Devotionals

“Nevertheless I have [this] against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…” (Rev. 2:4-5 NKJV)

Bros ever notice when you seem to have fallen away from something or someone you love dearly; it just seems to all of a sudden be like that, to have happened so quickly. You don’t remember ever leaving that love, kind of like what happened? How did the fire burn out so quickly? It seems like it was a huge blaze just yesterday. The love is there but it is a small ember on the verge of being snuffed out. This fire that once roared for the Lord is now like a person on their deathbed they have a faint pulse they are not dead but they are barely alive at best. By falling away from something I am not referring to idolizing some object of affection, (but using it as an example to amplify our first love later as the story unfolds) something of the world or some ungodly habit but those things can take you away from your first love and usually do! What I am referring to is actually the things you love to do and maybe it is spending time with the Lord. That time where you get up early or maybe your time is at lunch or in the evening walk where you have that alone time with the Lord Jesus Christ, just you and Him. Also, that time we spend in the Word where we have that quiet time and we are meditating on and in His Word and we are mesmerized by His Holy Spirit because the Lord is showing us and speaking to us through His Word in such an intense way we are so into Him that we lose all cognizance of time and we don’t want to leave that place of ministry that time we have and the Lord is so ministering to us and loving us we are in a state of heavenly blessing. You remember those times right? Just like they were this morning, they should be that fresh, if not fresher in the thoughts of your mind and the depths of your heart, well if you don’t remember maybe you have fallen away from your first love and maybe it’s time to return.

Remember in your youth that first car (or it could have been anything really that got your love or attention)where you practically wore the paint off of it washing and waxing it even though it never really had that much paint on it to begin with. Then after you had it a while you slacked off and kind of maybe stopped washing it and keeping the maintenance up on it and pretty soon you started getting a big attitude against it, started trash talking your chariot, thinking to your self what a hunk of junk this thing is, it’s old, has no value, doesn’t mean much to you… You took advantage of it as long as you could for what you got out of it and then when you thought it can’t do me any more good you lost interest there was nothing for you in it. You get the idea; it just seems to not register in your priorities of what’s important to you anymore... Then some time goes by and now ol’ Nellie needs some mechanical work and maybe it is something simple like new tail light bulbs and or a side mirror, set of spark plugs or oil change or maybe you put a new starter or water pump something like that. So you pull ol’ Nellie into your garage and start working on her and put some time into fixing her up right and you get all the new parts on but not before you take a few knuckles down a layer and drop a tool into the fender well and spend an hour or two retrieving it. So you got all your tools back and you are feeling quite blessed because you poured a lot of labor (of love of course) and effort and struggle into the repairs. Now you take her out for a test spin and man O’ man she is running like a top so you are cruising in the ol’ bread box and you start thinking to yourself what a sweet ride, man this car runs great, purrs like a kitten. Wow this is so smooth and you get back home and spend the rest of the day cleaning the car inside and out. Then it dawns on you how much you love this car and how much it means to you and how much you have poured yourself into taking good care of this baby. You pay attention to something, you work on something, put in a little labor on something and you end up loving and caring more for that something in the end. You made a choice you went after it with all your heart you thought to make it better, granted that was not your original intent but it happened. You spent time with the object of your affection and it turned out changing your attitude and heart from the inside out. That very thing you grew apart from caused you to value it more because you made time, you made a choice, and you turned yourself towards wanting to make it better. It seems to grow our love deeper and more appreciative when we make that choice in our heart of hearts, but we have to make it for ourselves- no one can make it for us; we become impassioned about that thing or person. Sometimes we don’t realize what we have and we don’t appreciate the things we love and the people we love in our lives, maybe we have taken them for granted, not intentionally but it just happened little by little we quit caring or taking the time to show our love or to show our appreciation for that object of our affections.

Bros if you have stopped loving or caring, return to your first love, repent, and get right with the Lord Jesus Christ right now, return to your first love, do the first works, fall in love with Jesus again today, return He is waiting for you.

Here’s what Jesus Christ King of kings, Lord of lords says;

 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me”. – (Rev 3:20 NKJV)

What are you waiting for, if you hear Him knocking open the door & let Him in today and become one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Give Jesus Christ the first fruits of your time and heart and you will return to your first love…

“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both [the number of] their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they [were], was completed” (Revelation 6:9-11).

These are those martyrs who came to Christ during the Tribulation period and it could be declared that all believers present day should share this cry of the future believers to be martyrs for Christ Jesus. That we would live our lives now as these will in the future. This spoke to my heart as it relates to our time right now how we should be living our lives willing to be called and placed under the Altar for taking and making a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. There are a few things that jumped out in these scriptures; first those that were under the altar took a stand for God, Second they asked how long and third they got a white robe. The first one that really caught my attention in these verses was; “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and the testimony which they held” (Revelation 6:9) They made a stand for Gods word and lost their lives, I don’t like to say they lost their lives literally because actually they gained them; “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it” (Mark 8:35).

