Thought For The Day

What does it mean, when it says, we have the mind of Christ? Philippians 2:5-6 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it to be robbery to be equal with God. We are to know who we are in Christ, and all that God has given to us as joint heirs. 1 Corinthians 2: 14 " But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Romans 8:5-6 For those who live according to the flesh (natural man) set their minds on those things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace 1 Corinthians 2:15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Jo...

There aren't too many today that are truly humble, we see more pride displaying itself, than humility. Pride is over estimating self and under estimating others.  Whereas, humility reveals that a humble person sees themselves in a lower light, and they are always looking to learn more. A humble person is teachable, they are hungry for more knowledge of God.  They want to know Him more. Whereas, a proud person thinks they know it all, and none of us know it all, we have been given glimpse of wonderful truths, and we will not know more of heavenly things until Jesus returns.  The Holy Spirit will reveal certain things to us, if we are humble enough to receive them in the word of God. Matthew 18:4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 23:12 "And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Proverbs 16:19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, t...

Murmuring and complaining, only gets us back into the trial or testing.  We must learn to praise God and thank Him for whatever He is doing in our life. Yes, sometimes it will hurt, like a baby who has to give up it's pacifier, we will raise a rumpus, we are being taken from our comfort zone.  But when we start to taste some good food in God's word, we no longer think about the pacifier.  God's word is good food. Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! It is time to praise God, no matter what He is doing in our life. The sooner we are thankful and praising the sooner the trial will be over. Trust God. Psalm 50:23 Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; And him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God." Don't blame the devil, for what God is doing by stretching your faith. I hear of too many saints, that when they run into a unexpected situation, they believe the enemy is attac...

Whenever you begin to feel down, fill your house with Praise to the Lord.  Sing to Him, make a joyful noise to Him. I say noise because, no matter how in tune we are it is filtered through the Holy Spirit, and reaches the throne room in a beautiful praise. Psalm 71:6-8 By You I have been upheld from birth;  You are He who took me out of my mother's womb.  My praise shall be continually of You. I have become a wonder to many, But You are my strong refuge.  Let my mouth be filled with Your praise And with Your glory all the day.  Praise will lift your spirit, and your mind will be at peace. There is something that happens supernatural when we focus on Jesus, and tell Him how much we love Him, and thanking Him for all He is doing in our life. Giving us direction, and peace of mind, provision and placing His joy in us. Psalm 147:1 Praise the Lord!  For it is good to sing praises to our God;  For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful. If...

We are to meditate on God's word.  Some people think that meditate means quiet thought, and it does, it also means, to utter, ponder , talk and speak, roar and mutter. That is what we are to do with God's word. Really chew on what we are reading. We ponder what it means, then we learn to speak it out loud, that helps us grow in our faith. Romans 10:17 Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith is active and comes, its alive and moves in our heart.  Hearing God's word over and over again, will build you in your faith. You will want to pray and speak His word often if not daily.  Fresh baked bread is better than day old, so make it daily. Moses was allowed to hit the Rock in the old covenant, but the Lord told Him the second time just to speak to the rock and living water would pour forth. Moses disobeyed and struck the rock a second time.(Numbers 20:7-12) The Rock being a picture of Jesus, It was a picture of Jesus being crucified once...

Recently I heard a TV preacher complain that there just is to much grace teaching and not enough repentance teaching. I had to laugh! Each ministry has its place in the body of Christ. Some have certain things that they major in. Romans 12:3-4 I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly as God has dealt to each member a measure of faith. For as we have many members in the body, but all members do not have the same function, so we being many are one body in Christ, and individually member of each other. Beloved, we need them all ,  We need those that teach on prayer, we need to communicate with our Lord and worship Him. Be thankful as you come to the throne of grace. We need grace teachers, they remind us that Jesus paid it all.  We need, faith teachers, they remind us it is through faith by grace we are saved, and that we can and should grow in faith. We ne...

Think about the attributes of our Lord. He made us in His image, male and female, like God, we too can laugh. He has a sense of humor, He has wisdom, He has power, and He planned the end from the beginning. Psalm 37:12:15 The wicked plots against the just. And gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him. For He sees that his day is coming.    The wicked have drawn the sword And have bent their bow, To cast down the poor and needy. To slay those who are of upright conduct. Their sword shall enter their own heart, And the bows shall be broken. Psalm 59:8 But You, O Lord, shall laugh at them; You shall have all nations in derision.  I will wait for You, O You his strength; For God is my defense.  My God is my defense.  The God of mercy shall come to meet me;  God shall let me see the desire on my enemies. Fear not beloved, if God can laugh at our enemies so can we. Remember to pray for your enemies. Besides laug hter is good medicine...

