NEW SERIES: "THINK" PART 1 - "OUT OF THE HEART"

"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he" Proverbs 23:7 NKJV

Jesus said the following, (found in Matthew 15:19) - "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders", as He expounded on what defiles a person. The passage can be found here in Matthew 15:10-19.

The Son of God chose "evil thoughts" as the first category because, from the Human Experience, every action, reaction, and deed begins with a thought. Whether it is a beneficial invention, such as Velcro or the sticky/Post-it note, or a rank evil from - name it - everything begins with a thought.

All sin is hatched in the mind, which if not taken captive and expelled immediately in Jesus' Name, will ferment into a "what if" scenario. At that point, there is still a choice to resist the devil. This is why Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6: "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one".

When a sinful thought (regardless of the type of sin) reaches the "What If" stage, there is now a fork in the road. You and I have a choice to make. We can proceed and sin against God and our own soul or turn back and take it down. If the former is chosen, as we discover from speaking with people who have gone as far as to wreck their homes and lives, the choice to commit the sin comes with the PURPOSEFUL ignoring of the evident warnings of the Holy Spirit. In other words, you will know immediately from the Spirit in your own spirit - that you are NOT supposed to do this act/deed or whatever. I have seen men blow up their marriages and careers; lose their children and church community and then lose their way for a while, from giving in to the passing pleasures of sin for a Season.

What this new "THINK" series is leading to, as the roadmap for Victory, from the oppression and darkness of a life ruined by sinful thoughts that went flying past the "WHAT IF" phase to outright rebellion and destruction TO the victorious life of Philippians 4:8 and a powerful Prayer Life.

These truths are timeless but even more meaningful so, as we begin anything new- from a new year to a new season in life to a new "anything".

Scripture explains Scripture. Proverbs 23:7, from the Word of God  - Who is also Jesus, the Word (John 1:1) - tell us that as a man thinks in his heart (and thus mind), so is he". Jesus expands His Word in Proverbs to what the results of stinking thinking are, in our Matthew 15:19 verse " murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders"

You and I have a better road - the Highway of Holiness; the Road of Righteousness; the Freeway of Faith; the Pathway to Peace and the Joy in the next leg of the Journey with Jesus. Let's choose that instead, as we launch into a forever season of righteous thinking and doing and living.

In Jesus' Strong Name, amen

---------------------------------------------------------

Why use the NKJV:

My favorite translation of the Bible has always been the great King James Version (KJV) as it was my first real bible after being Born Again in July 1988....after a lifetime of going to church, youth ministry and even speaking from pulpits. Personal Bible Memory and speaking Scripture to myself aside, the KJV and its old English is a little tougher for modern readers to comprehend. The English vocabulary in the early 1600s, when the KJV was being written, was minimal. The NKJV has all the features of the King James Bible, is accurate, and flows beautifully. It is also used in many churches worldwide,  and in many Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, and other churches in America.

NOTE: For literal word-for-word accurate translation and Bible Study, my bible of choice is the New American Standard 1977 Version which had to be re-covered in goatskin due to its falling apart. It is the first version of the literal NASB but it has the same flow and feel of the KJV. That is the bible in the photo is this first of the "THINK" Series

THIRTY ONE DAYS OF PRAYER AND THE WORD:JANUARY 1-31, 2015 THEME: "ABIDE"

DAY ONE:

Beginning anything with Prayer and Praise, in gratitude for what God has done for us, is imperative. It is also always wise, in the Sight of the Lord, to begin each new calendar year humbly submitted to the Father, Who always existed and is always gracious to us, His Children.

The theme which the Lord gave me for this first month's focus - whether it is prayer, fasting, praise and sometimes, all three is ABIDE. The literal meaning of ABIDE in the New Covenant (or Testament) with Christ is "to remain in; to dwell and to live in Christ until death"! Christ is literally called the Branch in Prophesy (Zechariah 3:8 and others). There is no other way but to remain in Christ. He said that NO ONE can snatch HIS sheep out of His Hands, So eternity is secure to the born-again, converted and regenerated forer son/daughter of perdition. 

