Holy Spirit to make those changes in me, He now has my permission to control my will. He alone, can make lasting changes.  Oh sure, we can make the effort, but we don't have the ability nor the strength in our natural self, that the Holy Spirit has. We must submit to Him. His divine power can change our desire to do the wrong thing,  into doing the right thing. 1Corinthians 2:12-14 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world , but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual...

Remember the old song, count your blessings name them one by one, thanking God for all He has done? Blessed people are people who know their God and hear His voice and follow Him. We receive God's blessing by grace. He bestows divine favor (grace) on those that are in Christ Jesus and follow Him. When we have faith in Jesus Christ and walk in His love, blessings will follow us everywhere we go. Blessings bring us happiness, in fact the word means, happy and to be envied. Jesus gives us great joy, but our blessings give us happiness. The abundant life. Is not necessarily a lot of stuff, but surely, all the provision we will need. Life does not consist in the abundance of things. Luke 12:15 And Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses. Psalm 23:6 (Read all of 23, you probably know it by heart, but concentrate on each word) Starting with "The Lord Is my shepherd. I s...

Waiting on the Lord, and being patient while waiting, will reveal just how much faith we really have. 2Corinthians 1:20 For all of God's promises in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Yes, all of God's promises are yes, and Amen, we just don't know when the so be it , (Amen),  kicks in. Those promises are ours, we just have to be patient to see the reality of them. We learn to be patient as we wait for an answer to our promises in His word, that we have believed and asked for. Hebrews 6:10-12 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.  And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end , that you do not become sluggish but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Isaiah 40:29 (A promise for strength) He gives power to the weak, And to tho...

We are to be a flowing stream of life to those we are around. Living waters are waters that are moving, they are not stagnant. They have life flowing from them and in them. Every thing they touch will flourish. John 7:38 He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Are you over flowing with the power of the Holy Spirit? Jesus has already been glorified when He arose from the dead, and returned to heaven. Are you seeking a deeper relationship with the Lord through the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit has a voice, allow Him to speak through you the words of life. Imagine if you will, rivers of powerful living water coming from your mouth as you share the word of God.  That is what is happening in the Spirit. When we speak the name of Jesus, ...

Jesus gave many signs of His return to earth. Acts 2:18-19 On My menservants and on My maidservants  I will pour our My Spirit in those days;  And they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above And signs in the earth beneath;  Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. We certainly have seen some of those signs when volcanos have blocked out the sun with their smoke when they erupted. Signs of the times of the end, the disciples asked Jesus about them. Luke 21:8-12 (read the whole chapter) Jesus said, "Take heed that you be not deceived.  For many will come in my name, saying, "I am He, and the time has drawn near.  Therefore do not go after them. But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first , but the end will not come immediately". Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences;  ...

Light shines the brightest in the darkest places. Think about this, if we are the light of the world as Jesus says we are, then in the darkest places we should shine the brightest. Right? Beloved, do you realize that in the spirit world Satan sees us coming and flees?  When we truly know who we are in Christ, and follow the Lord, standing firm on the word of God, the enemy will be terrified of our presence. He knows if we are true followers in Jesus or just religious. Remember the sons of Sceva? The priest and his sons. Acts 19:11-16 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.   Then some of the itinerate Jewish exorcist took it upon themselves to call on the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying "we exorcise you by the Jesus Paul preaches." and there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish...

Only in Jesus will we ever find true contentment, hope and joy.   This world is fleeting and we are here to glorify the Lord and bring others along our journey while we are here.  The only true contentment is in Jesus our Lord. 1Timothy 6:6-10 For godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  ( There are no u-hauls behind a hearse) And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil , for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Money in itself is not evil, it is the love of it . We need money to live on this earth. Our Lord supplies all our needs, not our greed's! Remember, Jesus said in ...

Jesus gave us a picture of how our spiritual life would grow. He told the parables of the four major growth areas or lack there of. 1. Seed sown by the wayside 2. Stony ground 3. Cares of this world 4. Good ground. We all have come through or are going through these stages in our life. Mark 4:3-8  (Jesus speaking) "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. (the birds represent the enemy) Some seed fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and it immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth, "But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away,  And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. (Thorns represent demonic influence, strongholds in your life) But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, incre...