Jesus said, go to Jerusalem first, they are those that are religious, they have heard the word of God preached, and they are faithful church goers, but have never been born again. To many know about Jesus, but have never experienced the new birth.   Reach out to the religious crowd first. Those that believe all their good works are good enough to please the Father. Those that hear sermon after sermon, but never respond to the call to Salvation.   Good works are not enough, only being saved by the blood of Jesus, will they have new life. Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Go to the Jew first, those that know God's word, but have never received Christ Jesus as Lord. They know about Him, but do not know Him. So Jesus is saying, go close to home first.   Then reach out to the bigger areas, and then to the on...

Too many times we let our emotions rule us, when God's word says let the peace of God rule in our heart. Colossians 3:15-17 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And LET the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Beloved, I have dealt with many things in my life and some I learned the hard way because of self being in control, but when I learned to back off and trust God with the answers to my prayers, and know that they will come when I am ready. God always came through in a miraculous way, He heard my cry the first time, but He had to work somethings in my heart before I was ready t...

Jesus used the example of the good Samaritan, He reveals that the religious people whether out of fear, or ignorance or lack of love, did nothing for the man wounded and stripped of all he had. Luke 10:30-34 Then Jesus said, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road,  And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite , when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed, came where he was and when he saw him, he had compassion,   "So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine and he set him on his own animal brought him to an Inn, and took care of him. Beloved, please notice it wasn't the religious guys, those that knew God's word or should have, it was the hated one by the ...

Jesus paid it all, when we see the totality of the sacrifice on the cross, we will no longer carry shame, or guilt.   Jesus paid for our sins, sicknesses and disease. When Jesus said, "it is finished" He had broken every curse against us, even the one, where the bible said, that the sins of the father were passed down to the third and forth generation. (Exodus 20:5) When Jesus took the sour wine, He took the curses on Himself that had been on the children. Jeremiah 29:31 (sour grapes, vinegar) In those days they shall say no more; The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge, But every one shall die for  his own iniquity, every man who eats sour grapes,his teeth shall be set on edge. 31. "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them o...

Jesus has such compassion for lost humanity. He knows we live in a human body and some of the choices we have made were not good for us or others around us. God has so much love for those who are helpless and hurting. Someone who cannot help themselves out of their mess. Like the women caught in adultery, Jesus stooped down in order to pick her up. (John 8:2-10) When He wrote on the ground at the temple, the temple was all stone, He wrote on stone, just as He did with the ten commandments.  When the pharisees  saw this they left. Only God could write on stone. God wants to turn their mess into a message of hope. We have the light of Christ to penetrate their darkness. Let's face it, we are a needy people. We need Jesus every moment of the day.  We do have His strength and power if we have given Him our life. We cannot go it alone, we need Jesus, and fellow believers with the same mindset, Of faith, hope, love and forgiveness. Galatians 5:13-14 For...

Wounds take time to heal, we can be a blessing with healing words, or we can be unloving and we can leave wounds in a persons soul. Words can really hurt if they are meant to be jabs, and unkind. The enemy will use negative feelings to wound others with our words, at the expense of peace and love.  YIELD  YOUR TONGUE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT!! 1 John 3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest;  Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. We all say the wrong things at times, but forgive and move on. Love covers a multitude of sin. Love can only be expressed in our actions, it is never just what we say.  Words come easy,  but commitment to love takes a move on our part.  You must deny yourself, and let God's love move in our life. Romans 12:9-10 Let love be without hypocrisy, Abhor what is evil, Cling to what is good.  Be kindly affectionate to one ...

God says in His word, that He has given us His divine power, for everything that pertains to our life and godliness, for those in Christ Jesus. 2 Peter 1:2-8 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,  that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Think about that statement beloved, You can be partakers of God's divine nature.  With the divine nature of God in us and available to us, we should never be barren, we should always be fruitful. Beloved, God has given to us all we will ever need, it is up to us to tap into that divine power and nature, use it to bear fruit. There are many varieties of fruit, just as there are g...

There will be much shaking in our life as we grow in the Lord, we will stand as long as we have the right foundation.  JESUS CHRIST!! 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation  and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. When God starts shaking up our life, it is to awaken us, He wants a body awake and ready when He says go! Hebrews 12: 27-29 Now this, Yet once more, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken will remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Make certain that you house is built on the rock, not on the sinking san...

To transform is to change the condition or nature of a thing.  We were sinner's and Jesus is transforming us into a righteous child of God. In other words, we were worms that Jesus changed into a butterfly. Woohoo! Like the caterpillar has to go into the cocoon, and there is much activity going on inside of that cocoon, it is the same with us.   There is much activity going on with God's kids, as they are being transformed. Going from walking in the flesh (our old nature) into walking in the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.  Remember Moses covered the evidence of the glory of God with a veil, so the children could not see the glory fading away. As God's children we have unveiled faces, let your light so shine, the glory of the Lord is on us. As we walk this road of life in this ...

