Illustration by Alan Tison
Children have a way of controlling our life do they not – I heard about a young boy who received a harmonica for Christmas from his uncle. After the first of the year he saw his uncle for the first time since receiving the harmonica.
With a large smile he said, “Thanks for the harmonica you gave me for Christmas," "It’s the best present I ever got."
"That’s great," replied his uncle. "Do you know how to play it?"
"Oh, I don’t play it," the little fellow replied. "My mom gives me a dollar a day not to play it during the day and my dad gives me five dollars a week not to play it at night!"
The older a person gets, The more he or she can relate to what every generation has thought or said one time or another. What in the world is this younger generation thinking.
This isn’t the world I grew up in. Well when I was a kid they actually taught a patriotic curriculum in school. They taught the truth, they didn’t try to make up and change history, they taught history!
Parents were Parents and kids were to be seen and not heard. These parents today Need to realize they don’t need friends, they need to be parents! What’s going to happen when we’re gone? Who’s going to step up and fill our shoes in the workforce?
In every generation, the accuser has reinvented the same old lies of doom and gloom. Only his tactics are more overt and have gotten more brash and unbelievable, to the point of far to many have come to believe the lies!
God knew there would be chaos and times of uncertainty in the world. That’s why God gave us a relevant word, for every situation and for every generation!
Romans 13:1 NKJ
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God
Well, do you know who the president is? Yes and more importantly God knows who the president is. And God knew who the president was eight years ago, 10 years ago and 100 years ago!
Well I don’t like the way he’s doing things. The same has been said of prior presidents, of prior kings and monarchs, of just about every elected or appointed official since the beginning of time!
God’s promises are relevant and God’s words are timely for every occasion and every generation!
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
So many people around the world, are worried from one world catastrophes and elections, and the consequences of them to the next.
They live their lives in fear and the way they act is ruled by what happens on the news and they are told to believe.
Their afraid of this and that, what will happen, what won’t happen and what someone might think may happen.
For too many are worried about what they own, while forgetting the fact, God owns it all!
God instructs us to not worry about what will happen, but to trust His plan for our lives! TBS. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
If you watch the news all the time, it’s a minute by minute saga of the relentless attack of the devil on all of humanity!
You have to really use discernment and trust the Lord, that He is in control of every situation.
Sometimes I think Christians need to be reminded, as long as God is on their side, there is nothing that come against them, no matter what is reported or how bad things may seem to be.
Not earthquakes, not hurricanes, not revolts or uprisings in other lands, not government misspending or whatever the price of oil decides to go to, or record breaking temperature changes of hot or cold, or anything else the father of all lies can conjure up!
God has already made provision for every situation that we will ever come up against and nothing can alter Gods plan for His people or His Triumphant Return!
As Christians, we need to grasp hold of the Word, the Grace and Peace God has both already and continually supplied and hang on to His Word at all times.
The devil doesn’t want us to know the promise of the Word, or remember its benefits! Because there is so much peace and comfort to be had from the truth and power revealed by the Word! That’s why he’s been fighting it ever since he was expelled from heaven.
The answer is found in Jesus and the miraculous Grace, life changing message He introduced to the world at the cross.
Hebrews 13:9
9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.
The methods are many for the occupation of our time, to blur and distract the world away from Gods amazing message of Grace!
There are a lot of different ways and things out there and people who will try to tell you how to live and why you should live that way!
Everyone has and is entitled to there opinion you know. That’s what makes us Gods most unique creation, the fact that we all have a will!
God created us to have a will, the accuser and chief liar would like nothing better than to eliminate a persons will and dictate the way they should think and act!
That’s why there is so much hatred, intolerance and division on display around the World. A house united will stand, a house divided is design to fall and fail!
Illustration by Terry Laughlin
This question was once asked, "If you could choose what you want most in life, what would you ask for?" The most common answer was "Peace."
People want peace in their marriages, families, workplaces, country and world. Our country has some of the best medical and psychological treatment centers, highest educational institutions and worldwide communication abilities.
Yet with all of these things, most people are yet without true inner peace. The statistics are devastating... broken marriages, split families, hatred, social intolerance, division and rebellion have never been higher.
Illustration song by Whitney Houston
Didn't we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving?
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living
The devil would like nothing better than to make us think that we almost have a life worth living, but it’s unattainable!
The good news is Grace has made a life worth living for us and it’s an obtainable life!
Gods Grace has eliminated the chance for fall and failure and replaced it with His Abundant life He has provided for every man, woman and child!
God’s Word Declares; “it is good that the heart be established by grace.” God sent Jesus with His message of Grace so we could have Peace!
God doesn’t want us and has never wanted us to be fearful and worried by everything or anything we see on the news, or any challenge that comes our way.
God wants our hearts to be at rest and established by His grace toward us! That’s where and when we find inner peace!
It’s not about what you can do, it never has been about what you can do! Now, while the accuser would like you to think it is all about and only about your efforts.
It’s not about us, it’s all about and will always be about what Jesus accomplished on the cross for us!
When you finally come to the realization, the only thing which qualifies you to receive God’s blessings is faith in the finished work of Christ, your heart becomes established, by that amazing God given grace moment!
And when your heart becomes established by grace you know and come to the realization you are both entitled and in the position to receive every blessing and benefit God has promised in scripture!
At that point you don’t worry about what you see happening around you, because all the distractions are contrary to Gods promise of peace in every situation!
You can and God expects you to walk with full assurance that His blessings will be manifested in your life and the abundant life He has planned for your is constantly within your reach!
God wants you to know and realize healing, protection and prosperity are yours all the time and that they are inexhaustible.
Illustration by Sermon Central
One time the popular actress Sophia Loren sobbed to her Italian movie director, Vittorio De Sica, over the theft of some of her jewelry. And he said to her, “Listen to me, Sophia. I am much older than you and, if there is one great truth I have learned about life, it is this: NEVER CRY OVER ANYTHING THAT CAN’T CRY OVER YOU”
The devil will lie, cheat and steal. He will tell stories and promise so much to anyone who will listen. But he will never deliver on his promises and will never shed a tear over a soul missing out on the opportunity of the Amazing Grace and Gospel message of Jesus, God sent to save the world!
In the time in which we live, we mustn’t be swayed by what we see, but to stand on and hold fast to what we know!
John 14:1-4 NKJ
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many [a]mansions; if it were not so, [b]I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
The accuser likes to think he’s winning the battle, but praise God Jesus already has been Victorious and has defeated the accuser and all of hell!
The most peaceful feeling one will ever find, is knowing we who have accepted Jesus have already won!
Help bring someone into the Kingdom of God and the winners circle of eternal life, tell someone this week about the Love of God!
