Open Heart Surgery

The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
How often do you let God do major surgery on your heart (spirit man) as His Spirit uses the Word to encourage, judge, motivate, convict, correct, instruct, and inspire? So many people think their conscience is what they are hearing when they do something they shouldn’t or are about to. That’s not your conscience you are hearing, it’s the still small voice of God through your spirit man trying to get through to you. With such a great tool so readily at hand for most of us, let’s not let a day go by that we don’t let God use His Word on hearts. We may not always like what He has to say through His Word, but did you always like what your natural father had to say? What He does, He does because He loves us. No one, not even the Word, said being a Christian would be easy. It is a walk and a work that we must decide we are going to do, otherwise it won’t work for us.

MY PRAYER…
Almighty God, Heavenly Father, Your will is my heart’s desire. But I realize that I need to be fed more consistently by Your Word revealed in Scripture. I realize that I need to read, to meditate, to speak , and to do Your Word more and more every day. Lord, Give me strength and consistency in my walk with You through Your Word. Through Your Holy Spirit, inspire me to change what needs to be changed and to be blessed and encouraged in the areas that I need it most. I turn to You and rely on and trust in Your Word to point me in the way of life that You would have for me. Through Jesus I pray.
Amen

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Who Do You Trust In?

So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].
Isaiah 26:4 Amplified Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…

Who do you trust in for your strength? Yourself, the news media, your pastor (you do have one?) This verse declares who you should trust in!

When we see mountains we feel small, knowing not only how much larger they are than we, but also how much longer they have been in existence than we have. But the Lord existed long before any mountain and He will exist long after the mountains have melted into nothing. For the hills melt like wax at the presence of the Lord. The only rock of security, and all the for-evers we have, are found in Him. Only through the strength and power we have in and through Him can we move those mountains and cause them to melt like wax. But, He says: “With God, ALL things are possible.” Remember yesterday when Jesus said He ask the Father and He would give Him more than 12 legions of Angels. Well everything Jesus did in the Bible was there to be an example fort us. That means I/you can call on the Father and He would also give you more than 12 legions of Angels if there was a legitimate need for them in your life!! I have seen this happen. There is NO other God like Him.

MY PRAYER…
Great and Eternal I Am, who was and is and will be forever, I trust that You are and will always be my God, my Redeemer, my Savior, my Shepherd, my Provider, my Healer, my Banner, my Strength, and my Father. I commit all of my tomorrows to You. Here I am Lord, take me and do with me what You will Lord, for I am Yours.
Through Jesus my Lord.
Amen

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Have you laid down your life for Jesus?

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
John 10:17-18 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Hear the Words Jesus spoke, “No man taketh it (His life) from me, but I lay it down of myself” they were spoken for us. He made the choice to lay down His life for us. That choice was made for you and me, and everyone else who would call on His name. No man could have taken it from Him if He had not chosen to lay it down. He was/is God! He said Himself, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” Do you know how many a legion is? A legion referred to the number of soldiers in a legion of the Roman Army, at least 6,000 and some say could go as high as 12,000 in a legion. Twelve legions of just 6,000 each would then be 72,000, but you can add many thousands more. Jesus said the Father would give Him MORE than 12 legions of Angels! But if He had done that, where would we be today? Who would have paid the price for our redemption? He loved us that much, that He laid down His life for us before we ever loved Him. Should we not do the same for Him and for our brothers. Have you laid your life before Him yet, or are you still trying to do it your way? He who loves his own life shall lose it!

MY PRAYER…
Almighty God, I give you all praise and glory forever. Father thank You for sending Your Son to take my place and receive the punishment I was due. Thank You Jesus for loving me so much that You would lay down Your own life that I might live and have eternal life. Lord I thank You that You made a way through Your Son that I could come boldly before Your throne of grace knowing that You have forgiven me through the cleansing of His blood. Lord help me to live the way Jesus did and to show the same love toward Your people as He did when He walked the earth. In His precious name I pray.
Amen

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God’s System Of Government

This is why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him. If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Romans 13:6-7 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Do you understand God’s system of Government?