I have spoken to many Christians that are carrying guilt from their past, they believe that they are not good enough to make the rapture. This is so sad, because Jesus paid for all their sins and put them in the sea of forgetfulness, then He put up a sign that says no fishing. It is finished!! But as you know the enemy loves to fish where he knows he is forbidden. The blood of Jesus was enough, He suffered for you and every sin you have ever done, those past sins and future sins are washed away by that precious blood.  There is not a good deed that you can do, to make a difference, in fact your efforts will do nothing, they are an insult to our Lord who paid it all.  You cannot earn God's love, you already have it because you are His child. It is His righteousness that we have inherited, not our own.  Religion has distorted our salvation in Christ Jesus. You are made to feel guilty, if you miss a meeting, why weren't you here! We needed your help....

Jesus gave us His peace, that settled rest for your soul. Is it the news, that you can do nothing about that steals your peace? Is it a lack of faith, that God doesn't have everything in His hands? Do not allow doubt to enter your heart.  God does have everything in His hands. Have no fear, God is in control of all His children's lives. No matter what your lack of peace has come from, you can call on the peace maker, our Lord Jesus Christ.  He, through the Holy Spirit will reveal to you, where you lost your peace, was it because you are fearful, or do you need to forgive someone, or apologize, if so, drop your pride and bring restoration to the relationship. We need to push beyond our fleshly attitudes and stubbornness, and ask the Holy Spirit for help. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you. Because he trusts in You. Psalm 119:165 Great peace have those who love your law, And...

 A journey, speaks of traveling from one place to another. Always on the move. We stop to rest and regroup, but moving forward toward our destination. That is how it is in our Christian life.  Heading for our destination, heaven.   We already have our entrance, through the blood of Jesus.  His sacrifice, not by our good deeds, His pain and suffering, paid our way into the presence of the Father. We are accepted in the beloved. We never stay in one place in our walk in the Lord.  We continue to grow and go. Becoming fruitful.  We become more and more like Jesus, each test and trial refines us a little more, we shake off the world's way of doing things, little by little we grow in our faith and become more like our Lord Jesus. Loving, merciful, giving, and forgiving. There will be less and less fear in our life, because we will recognize it sooner and deal with it  appropriately, taking the authority God gave us in Jesus over it, comman...

Praise God for our Salvation,  but remember those that chose to follow Jesus, gave up everything. The disciples had provision along the way, people that provided what was needed to help the disciples spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were learning to say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit.  It starts with our Salvation, then we learn to allow Jesus to be Lord. Our Master, and Guide, our God in all we do. Matthew 10:38-39 He who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. Think about what it means to lose your life for the sake of Jesus. All those personal plans and dreams, were to die, and a life in Christ was to begin. The Holy Spirit teaching and training us to be more like Jesus.  A far better plan and prosperous one than we could have ever dreamed.  Prosperous in our soul,  our will, will become God's will, our ...

After all the colder weather and celebrations we have a new year to consider New habits, and a new way of thinking. God's way! Our Spring cleaning will need to be done.  Tossing out things that were not used, or have become useless to us. We need to Spring clean our lives also. Clean the windows to our soul as well as our h omes.   The eyes are the windows to our soul, are we careful to  not view things that are unhealthy and worldly trash? Remember in Sunday school, we used to sing a song "Be careful little eyes what you see. This is so true especially now that we are adults. Psalm 101:3 I WILL SET NOTHING WICKED BEFORE MY EYES;  I HATE THE WORK OF THOSE FALLING AWAY. Things of the world effect us more than we think. I should say the world's mindset.  Because God loves the people of the world. But He doesn't like their ways. John 3:16 For God is loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not peri...

It is time for us to not live in our carnal mind, yes God has given us a brain,  but He also told us to renew our mind, because our mind can pick up things that can cause us to go the wrong direction, saying the wrong things, and end up hurting others or ourselves. We are not to always trust our emotions and feelings about something, IF  we see that it does not line up with the word of God,  do not go there. We are told to lean not in our own understanding. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. God told us to not trust in our understanding, that comes through our brain. Remember beloved, our mind is the battlefield, we have to guard it at all cost.  Our New spirit is protected, but our soul needs saving daily. Our Mind, our will and emotions. We must renew our mind in the word of God. Jesus said "The spirit is willing but the f...

Are you dieting to lose weight that you have gained at the end of the year? I am not speaking of body weight, although that may apply also, I am talking about heaviness in your soul. Things that weigh you down. You can diet it off, if you will push away all that you hear from the worlds view point, and feed yourself on God's word.  That is the perfect diet for us, it heals, refreshes our soul, give us guidance, direction, peace and joy knowing that God loves us. We believers follow God's view point. When you hear something that bothers your soul, do not hold onto it. Cast it off. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bring every though into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Start a New Years diet feeding on God's word, to cleanse your mind of the junk the world has to offer. Beloved try to fa...