But just like the vine must remain connected to the Source to produce fruit. We must also remain connected with the Spirit of God. We know when we are saved that the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of the Branch - indwells us until death. Therefore, to live the full life, we must allow the Source of Everything to work in and through us. There is no other way - to be happy in Jesus - but to trust, obey and pray.

To start 2015 off as we should and in order to get to where we can function with an unction, this January, the focus is abiding in the Word with a verse and a prayer...and when the Spirit guides - a song. So here is Day 1 of 31:

VERSE: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4).

PRAYER: Father God, Abba, Almighty God, Ruler of the Universe and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we thank Thee for all You are. We thank Thee for giving life, sustaining life and being the Author of Eternal Life. This is Life, that we may know You, that we may know Jesus Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, Who for the Joy set before Him endured the Cross, even unto death, that we may be saved. 

Father we accept, I accept, that glorious gift and accept Your Sovereignty, Your Majesty, Your Kingdom Authority, Your Power and Your Passion for Holiness which You exude in everything sent from Heaven, via Your Word. Your Word is confirmed by Your Holy Spirit Who lives in Your children. Father I attest to that Truth and pledge my days, the days and minutes of this new year, of this new paradigm, of this new season, to living in that Truth, to loving in that Truth, to triumphing in Your Testing, to persevering in the trials that come my way and to declaring Your Goodness.

Lord, You are MY GOD- You are MY KING, You are my Source, You are all that I need, all that I seek, all that I desire, all that I live for, all that I work for in the long run. I abide in the shadow of Your Mighty Wings, I dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, I rest in the Blessed Assurance that Jesus is mine, oh what a foretaste of Your divine glory, majesty, worthiness, excellence, purity and amazing awesomeness. I depend solely on You for my sustenance, in the spirit man and in the temporal. You are my all in all and I worship You, Abba Father.  Thank You for opening the portals of Heaven that we may seek and come before Thy Mighty Throne minute by minute if we so desire, and You listen. Lord, what manner of God is this - that You know my name....that of the billions, You know ALL Your creation to the smallest detail...that the Eyes of the Lord runneth to and fro and seeketh those whose hearts are set on Thee! Thank You for taking me as I was, so I can be like the Great I am, Your Son - YHWH - Who spake to Moses through the Burning Bush and led Israel through the Pillar of Fire and the Cloud.

Your Shalom is more precious than anything ever created, now and in the future and I rest and abide in this as we begin 31 days of precious, anointed, humble and submitted worship to You, oh Glorious King and Commander in Chief of the Universe, through Christ our Lord, amen.  

#UNBROKEN GRACE, LOVE AND FORGIVENESS - THE MESSAGE OF THE AGES THE LET US

While reading several reviews of the movie #UNBROKEN, a few things struck me about the difference between the followers of the Way of Truth and everybody else. Unbroken is the biggest surprise hit movie of the Christmas 2014 series and is based on the actual life of Louis Zamperini. Zamperini was born of Italian immigrants and became a US Olympian athlete in the famed 1936 Olympics where the great Jesse Owens showed up the folly of Adolph Hitler's master race.

Later on, Zamperini became a bombardier during World War II where he flew B24's over the Pacific, only to be shot down by the Imperial Japanese army and captured. Imprisoned, beated, tortured and worse by the most cruel types of humans who paralleled the nazis, Zamperini survived and a decade later was still full of revenge against his captors.....that is, until he met the world's greatest modern evangelist Billy Graham and Christ changed his life.

The current movie, directed by Angelina Jolie, does an excellent job of Zamperini's Japanese camp years but this full testimony to the Power of Christ - CAPTURED BY GRACE - can be seen for free here and ordered for a simple donation as a DVD, if you wish to share with others.

