I used to be shy about speaking up in church, especially for prayer requests. Years ago when my oldest child left Arkansas and went to Houston for his first real job, I requested prayer for him in a Wednesday evening prayer service.
"Oh, your baby boy will be all right," one man said with a snicker.
He didn't think that was a problem, but this mother was concerned. Problems come in all kind of contraptions. Big, small, serious or not, Jesus knows every fiber of your worry and He cares.
Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Stand still and see the glory of God. Trust Him. He is greater than any problem you will ever face in this life.
The Bible is filled with impossible, hopeless cases. The book of Mark mentions a storm, a man filled with demons, a dead girl, and a diseased woman. Jesus steps into every one of these hopeless situations, proving nothing is impossible.
Matthew 9:20 And, behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment.
She must have struggled through the crowd. When she was close enough to touch the hem of His garment, she received healing.
God, who controls the path of every atom in every molecule in this universe, has time for you when you touch Him by faith.
Your faith may be small, and you may not understand the complexities of theology, but when you reach out to Him, He responds.
"Thy faith hath made them whole," Jesus said.
Your storm, your sin, your sickness or your lost loved ones are not hopeless with Jesus.
As surely as the stars, planets, sun and moon declare the existance and power of God, nothing declares His glory and power any more than a life that has been redeemed by grace.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
God took the shapeless dead clay of our lives in His loving, powerful hands and molded us into something new for His glory. With loving care and infinite skill, He shaped us by His grace and wrote His love into our lives.
We should share that love with the lost. People need to know that God sent His Son to die for their sins, to redeem them from hell. They need to know that there is life-changing power in His grace.
God, The Master Craftsman, takes the worthless and transforms him/her into something of infinite value.
He's still working on me.
When I explained the new song -- Meeting In The Air -- to the Children's Choir, they said, "WOW!"
Thessalonians 4:16,17 For The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet The Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with The Lord.
What a way to go! Here are some prophetic indications that the coming of Christ for His saints is near.
- Israel becoming a nation ( 1948 )
- The world's focus on the Middle East
- The rise of Russia as a world power and her alignment with nations who hate Israel.
- The increase of travel and knowledge
- The moral breakdown in society
- The rise of lawlessness and world wide rebellion
- The apostasy from the faith
- The obvious movement toward a one world government and one world religion.
- The availability of technology that will enable government to control all buying and selling -- world wide.
- Unprecedented earthquakes and natural disasters
The unsaved person doesn't have the Spirit of God. He lives in the flesh and for the flesh. This doesn't mean that he never does anything good or that the believer never does anything bad. It means that one lives for the flesh and the other lives for the Spirit.
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
The unsaved person may be moral and even religious; but he is spiritually lost. By faith in Christ, he or she can be filled with God's Spirit and have eternal life.
It's not enough for us to have the Spirit, we must submit to the Spirit. Only then can He share with us the abundant, victorious life that can be ours in Christ. Only then can He guide, warn, feed, comfort, and teach us the truths of God.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Before there was a sinner there was a Savior, the Lamb of God.
1 Peter 1:18-29 Forasmuch as ye know that we were not redeemed with corruptible things . . . . But with the precious blood of Christ . . . who verily was forordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.
Christ didn't begin at a stable in Bethlehem. It was there He became flesh to fulfill the purpose of redemption, but He was with His father, creating the heavens and earth and darkness and light and water and fish and animals and man and woman.
He told Moses who He was.
Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
I AM: for all eternity -- the past, the present, and the future. How amazing that He should look my way, lift me out of sin, and hold my hand every day.
In America our standard of living is so high that we have forgotten what our real needs are. Jesus said it is having something to eat and something to wear, but He also knows our deepest heartaches and fears. He knows how to comfort us when we need it most.
Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
God planned that we know Him in a personal way because we need to learn to depend on Him. Our needs are more than material.
The person who doesn't have Christ, no matter what else he may have, has nothing. But those who are born again, have Christ in their hearts, have everything: Salvation -- Security -- Supply.
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
Rhea F. Miller
