Closeness

We all want to be closer to the Lord than what we are right now but we cannot expect this to happen if we just set around and wait for it to happen. We have to make a special effort to be closer to Him.


John 16:7-8; "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. v. 8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:" It is the Holy Spirit that guides us and reveals the truth and righteousness that belongs to Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that works in us to duplicate Christ's holy life in our life.

It is through the Holy Spirit that we are able to do this. The Holy Spirit is not just directed toward the unsaved but He also works in the lives of the believers and also the church in order to instruct, correct, teach, and guide them.

The Spirit reveals to the believer that which is from Christ. The Spirit makes the personal presence of Jesus, love, forgiveness, redemption, sanctification, life, power, spiritual gifts, healings, all that belong to us through our faith relationship with Jesus, and makes it real in our lives. It is through the Spirit that the Lord's love, grace, and personal fellowship is disclosed to us. The Holy Spirit works within us to awaken and deepen our awareness of Christ's presence in our lives. He will draw our hearts toward Jesus in faith, love, obedience, worship, praise, and communion. It is the Holy Spirit that will cause our hearts to seek the Lord in love, devotion, worship, and prayer.

We need to listen to the Holy Spirit in our everyday life, our prayers, our words, and our actions. We need to pray and ask for the closeness of the Lord, we can't just wait to see if the closeness comes to us without any effort. The Lord wants to be as close to us as what we want to be to Him. It is our sins, doubt, unbelief, anger, and pride that will keep us from having the closeness we so desire to have with Him. It is never the Lord that leaves us but us leaving Him. Hebrews 13:5;"...I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

If you are really sincere about wanting to be closer to the Lord why not start today?

Blessings!!

Casting Our Cares Upon Jesus

We are always talking about praying to the Lord which is a must. When we pray about something that is bothering us we need to give it all to God. I know I have been really bad about telling God I am giving Him the problem and asking His will to be done but before I know it I have taken it back.


I Peter 5:7; "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." In that verse He is wanting us to cast ALL of our cares not just this one and that one. He wants them ALL. Why does He want them? Because He cares for us. If He didn't want all of our cares it would not have said 'all' and if He didn't care for us He would not have said He did. It is just that simple.

When we cast our cares whether it be our fears, hurts, or illness upon God it shows how much we care for Him and how much we trust Him. None of us would give our cares to someone we didn't know or trust as that would be outrageous but we can give them to the Lord without any hesitation. The Lord will gladly take them and we need to let Him have His will with them. We don't want to give them to Him and then tell Him how we want it done. That will never work. A lot of us are guilty of just that.

When we give unto Him our cares we must know He will take care of them as we must trust in Him. We can be assured if we give them to Him completely, trust Him, we will be well satisfied with what He does. All is well that God does.

Matthew 11:28; "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This is a wonderful invitation given by Jesus and we should be willing to accept it. When the troubles of life and the sins by human nature are so that they are weighed down we can go to the Lord with them. By going to Jesus with our cares and obeying His direction we will be free from our burdens. We will have rest and peace.

By praying we renew our trust in the Lord for He is the one that cares for us. Peace will come to guard our hearts and minds caused by our communion with Jesus. God will strengthen us to do the things He desires of us. We receive mercy, grace, and help in out time of need. We can be confident all things God allows to happen to us will work out for our good.

All of this works together and all we have to do is cast our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us. This is such a wonderful plan God has for us, why would we not want to run to Him and cast our cares on Him?

Blessings!!

Cheerful Giving

Malachi 3:8; "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings."


For someone who has never tithed it is sometimes hard for them to start doing so. If a person would read the Bible on tithing it would make it so clear to them and they would probably want to tithe (there was a time Dave and I didn't believe it was in the Bible, how wrong we were). It some cases people want to accept the Lord as their savior but they don't want to go any further, or perhaps they want to join a church but that is all of it. They are missing out on so much by doing this. They are missing out on blessings that just won't stop. When we obey we are blessed above all things. Praise Him, praise Him.