What is striking about this true life testimony to the Power of Love and forgiveness is the reaction of the two men who were on opposite sides of that war. Zamperini was full of hate and revenge against the brutal Japanese yet when Christ changed his life, he went out of this way to avoid even embarassing the family of his chief captor and persecutor - Matsuhiro Watanabe. (CLICK HERE TO SEE WATANABE's 60 MINUTES INTERVIEW FROM OVER A DECADE AGO). Watanabe did not have that same humility or spirit of repentance and/or Christian love in him, as he was not redeemed by the Savior and died an unrepentant man. In fact, he blamed his actions in the WWII Japanese prison on nationalism, rather than personal sin - the prerequisite to becoming a child of the King.

One man demonstrated the Power and Love of God, and on the other side, the other demonstrated the Pride and Loathing of the god of this world, through extreme nationalism and messed up priorities.  

One man had the peace and love that passes ALL understanding, the other passed the buck. 

One man (Louis Zamperini) lived a full life (he died in 2014 at age 97) and found out what a new study was released from the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and the Culture on Christmas Eve 2014 proved: that people who attended worship services regularly were almost twice as happy than does who did not. According to the survey here, 45 percent of weekly worshipers are more able to cope with life and be happier. In the opposite direction, those who reported as "very unhappy" were twice as many and in the group which never goes to any service at all! (You can read the entire survey here).

As a new year begins and we reflected on what is truly important in life, and how we should live any remaining years, let us resolve to start here:  (1 John 4: 7-11)7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to bethe propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

And when this love - this "agape" - pours out of us, we would have demonstrated to the entire world, and especially those who need our grace and forgiveness, which ONLY comes from our relationship with the Father - through the Son Jesus Christ- the world would have known that we are truly His. This will be the testimony of the Message of The Ages, the Manifestation and the Love through the Incarnation, when God came to dwell with one, first as a baby and then to give us all the offer of Eternal Life, when He paid it ahead for mankind, on the Cross of Calvary.
#Glory To His Name! 

THINK ON THESE THINGS - NEW YEAR'S EVE 2011

CONCERNING THE YEAR THAT AIN'T NO MORE

What if we had more time in a day to git 'er done, would we?
What if we had one more dime in the parking meter, would we have gotten that parking ticket?
What if we had one more mime on the street corner in July, would we welcome the sound of jackhammers?
What if?


What if we had filled up the tank on the way to work, right before Sheik Abdul sneezed and gas shot up 45 cents a gallon?
What if we had just been cussed out by a guy named Frank, but still gave the cashier a credit card-sized tract which looked like a "Facebook" logo with a Friend Request that reminded her "What a Friend we have in Jesus"?
What if we had just gotten that one last prayer in for uncle Joe, who was in Hospice Care but thinks he was good enough to get into Heaven because he never killed anyone....well except for that bridge he blew up in Viet Nam...and the er...secret mission to Cambodia...???!!!
What if?


You get the point! 
Life is sometimes a series of missed opportunities. It happens to everyone at the most crucial moment. How many times have we said "aw man...I should have said....." or "why didn't I mention......" or "if I get the chance to tell....I will...." ad nauseum!


2011, THE YEAR THAT'S NO MORE:
This past year was no different. Looking back on what ain't no more, we see:
- Blizzard on Groundhog Day (February 2, 2011) which shut down the Midwest and took the life of a 55 year old friend of mine, who went shovelling two feet of snow with a bad heart.
- Tidal Wave shown live on worldwide TV in March....as many of us watched in horror as thousands died lost forever to eternity in a split second, because they did not know the One True God.
- A monster mile-wide tornado took out Tuscaloosa, Alabama in April which they still have not recovered from.
- A similar set of violent tornadoes almost completely destroyed Joplin, Mo, about 6 hours from where we live. But unlike the other natural disasters, we were able to mobilize truckloads of food, water, clothing and money to help love on these dear people, who lost everything except their Hope!
- The St. Louis Cardinals, hot on the heels of one of the biggest Christian Days at the Ball Park in August, win the 2011 Baseball World Series in some of the best baseball ever played.
- Yet we had spectacles of spoiled rich kids armed with Apple iPads, iPhones and more electronics you can shake a stick at, "OCCUPYING" every major city in America, causing havoc, lost of income and disease by living in 1960's styled communes...complete with illicit sex and violence!
- But then we had the Tim Tebow phenomenon!  One thing those who don't understand us Followers of Jesus is this - Tebow has the jump on them! The thing is - a person either bows or "Takes" the knee to Jesus Christ NOW as your Lord and Savior - or THEN on Judgment Day, when the majority of mankind will be forced to do so, right before being condemned to Eternal Separation from God! 
Therefore - GO TEBOW!


