It’s Time To Rest

 With so much going on in the world and so much going on in our lives it is easy to get over whelmed.   Hebrew chapter 4 says there is a rest for the people of God, but disbelief can keep us from entering into that rest.  There is nothing that can relieve stress like the rest of God!   But how do we enter into that rest?   We do so by faith!   The key is in Hebrew 4 

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[e] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience

If we enter into God’s rest we also rest from our own works…

Stop meddling…Stop scheming…Let go of worry…cast down fear…Stop trying to control!   

I can’t imagine the stress that Joshua went through walking 40 years through the wilderness and finally crossing the Jordan only to be faced with circumcision and the walls of Jericho   Yet as Joshua trusted God’s plan and God’s timing faith brought them through to the promise land    If we want to enter God’s rest we must trust God’s plan and God’s timing    

Can you trust God today?    Yes!   Yes, you can!   

8 Steps to Inner Peace

The first step to inner peace is reconciliation.   Without reconciliation there is no inner peace.   But wait does that mean that others can hold us hostage and keep us from finding peace.  After all, some people will not reconcile, and some situations are unreconcilable.  According to the Bible we should try to reconcile with everyone (Matt. 5:23) but there are times when reconciliation with that person does not come, or we only receive partial reconciliation.  Then what do we do?  If you have already tried to reconcile with that person and you never got complete reconciliation with them, you must move on to finding reconciliation within yourself over the matter.   It is possible to find inner reconciliation on a matter even if that other person does not want to reconcile.

We often "wrestle" with things inside of us, things that we have never come to grips with in life.  If, by the grace of God you can settle the issue inside you than at least you have reconciled the matter within YOURSELF, and now you can rest.   As long as we haven't settled our issues inside us we wrestle with them in our mind and our spirit.    You have to look at what you are wrestling with and may have to lay some things down to find inner peace.  For instance, if you are looking for approval from others, you will not find inner peace until you lay that down.    If you are looking for someone to feel sorry for you, you will not find inner peace until you move past that desire.   Other things that steal our inner peace are insecurities, fears, jealousy, anger and things like this.    Much of the teaching that Jesus gave to us while on the earth is how to overcome these type of things so that they DO NOT RULE your life.    There are many things that can 'steal' your inner peace, so it will take the presence and spirit of God to help you overcome and find peace and satisfaction in this life.

1.  The serenity prayer comes into play here, because without accepting the things we cannot change, and changing the things we cannot accept, we will not find inner peace.     Remember not everything has a solution, and also,  whatever you cannot tolerate, you must change, no matter the cost.

2.  Carefully thought out actions will bring good results in our lives, but often we spend a life time REACTING to others instead of acting for what is best.   If our reaction to others are not appropriate we have to take responsibility and let go of our bitterness.  Excuses along the way in life is a big enemy to finding inner peace.  Don't give way to excuses, but rather, line your life up with what the Bible says.  It is the only way to find inner peace.

3.  We cannot ignore the way we feel.   You have to face your feelings head on and find a resolution that you can accept.   Ignoring your feelings is the best way to end up at the doctor on meds, on the otherhand, we can't act on all of our feelings either.   We must find a way to resolve our feelings and come to a place of acceptance of our selves, our circumstances, our family, our lives.  If we cannot, than we must change things to what is acceptable.   Acknowledging the truth will set us free.  Search through the Bible on topics regarding your circumstances.   Look for viable solutions within the Word of God.  Often the answer is tough to apply, but when we line up with God, the answers come.

4.   Don't let what you want to be, who you used to be, or what others have done to you dominate your thoughts.   You are going to MISS who you are NOW if you do, and missing who you are now causes pain for the people around us.  For instance, if you are a MOTHER now, embrace that and let that be in the center of your thoughts and actions.   Don't let what you wished you were, or what happened to you when you were a child dominate you.   Don't sacrifice today for tomorrow or yesterday.   Inner peace is impossible to find without embracing the NOW.

5.  The Psalmist said, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want."   Always wanting, and wanting, and wanting...this is dangerous to your soul, your mind, your relationships, your finances.  This is a huge danger in life and will keep you from inner peace.   We must find satisfaction is what we have, and thankfully work towards higher goals.    Covetousness is a cancer to the soul and will cause you to be unhappy no matter how good you got it.

6.  Know yourself, and don't do what you can't handle.   If you can't handle someone, stay away as much as you can.   If you can't handle the internet without sinning, stay away.  If you can't handle going to a certain part of town without falling back into the same ole mess, than stay away.   We make life harder and inner peace impossible when we push ourselves to the things that tear us apart.