I want to share a very short story about Dave and me. When we were first married we didn't have very much money, we lived from paycheck to paycheck. We just didn't believe we had the money to tithe but decided to give $5 a week. We were blessed over and over. We had the money to pay bills, we were never in the need of anything. We would even go to the show once every week or two. Dave and I never stopped to think how much it would be if we tithed on $39.40 a week. We just gave what we thought we could give. It was many, many years later when I was thinking about it and it was then I realized we were giving more than we had to. I just couldn't wait to tell Dave about it. Even though we were giving more than we had to, we were giving with a joyful heart and God blessed us for it.

How many times have we robbed God? I think it is more than we want to think about. If you want to stop and think about it, we don't really own anything. Everything we have belongs to God. God created each one of us and we really could not take our next breath without God allowing us to. Our families were given to us by God, we have our homes because He gave them to us, our grandchildren are His also. Everything we have belonged to God and then He gave to us. All He is asking of us is to give back to Him just a little bit of it, which is a tenth of it. The Hebrew word for "tithe" literally means "a tenth part."

Malachi 3:10; "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

When we give our tithing to our storehouse (our church), we are giving money to support God's work and ministers with tithes and offerings. By giving our tithes and offerings we are showing our love and devotion to Him. We are helping to further God's kingdom. The blessings that accompany our faithfulness in financial giving will be in this lifetime and the hereafter.

II Corinthians 9:7; "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or out of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." When we think about all God has done for us and the blessings He has given us why wouldn't we want to give something in return? When we think about the "Great Gift" He gave to us, we should want to give to further God's work with a cheerful heart.

God has given us "stewardship" of the money He has entrusted us with. We need to show Him we do know how to take care of the money He has entrusted us with. Luke 12:42; "And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward who his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them that portion of meat in due season?" We can be faithful and obedient, watching and being spiritually ready for the Lord's return which can be at any time. So, we need to take care of everything God has entrusted us with.

Matthew 6:24; "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Mammon means money or valuable possessions. Jesus states without a doubt a person cannot serve God and money at the same time. Serving money is to place a high value on it causing us to place our trust and faith in it and desiring it more that God's righteousness. One can accumulate so much wealth that it becomes the most important thing in their life and God's glory is no longer first.

Who is your God? Mine is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my everything and I pray He is yours too.

Blessings!!

Sharing Cookies

The following was sent to me via email by a couple of friends. I believe each of us could learn something from the short story and something worthwhile to learn.


A young lady was waiting for her flight in the boarding room of a big airport.

As she would need to wait many hours, she decided to buy a good book to spend her time.

She also bought a packet of cookies.

She sat down in an armchair, in the VIP Room of the airport, to rest and read in peace.

Beside the armchair where the packet of cookies lay, a man sat down in the next seat.

He opened his magazine and started reading.

When she took the first cookie, the man took one also. She felt irritated but said nothing.

She just thought: "What a nerve! If I was in the mood I would punch him for daring!"

For each cookie she took, the man took one too.

This was infuriating her but she didn't want to cause a scene.

When only one cookie remained, she thought: "ah...What is the abusive man to do now?"

Then, the man taking the last cookie, divided it in half, giving her one half of the cookie.

Ah! That was too much:

She was much too angry now!

In a huff, she took her book, her things and stormed to the boarding place.

When she sat down in her seat, inside the plane, she looked into her purse to get
her eyeglasses out, and to her surprise, her packet of cookies was there, untouched, unopened.

She felt so ashamed!! She realized that she was wrong...

She had forgotten that her cookies were kept in her purse.

The man had divided his cookies with her, without feeling angered or bitter.

...while she had been very angry, thinking that she was dividing her cookies with him.

"And now there was no chance to explain herself...nor to apologize."

There are 4 things that you cannot recover.

The stone...
          ...after the throw!

The word...
          ...after it's said!

The occasion...
          ...after the loss!

The time...
          ...after it's gone!

Always think before you get angry and say something. It may be you that is at fault and you will never be able to take back what you say. You can say you are sorry but it has already been said and the hurt is already there.

I believe that without a friend you are missing out on a lot!!!