We get so bogged down, when we continually hold things in our heart that are not of God. A heart that is filled with unhappy situations will leave us with a spirit of heaviness. Much prayer and Praise will alleviate that heaviness. God gives us a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness. (Isaiah 61:3) James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another , and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much. Take all your care to the Lord, don't keep them in your heart and make a place for a spirit of heaviness. The sooner you give them to Jesus the sooner He will give you His joy to over flowing. Psalm 22:5 They cried to You and were delivered;  They trusted in You, and were not ashamed. Jesus is our burden bearer, so we should not carry our own heavy burdens any longer. Those that are in Christ may help you bear your burden, As Christians we can help bear each others burdens throu...

Aren't you glad, that you do not have to do the work of the Holy Spirit, well, you couldn't anyway, That's God's job. John 6:65-66 And therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by the Father. From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. They were still disciples, they just didn't want to hear anymore truth, they couldn't walk out what they had already heard. So they left Him. Had they stayed, they would have heard Him say, "My time is not yet, but your time is always ready. (John 7:6) John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. We are called to love the unlovable, those that irritate us and cause us to react in our fleshly old nature, Wow! what a test to see if Jesus' nature is expressed in us. Have we grown in the Lord? God allows those people in our life, to reveal to us just how much we h...

Jesus said we are the salt of the earth.  What does salt do? It is a preservative, throughout history salt was to used to cure meats. To preserve fish so it would not spoil. Salt is a seasoning, to make our food taste better. When we have any kind of salty food, it makes us thirsty, right? So are we making people around us thirsty for Jesus and all He has to offer? It is said, "you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. Oh yes you can , by putting salt in his oats. He will get thirsty. The words we speak should make people thirsty for Jesus, because we are the salt of the earth. Words of kindness, love, grace, compassion and mercy. Mark 9:50 Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it?  Have salt in yourselves , and have peace with one another. Matthew 5:13 " You are the salt of the earth , but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned. It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under...

Having a compassionate heart, is to be like Jesus. Those with pure thoughts from God's word, will have no hidden motives, they will just love. Their only motive will be to reveal Jesus in all His fullness in their life. Philippians 4:6-8 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things. I love these scriptures, because if we will apply them to our everyday life, we will have peace. In following these things written, we will have a compassionate heart, the very heart of Jesus our Lord. We are to keep our mind open to the word...

Our Lord went to great lengths to reveal that His mercy is unending.  His mercy spans the ages.   Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in trespasses , made us alive together with Christ (By grace you have been saved) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. When Jesus was crucified and the three days He was in the earth, He preached to the spirits of Noah's day, letting them know He has conquered sin and rebellion. 1Peter 3:18-20 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit,  by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formally were disobedient, when once Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah , while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. ...

Wisdom is such a wonderful gift from God. Wisdom is seeing things as God sees them. Solomon gave us some great teachings, and spoke with great wisdom.  He gave us  Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and possibly Song of Solomon. Proverbs 2:6 For the Lord gives wisdom ;  From His mouth came knowledge and understanding. After all the wisdom that Solomon had, He didn't use what He wrote to us about in our bible. He went into failure, and followed his wives into idolatry. He fell into sin, and dishonored His God who so graciously bless him with the gift of wisdom. Then when Jesus comes on the scene, with greater wisdom than Solomon, He was disputed and not listened to my the leaders of His day. Matthew 12:42 (Jesus speaking because the scribes and Pharisees wanted a sign) "The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the far ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a g...

It is so easy to get side tracked by all the news around the world.  Yes, we need to know what's happening so we can pray, but we do not need to dwell on  all the terrible things happening.  That will steal your peace. Focus instead on Jesus. Paul fully understood this fact when he said "He forgets what is behind." Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. We have to leave yesterday behind , there is not one thing we can change. Its gone and we have a new day to praise God for and we can't wait to see what the Lord will lead in our new day. Enjoy your day with Jesus. The Holy Spirit is waiting to show you something new and fresh. Jesus told us the world will get worse and worse, so why are we spending so much time looking and listening to all their junk. Some true and some not true! Some half true.It will poll...