7.  Don't overlook the small things.   Here is an example, if a fly is buzzing you all day long, it may be small, but by the end of the day you will feel frazzled.   Sometimes people live by their suffering.  They try to punish themself.   I know people who think it spiritual to cause yourself to suffer.   Suffering comes to everyone sometimes, but eliminate all of it that you can.  Stop trying to 'manage' your life, and set your life in a place that is not as hard to manage.

8.  Settle wtihin yourself that peace is just as important as performance.   What good does it do to 'have it all' if  you are a ball of nerves and one pill away from suicide?   Success at the cost of inner peace is not a success than came from God and you don't want it!   As  you set your priorities set inner peace as one of your top goals.   If we gain the whole world and lose our souls, what does it profit us?

The Steps to Inner Healing

This week a friend of mine showed a ministry website that helps people find inner healing.   Because the sins we do, the sins people do to us, the traumatic events in life, the things passed to us by our ancestors, they can damage and wound our souls.    God wants to heal our inner man and make us whole.   I would highly suggest that you read this ministry web page on inner healing, and go through the steps of inner healing.     Steps to Inner Healing, Click here

When You Life is Off Track!

When you look at the life of Moses, you can see that he made some decisions when he was young that got his life off track.   He thought that his mistakes were so bad that his life could never be restored or repaired to God's original plan.  There are so many people that I talk to everyday that is in the same boat as Moses.  They made some really bad mistakes as they were going through their late teens and early twenties, and they have been trying really hard to get their life back on track.   But, with each decision it is like they get farther away from where they need to be and it gets worse and worse for them.   So, if your life is OFF track, how do you get it back ON track?

What most people do when they feel their life is off track is they start looking for security.  And most people think that security is found in love, or in possessions.   If I could just get someone to really love me, or if I could just get a good job and a nice home and reliable transportation, then I could be back on track.    But those things don't bring happiness even if they do bring a sence of security.  Look at Hollywood stars and professional atheletes.   Even those who have plenty of money, no problem finding relationships, nice homes, nice cars are so miserable they use sleep aids to sleep, and anti-depresents to make it through the day!    So our hearts desire security and we begin looking for that in worldly and material things and with each decision we make our lives get farther and farther off track.

So what is the problem?  The problem is that we are following the desires of our hearts, and those desires are misplaced.   The desires of our hearts are leading us the wrong direction.   We desire material things, jobs, homes, cars, relationships, because we think this will bring us security, and we think that security will bring us peace and contentment and it is all a lie.  If you think material things and relationship with someone is what you need in life you have drank the worlds kool-aide!   Everyone is chasing those things, and most everyone is getting more and more messed up because they are making one poor decision right after the other!  

What do we need?  We need God to come and change the desires of our hearts.   We need to pray, "God give me the desires of YOUR heart!"  If we would seek after righteous, peace and the joy found in the Holy Ghost we would find peace and conentment, and then God would add to us all the relationship and material things in life that we need.

We keep making the wrong decisions when we chase after the wrong things.  Chase after God and you will find that life gets better!   amen.

Don't Miss Out On Your Experience With God

Matthew 28:1  Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

Jesus had been crucified.  And all the disciples had given up 'everything' to follow him, but none of them were willing at that point to give their lives.   Later that changed, but they all fled.   And on the third day Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were going to go tend to the body.   You see, the disciples weren't going to tend to his body, because he was DEAD to them.  And they didn't want nothing to do with his death!   They were still hiding.   If they showed up at that tomb to tend to the body they just might get arrested too!  Often times we want the blessings of God!  We want life, blessings, health, peace!  Come on Lord bring on the benefits!  But how many of us will take up His cross and follow Him.  You see it isn't all blessings and life when it comes to the Lord.  You see there is death too.  You see if we suffer with Him we will also reign with Him.  So nobody went to the tomb except Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary.  And watch this, they are going to get an EXPERIENCE with God that the others only get to HEAR about.  

Somebody needs to just catch what I just said:  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were the ONLY two that went to the tomb, to associate with HIS DEATH, and there they got an EXPERIENCE THAT  the others only got to HEAR about!  

Mathew 28: 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

Now I don't know about you all, but earthquakes scare me.  I live in the heart of Kentucky and we very seldom have an earthquake.  But, if we have one, any size at all, and we feel the earth shake, we will talk about it for the rest of our lives.  And every body got their story of where they was, and what they were doing the day the earth shaked and we all got scared!   Can you imagine them going to the tomb of Jesus and the ground begin to shake!    What a story that would be.  Oh, yeah!  I remember that earthquake we had, I was on my way to the tomb of Jesus, and the ground started shaking!   And a big angel came and He rolled away the stone!   And all the guards that we were afraid of they all fell to the ground like dead men!   Oh!  Could you imagine.  I don't care what experience you have had with God in your life, these ladies right here has the BEST testimony of all.   They can say, "I was there when the ground began to shake!  And this big angel came down and rolled away the stone."  GLORY!    But the others, they were hiding.  They didn't want nothing to do with his death,  AND THEY MISSED THE WHOLE THING!