TWO MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER:
All of the aforementioned are community and national phenomena, which we should not neglected. However the most two most important  Evaluations of the past year are these:


- Our Relationship with God (Are we saved and walking in His Light daily?)
- Our Relationship with our immediate family (wife, husband, children, extended family etc...)


Today, at your New Year's Eve party or fellowship or on your couch watching some ball fall off the side of a New York building, THINK ON THESE THINGS:
-  What if I had read my Bible more than just the 3 minutes in church, which the pastor reads and I follow?
-  What if I even opened a Bible because that same pastor uses wall projectors to teach Scripture on Sunday morning?!!
-  What if I prayed more than 7 minutes a week, which BARNA found out about us - The Body of Christ (the majority of US Pastors are only slightly better - 10 minutes per week!)
-  What if I reached out more and more to the lost, hurting and weary?


Could, should and would I learn from any shortcomings from the above and seek to immediately improve on my Walk with Jesus, as soon as possible, in 2012? This would be the mark of a true woman or man of God!

Could, should and would I get more involved in doing whatever I can, no matter how little, if there is a food drive at work to feed the poor or help those in need after a flood or tornado? Don't wait to do this by thinking someone else will pick up the slack, my friends! YOU are the person Christ gave all for! Therefore it's time for YOU to step up!


While all of the above is fine, if we do not have LOVE, we have nothing. We can do all of the above and write big checks or volunteer at every soup kitchen, but if we are a fraud at home, where rubber meets the road....well.....forgeddaboudit!


Consider this: if your teenage son or daughter have nothing good to say about you, or your spouse thinks you love yourself and your happiness more than her and your children, well then what are you going to do to change/improve that in 2012?


No amount of good wishes, "Happy New Year's" and resolutions will change the facade of perfection we have created in such an instance. If we are the real deal at home as we are in public, well PRAISE GOD for that...and may we grow from strength to strength.


However, if we need the Hand of the Lord to work on this one part of our lives, well then, let's get to it now....because this is the one which affects our walk with Christ and our community, in the final analysis.


In conclusion, long after we have gone through all the "What ifs" and evaluated our personal walk -whether it is in darkness or light - we will do well to embed the following Bible passage into our consciousness on this final day of 2011 and then allow it to take us into 2012 with all Flags Flying the Jesus Colors....and with that - HAPPY NEW YEAR!



Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 3:13-14 ESV)

(image by google images)

FEAST OF TRUMPETS 2011

(Think on These Things return tomorrow)

NEW YEAR'S EVE 2011 (5772 ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE)

Today is the first day of the Feast of Trumpets. It is New Year's Eve for our Jewish brethren! 

First of all - HAPPY NEW YEAR (Rosh Hashanah) ! It is now the year 5772! While the western world uses the Julian Calendar, the Jewish calendar is closer to correct Biblically.

Many Christians neglect the Jewish Holidays as a lot of pompous American churches from American Baptist to Charismatic and the unbiblical mainlines religious organizations believe in something called "Replacement Theology"  (Click here). This is not only wrong but blasphemous of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is Christ Himself who instituted the Jewish Feasts and celebrated them Himself! Not just that, but in the Milennial Kingdom, when He reigns from Jerusalem, Trumpets and Tabernacles (Succot) are coming back according to Biblical Prophesy!


This will be explored in tonight's blog. For now, I celebrate the Coming New Year with my brothers in the Jewish Community today, because spiritually this date is closer to the Creation of Man by God, in the Book of Genesis.

Happy New Years' Eve!