This is actually God’s financial budget plan. First your tithe goes to God, 2nd you pay Caesar – what you owe, your bills, this includes your taxes etc. & what is necessary to run government, 3rd what is left is yours for living on. But where would we be without government, order and laws? While we may not like how the system functions today, what if we had no system at all? Can you imagine what society would be like then. If the governing authorities are from God and we do not submit to them, then we are in rebellion unto God. Remember that rebellion is the greatest of all sin! It’s what cost Lucifer his position in heaven and caused him to be cast out, to be known for ever more as the evil one, Satan. Pay authority to the office even if you do not like or agree with the man/woman holding the office. Then next election seek God and vote for candidate that you hear from God to vote for. If everyone would do the same before voting (instead of voting party lines) then God could put the person in office that He wanted there. If God was able to do this can you imagine how much better our government would be running! Wow!, A Godly government, just imagine that. Remember God has to use man to do His work here on Earth.

MY PRAYER…
Holy God, creator of all that there is, I thank You that I am free in You and belong to no man or power. Yet because I want Your name to be respected, I pledge to obey the laws of this land as long as they do not run directly in contradiction to Your will, which is Your Word. At the same time, I fervently pray that You heal our land, and restore to us devout men, Christian men, as leaders. Father, I thank You for our current President, a man not afraid to let the world know the he consults in You daily in all that he does. Father, continue to lead and guide him and all of his advisors, that we may lead Godly and peaceable lives in You. In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen

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God So Loved the “World!”

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:9-10 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
The Bible says: “God so Loved the “World”, that’s everybody folks!” That’s right everybody, sinners included. Love here is a verb, an action, something happening. We can’t say it enough, it must come from the heart (the spirit) of man. Love in the sense being spoken of by in these verses is not the physical love that most of us think of when we hear the word “love”. Love must not only be spoken, but must also be shown. The beginning of love is God. God is love. He showed His love in the most sacrificial of ways so we could know how much He loved us, to know our incredible value to Him. The price of our adoption as sons/daughters was the emptying of heaven of its greatest treasure, God the Son, who is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He was sent to pay the price for us, because God so loved the world! Jesus was the propitiation ((Theol.) That which propitiates; atonement or atoning sacrifice; specifically, the influence or effects of the death of Christ in appeasing the divine justice, and conciliating the divine favor. ) for our sins.

MY PRAYER…
Loving Father, thank You for adopting me into Your family. I can never thank You enough or ever repay You for Your kindness and Your mercy, but I can offer my self a living sacrifice unto You. Please receive the service of my life today as thanksgiving for Your grace (Your unmerited favor) and my small way of trying to share the love You have given me. Through my Brother, my Ransom, my Lord, and my Savior, Jesus, I pray.
Amen

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God’s Plans

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version (NIV)

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Are you walking in God’s plans for you?

Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, God had already planned your life with Him. He had already ordained that you would be priests and kings in His Kingdom. But because He is a just and a loving God He has allowed us to have our own way & will and to live and do the things we want to, even NOT serving Him. We can choose to follow His Word, which is His will for us or we can choose to do our own thing and be like the rest of the heathen unsaved world, which is in an ever steepening spiral straight into Hell. If we choose His way and His will He will prosper us and give us a future with Him, but if we choose our own thing then His hand is not in it and we will not (CAN NOT) receive what He has for us, we are on our own. Instead we leave ourselves open for what is referred to in Deuteronomy 28:15-68, as the CURSE. But God even tells us which to choose between life or death…His choice – choose life!

MY PRAYER…
In my struggles, O Lord, help me find the grace You have already given me. Lord help me to fulfill the plan and purpose that You wrote in the book of my life before I was born. Lord help me to see, through Your Holy Spirit and Your Word what You have planned for me. By Your grace and through Your mercy when You sent my Lord and Savior, Jesus, I pray.
Amen

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Authentic Christians

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you , so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:34-35 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
How do you recognize real “Authentic” Christians? Did you know there are “False” Christians. They aren’t really what they seem, we are warned about them in the scripture also. So, how do you recognize authentic Christians, the true followers of Jesus? How do you know who the true (Authentic) Christians are? How do you separate the true Christians from the one’s claiming to be Christian, but are really just religious people punching a time clock? Jesus said they (the Authentic Christians, the ones who are Christ-like) love each other just as He loved the disciples. In the immediate context, this means He was willing to give sacrificially and selflessly by dying for them on the cross, and He was also willing to love selflessly and practically by becoming their servant and even washing their feet to show them how they must be. His ministry reveals what a Christian is to be like, ALL the time, not just on Sunday mornings in church. In the book of Acts they met daily from house to house. Imagine if we all read, understood, and did the Gospels, and committed to love each other in the same way Jesus showed His love to His disciples! Are you a disciple of Jesus, a true (Authentic) Christian, or are you just a religious social (Counterfeit) Christian? You are a true (Authentic) Christian if you love the Brethren all the time and bear the fruit of a Christ-like life. Otherwise you’re only a social Christian, a religious counterfeit. Going to church doesn’t make a Christian just like going to McDonalds doesn’t make you a hamburger!