If you will not associate with the sufferings of Jesus, you going to MISS what God is doing.  You are going to MISS what Giod is saying.  Yeah.  They were afraid of the guards at the tomb, so they stayed home.  But these two woman, they got this testimony, "The guards fell down like dead men, and wasn't NOBODY arresting us today because we came to see JESUS!    When was the last time you got up at the crack of dawn and ran to see Jesus in your own life!  You are missing your encounters with God because YOU ain't seeking Him.  You casually hanging out with the church folk, and going to the dinners, and praying when you feel like it, or you have a reason to pray.  And you are not searching, seeking, knocking...and you hear about others having experience with God.  Others are hearing His voice, but you ain't.  Others are getting supernatural provisions, but you ain't.  Others are getting a healing in their soul, their body, but you ain't.   Lord.  Let us run with you!

Matthew 28:5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.

And they were afraid too!   If  you like to live a life of excitement and being on the edge, having fresh vision, fresh word, fresh revelation...GROWING, GROWING, GROWING as a person than lay aside your life and start seeking God with a hunger!     We get stagnant and stuck in ONE spot in life cause we don't have any fresh revelation or vision from God.    You see, God is going to move you forward.  Cause he don't always change your circumstances until AFTER He change YOU!  And if you don't draw close to him and run after him he can't change you.  See here is one thing you KNOW.  When these ladies had this EXPERIENCE with God, it CHANGED them!   Forever, forever, forever, forever changed!   We are too often looking for change, but we don't want nobody changing ME.  How you going to have change without submitting to change yourself?  You ARE NOT!    When you submit to change, you will find that YOUR LIFE changes!   Praise God!  

So what happened?  They got to go back and tell the disciples, "We have expereienced and been witness to HIS RESURRECTION."  The only ones that experienced His RESURRECTION was the ones that were willing to associate and deal with HIS DEATH.  They faced the persecustion of possible arrest and said we don't care if we are arrested, we are going to go to Jesus!  

How far will you go with Jesus!   Will you suffer with him?  Or is your relationship with Him all about you and what YOU want in life?   If we suffer with Him, we will also REIGN with Him.

The Seven Statements That Will Change Your Life!

I am going to make some revelatory statements, and there is going to be at least one that breaks down the walls for you.  

1.  Just because you hear voices doesn't mean you have to do what they say, or believe what they say!  
Random voices in your head are NO DIFFERENT than voices of people sitting next to you!  You have to decide if you are going to believe the Word of God, or the voices around you.  Just know this the Word of God is going to lead you to FAITH and VICTORY, while those 'other voices' are going to bind you in FEAR.   Here is what you do.   Begin saying outloud as many times as you need to these words.  "I believe the Word of God and I am NOT AFRAID!"    "I WILL NOT FEAR"  "I AM NOT AFRAID"    You see random voices in your head are just that NOISE, and they only have power if those voices make you afraid.    HELLO PEOPLE.   We are living in a time in society when everyone is just a half notch from crazy.   Don't be surprised if you or someone you know can 'hear voices'   that is no big deal.  The bad part is if you start BELIEVING the voices.   Now you have a real problem!  

2.  Just because you have NO OPTIONS does not mean you can or should lay down and QUIT!  

We are living in a time in American culture in which financial and relatlional situations can often leave people with little or few options in life.    So many times when people are faced with limited options they just lay down and quit.   HELLO!   When Moses ran into the RED SEA, he had NO options, but they didn't quit.  When Jonah was swallowed by the whale he had little or no options, but he didn't quit.  When Gideon was oppressed by the Midianites they had little to no options, but he didn't quit, they were still threshing grain!   Why are  you laying down and quitting??    Get up and move forward.  Pray a prayer of repentance and ask God to help you.   Do what you can with the little you have and keep moving and pressing forward.    Life is like a boat.   You can't really move it unless you got some movement already going.  You have tied yourself down to the dock.   Untie from the dock, push your self out a bit into the water and start your engine, and move forward even if it is just an inch at time!


