It's a New Day

Today is a new day! The thing I like about a new day is that you can examine your attitude from the previous days and the decisions you made and make improvements. We have the ability to constantly be working on the building. You see houses around and some are well kept up and the place looks nice even when its old. Many houses on the other hand, even new ones,  look very ran down. It could be that the owners don't have the finances or the physical ability to keep the place up. Yet then again some people just don't care what things look like. We have something about us that we can work on that doesn't take finances or even great physical strength. That is our attitude and our approach. The way our home or vehicle is kept up reflects our character. If you see a house or vehicle that is clean and smells good it speaks of the environment that the owner is comfortable in dwelling. If you see a vehicle or home that is filthy inside and out, it speaks that the owner is too busy to clean, not able to clean, or doesn't care. What is it that defines being clean? There is something we must compare to in order to judge whether something is clean or not. The Word of God is the Absolute, so lets examine our life today and ask ourselves; do I need to clean today or make adjustments?

Another Spring

I was cutting my grass this evening and I was thinking to myself about how spring is here again. I can remember being a young child mowing the lawn and just thinking. I would think about school, life, and where will I be in ten years. Now its been over ten years and very much has changed. I am serving the Lord now, I am married, and I have my own children who like to mow the lawn now. I would of never thought that the world would still be going on today back then. I can now look back and remember how many of my family and friends have past away. My stepfather past away last July. I was present and seen them shocking him with the fibulator and performing CPR on him until we lost him. The day after his funeral I seriously injured my back and had to have back surgery and was told by the doctors that I will never be able to lift over 25 lbs for the rest of my life and will have to do seditary work. I really miss my stepfather and I really miss having my full strength in my body like I used to have. I have been seeking for employment, however I haven't been able to find a job yet, because of my work restrictions. I am confessing the Lord has healed my back, He will restore my back, and He is going to provide me with an income. I recently went on a missions trip to Honduras and from a financial standpoint, it looked like a foolish decision to go when I didn't even have employment at the time, but I felt the Lord called me to go so I went and He really blessed the trip. Several souls came to the Lord and many rededicated their life to the Lord. The scripture says that Job was a righteous man, but I bet if you asked him if he felt righteous he would tell you he did not. I am looking forward to the eternal spring. At that spring, there will be no body aches, no painful memories, and no more valleys.

A Testimony of God's Mercy

I would like to share a testimony I have seen the Lord do this week. Monday night my family and I sat down to do our bible study before bed, however the Lord moved upon my heart and I began to get a little more excited than usual to say the least. One of my boys has been struggling lately and I knew he was fighting some battles. In the little service we had here in our home on our couch, the Lord convicted his heart and he spoke to me with tears in his eyes," Daddy, will you pray for me? I want to get right with God." I tell you saints, it brought joy to my heart! We all knelt right here in my living room as we prayed together for our precious brother in the Lord. My daughter has been asking me about water baptism since I've been back from my missions trip to Honduras. I told her its very important to me that she understands why she is being baptized, so we have been studying over true repentance, water baptism, and why we need to be baptized. My daughter is only 7 years old, so I want to make sure it is God dealing with her rather than just doing it because its sounds like a neat thing to do. My wife walked up on her and our neighbor's child yesterday and heard my daughter telling the little boy,'' I have accepted Jesus into my heart and me and my Daddy are praying about me being baptized." The little boy sat their and listened so intently, my wife told me. It brings joy to my heart! I am a Sunday School teacher for the older kids. One of our young brothers and one of the young sisters has rededicated their life to the Lord since last week as well. By His Grace, I will be baptizing these three this coming Sunday. It brings joy to my heart to see these young souls coming to the Lord. It is a joy to serve the Lord! My God is real. Its not just a bunch of rules to live by, but accepting the Person Jesus Christ into our heart and He is living through us.

Let Not Sin Reign in You

In Romans 6:12, it speaks: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. When I think of reigning, I think of a king that is reigning over his kingdom. That king decides what will be permitted in his kingdom and what is acceptable. He decides the standard that would be set for his kingdom. We have a kingdom within ourselves and we decide who we will be servants to. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:13) A tree is known by its fruit. When you see apples all over a tree, that's a pretty good indication that its an apple tree. However, if it has lemons all over it, but its professing to be an apple tree, there is something wrong there. Lets take some time to examine ourselves by our fruits. What kind of fruit am I bearing? There must be a standard to gauge ourselves by and that gauge is the Word of God. The world's standard is to go by what you feel or just follow your heart. Friends, that is a deception. Your feelings and your heart will deceive you. Blind people go by feelings. Christians walk by faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. You can look at the world and see the results of not have a true standard. I am so thankful for an anchor! The folks on a ship won't truly no how to appreciate an anchor until a strong storm arises. It is in the time of a need for an anchor that the anchor will be appreciated. My anchor is my faith in the word of God. I heard a person say one time, I would do this, but I gotta keep my faith. Not to be disagreeable, but its not me that keeps my faith, but its my faith that keeps me. Faith comes from God. It is when true need arises and what needs to be attained can not be attained by ourselves when faith is needed. Until then, you don't realize how to appreciate faith. When death comes knocking at your door unexpectedly, you then realize how much you have in life that honesty doesn't amount to anything. The one thing we need during those times is Faith in the Word of God. Faith comes from God through the preaching of the word. There is going to be a rapture one of these days and it will be by faith which worketh my love that it will be attained. The rapture of this body is unattainable by ourselves. However if the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you, it will quicken your mortal body. What is reigning in you? Sin or Faith?