MY PRAYER…
Father of Compassion, Mercy, and God of all grace, I thank You for teaching me to love through the example of Your Son Jesus. May my words and actions reflect some resemblance of His love toward Your people today. May I learn to walk, talk and live the life that He lived everyday of my life. Father, help me to not be a religious counterfeit like the Pharisees and Sadducees. Through Christ, my Great and Glorious example, I pray.
Amen

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Heaven On Earth

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
John 14:23 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Did you know you can have Heaven on earth right now?

Did you notice what He said? He said we (The Father God, The Son Jesus, and The Holy Spirit) will come to you and make our home with you. That’s here and now on earth, not when we get to heaven! At many Christian funerals, the preacher or speaker emphasizes how Jesus has left to make ready a house in His Father’s mansion for us to join Him in heaven. Then He is going to come back for us. But in these verses here, Jesus makes what I believe to be an even more important promise. He’s telling us that until it is time for us to come be with Him in His mansion in Heaven, He will come live with us here and now on earth. It all hinges on one thing, our willingness to obey Him. Do you want Him to live with you here and now? It’s not a bad deal, is it? We do not have to wait until we get to heaven to experience the God kind of life, we are supposed to have heaven here on Earth! So let’s not allow obedience to be a forgotten word in our lifestyle. Let’s not fall prey to the sin that caused Lucifer to fall from heaven and become Satan. Let’s do the will of God. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Then Jesus and the Father will come to us, here on earth, and make their home with us.

So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven. (Luke 11:2)

MY PRAYER…
Father, thank You for providing us with Your Word as our Guide in life. Thank You for creating an operating manual for my life here on earth, Your Holy Word. My request, Father, I need Your abiding presence to face the challenges of life. As You have upheld Your children through the ages, I am thankful to greet each day knowing that I will not face it alone. But I know that You are here with me each and every day, living in my heart. Father, let me be an instrument of Your peace, harmony, and unity here on earth. In Jesus’ precious name I pray.
Amen

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“Holy”

Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:15-16 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Are you “Holy”?

“Holy” is one of those words we generally associate with the religious people, Like the Pharisees & Sadducees of Jesus time, a word only “religious church folks” use. That may be true, but it’s still a great concept. Every kid knows that you don’t eat hot dogs and potato chips on Mom’s best china plates. Mom’s china is reserved for “special company” or “special occasions.” Hot dogs are for paper plates and every day tableware, china is for special events or special guests. When God is calling us to be holy, he’s calling us to be like fine china, something special just for Him, and as Peter emphasizes, “just like Him.” The Greek word translated here as holy could also have been translated: sacred, pure, blameless or consecrated. God wants us to be set apart from the world, but also set unto Him. Remember, we are in the world, but we are not to be of the world.

MY PRAYER…
Holy Lord, God Almighty, I come before You knowing how great the distance is between Your holiness and my commonness. I thank You for making me holy and righteous through the sacrifice of Jesus and by sending Your Holy Spirit to live inside of me. Please receive my life today as a holy offering to You. Help me Lord to make it holy and acceptable unto You. Through Jesus, the pioneer and perfector, the author and the finisher of my faith I pray.
Amen

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Probably one of God’s best promises:

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.
Isaiah 43:19-21 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
God is ready to do a new thing for His chosen people. We as Christians (not the religious ‘zealots’, but those who belong to Jesus and live like He did.) are His chosen people, a Holy Priesthood. Are we ready to receive His new thing? He says He will make a way even in the deserts of our lives. That He will bring forth rivers where there are none so that we, His chosen people can come and drink. Then we are to show forth His praise. Have you came to the river lately? Are you drinking from His river regularly? Are you honoring Him with your praise daily regardless of your circumstances? You should be. Your praise to Him should not be dependent upon your circumstances or how you feel. It should just praise Him for what He is and what He has already done for you – then the joy will come to you.

MY PRAYER…
Holy Father, I thank You that You make a way where there seems to be no way. That You provide for Your children’s every need. Thank You Lord for Your river, where we may come forth and drink whenever we are thirsty. Thank you Jesus, for You have provided us that river in Yourself. You said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Thank You Father for Your rivers of provision. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen

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