3.  Just because someone is talking about you, or hurt you doesn't mean you have to FALL APART!

What would happen if someone talked about you, or hurt you and you went on with life and prospered anyway!  I guess you would have OVERCOME the world!    Jesus came so that we could overcome the world.   If there are 5000 people in this county and 2400 are talking about me, and I don't allow that to IMPACT my life, my work, my joy, my peace, my mind, my thoughts, my directions, my flow in God that guess what I WIN!    If someone hurts you, talks about you, and wants to see you ruined and you REACT to their gossip guess what?  THEY WIN!   Please listen to me child of God.  Yea.  Haters going to hate.  People are going to lie on you,  the going to be jealous of you.  They won't be doing no good works at all, but they will criticize the good works YOU do.  Of course they going to hate you, but what did Jesus say?  He said but be of good cheer I have overcome the world.  I have spent a life time IGNORING my haters and REFUSING to respond to their nonsince.   And you know what bothers them more than you prospering.    It's when you prosper and they attack you for it and you IGNORE THEM.  It burns them up.  No more facebook post rants about  your haters.  If you respond like that, they eat it up.  You are doing just what they want.   Listen to me child of God!  Just because someone talks about you doesn't mean you have to RESPOND!   Take that and be set free!

4.   YOUR LIFE IS ONLY AS STRONG AS YOUR COMITTMENTS

Show me how many people and things you are truly comitted to and I will tell you how strong your life is.   So many times people lives are so fragile and their whole house falls apart two or three times a year, they got to move, start all over, get new job, new people, new relationships, new furntiure, new everthing over and over and over.  They are only starting all the time, but never sticking and flourishing.  Why is that?  It is because they haven't made enough comittments in their life.    What are you comitted to?  Your children?  If the only thing you have made a comittment to is your kids, you are going to have a terrible time raising them.    Please listen to me.  When we think that a comittment to our kids is ALL that we need in life to have stability and a home we are going to fall short and those kids are going to be dragged from person to person, home to home, relationship to relationship.  

5.   Your procrastination is KILLING you.

I think that is enough said.   You know what you should do, but you haven't done because you are 'waiting on God's timing'  that simply put is saying, "I want to wait until I don't have to use faith to do it, so wait on God to make it EASY.'   Wrong.  Without faith it is impossible to please God!  

6.    You will know a person by their FRUIT.    

If they have a prison record, don't date this person.   If they have kids by several people, don't date this person.  If they are married to someone else, don't date this person.   If they have no job, no money, no class, don't date this person.   If they do more drugs than they do work, don't date this person.    What makes you think that you can date someone and have a baby with them and then all the sudden they will be a responsible parent that helps raise this child?     If they aren't responsible before the baby, they won't be afterward either!  

7.  If You PUT YOURSELF above GOD, YOU WILL LOSE

  If you put your family and your life, your job, your kids, your family time, your stuff before you put the things of GOD, (notice I didn't say God but I said the things of God)  than your family is  not going to serve God at all.    You call Him your GOD, and yet you put yourself and your family before HIS things.   Why would your family honor a God that you yourself do not honor.

God May Not Take You Out, But He Will Take You Through!

Often times we are wanting God to come and take us OUT of our problems, when all along God intends to take us THROUGH.    

The three Hebrew Children were told to bow to the idol.   They refused  because of their faith in God.  The threat was that anyone that did not bow would be thrown into the fiery furnance.   OK, right there my prayer is going to be that God would not allow me to be thrown into the fire.   Wouldn't it be the prayer of all of us that we would not have to be thrown into a furnace?   And yet, they were thrown in.  God didn't save them from the furnace, but he did save them from the flames.   Flames that should have burned them alive was not able to touch them even though they walked in the midst of the flames.  I'm talking to someone right now and you are waking in the midst of the flames.  God may not take you OUT of the problem, but he will WALK you through it!

Daniel prayed everyday, and his enemies used his faithfulness against him.  They tricked the King into making a decree that no one could pray to any God or man except to the King.   What did Daniel do?  He went right on and prayed to God anyway.  The punishment?  Thrown into a den of lions.   Now right there I'm going to start praying that I don't have to go to that den.   I would be praying God keep me out of that den of lions, and deliver me from it.  Because I don't want to have to go through being thrown to lions.  Who could survive that?   God didn't take Daniel out of that situation, but He did take him through it.  He was thrown to the lions, but God shut the lions mouth.

Joseph was given a coat of many colors.   His brothers hated him because of his favor and his dreams.  God didn't keep him from betrayal, abuse, and hardships, because his brothers gave him all of that, but God did take him through it.  And in the end God took all those hardships and worked them together for his good.

Word of Wisdom: God doesn't always bring us out, but He will see us through. God didn't keep the Three Hebrew children out of the fire, but He did go with them THROUGH it. God didn't keep Daniel out of the lion's den, but He did go with him THROUGH it. God didn't keep Joseph from being hurt, betrayed and abused by his family, but He did take Him THROUGH it to a better place. Whatever circumstance or situation that you are going through today, God may not take you out of it, but He will take you THROUGH it! Even Noah built a boat and went THROUGH the flood. Somebody say, " I may not come out, but nothing can stop MY GOD from taking me THROUGH!"