Do you find it hard to share your belief in Jesus or the Gospel on the streets, in your neighborhood store with coworkers, old friends and family? Think of these future martyrs who were hated and slain for the Gospel. Are you ever afraid you might get thrown under the bus for sharing the Gospel or even mentioning God? Some might and some might not receive the Word of God joyfully, but unless you give witness of the Gospel either verbally or by your life; the way you live your life as a godly witness or share your testimony you’ll never know, you won’t know what God can do with your witness until you are a witness, you can’t be afraid to share the Gospel or why you believe... The world might always throw you under the bus when it comes to sharing the Gospel or maybe some of you might be out in the world right now as you read this. Or might be you have friends who are still out there or maybe you are a friend of the world; well then you are out there in enemy territory and you need a friend like only Jesus can be, He will stick closer than a brother. So if your witness is weak right now ask the Lord for help and He will indeed help you. I know for me when I was being thrown under the bus so to speak by some previous circumstances from being in the world that I found myself in as a new believer a few years back. When I turned to Jesus for help, I cried out over and over to the Lord and then He sent me a special friend, a bro in the Lord, which I didn’t realize at the time how special he actually was to me. But God used him to encourage me and help me through many great trials. He was not the most capable, he had many problems himself. He was weak; he was going through great trauma that was caused from Vietnam he would tell you himself he was a basket case. But this bro was strong in the Lord and was willing to let God use him even though he knew he was in a great struggle in his own life as well, he had a willing heart and gave his time to me to minister to me… He answered the call of ministry; he shared the word and gave testimony and witness by his life to me right up until he went home to be with the Lord earlier this year. He was a great friend and my only hope is that everyone could have a bro like this in their lives. The Lord had this planned all along he ended up being the very best friend I could ever have aside from the Lord Jesus Christ from the moment we met.  He showed me how to street witness and share the Lord with complete strangers and people everywhere we went, he had such great zeal. In fact he was the first person when I came to the Lord that taught me to share the gospel. One time we were going into a store and people were coming out of the store and he saw an opportunity to be a witness for Christ Jesus. I remember he said “let the Holy Spirit lead you, just start a conversation, and trust the Lord for the rest”. The amazing part of his testimony is he was so paranoid and could not be around people or large crowds or in tight confines, if he was in a room he had to be real close to the door or he would get the heights (panic attacks- panic overload that he suffered from being exposed to agent orange) as he called it, but he would totally freak out if he was forced or found himself in a situation like this. He always told me if he didn’t know the Lord Jesus Christ he could never make it through life- he suffered greatly in regards to these panic attacks and said that he was never paranoid like that before serving in Vietnam. He spent his life sharing the Lord and being a witness for Jesus Christ in his area around his home you see he could not go over about three miles from home alone or he would have panic attacks. You see Bros he was willing to give his all, willing to allow himself to be tortured so to speak because of his unique struggles to share the Gospel. He knew he was a wreck by his psyche condition and by the worlds standards he was just another nutcase, but he also knew Jesus was bigger than all his struggles… I believe he would allow himself to be used or go down in flames no matter how hard it was on him to share the Gospel, because you see he had a willing heart for the Lord, he was so grateful to the Lord for all he had, he felt so blessed in his life, to be saved an his life was a reflection of that gratitude towards the Lord Jesus Christ and really believed God allowed this to happen to him for a good reason. Even if he had been called to be slain for the Gospel he would have been willing to answer the call, he wasn’t afraid to pick up the call and say send me…. “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here [am] I! Send me."” (Isaiah 6:8) “Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God” (Psalm 43:3-4).

But these were those souls who were under the altar for the word of God and for the testimony and the witness they were. These future event folks didn’t get thrown under the altar their souls were placed there because they were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held and were given a privileged place to rest a little while longer. Think of the many times we might have let opportunities slip by to let folks around us hear the Gospel or to be a witness for the Word of God. It doesn’t take a lot to be a witness for Christ Jesus or share the Gospel only a willing heart; God can use the most insignificant and even us that are weaklings, the most ill equipped, least likely person to accomplish His will in touching lives for Jesus Christ, getting the Gospel out; “He gives power to the weak, And to [those who have] no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29). I have seen in ministry times to numerous to count where God has taken those who we might think are least able; the ones who we think could not help or do anything in a physical sense. Maybe someone who has real physical limitations or has maybe been financially ruined and God uses them in a way that they seem like they couldn’t help, a way that might seem impossible or He uses one not even studied or trained or equipped in the Word of God or someone who is a baby Christian and just memorized John 3:16 perhaps.

I know a dear bro and friend who was injured in a body surfing accident a few years back he is paralyzed and is in a wheel chair. He is one of the mightiest men of God I know; he has a heart after the Lord, to serve the Lord and has a gift of godly encouragement and is an inspiration to others in spite of his physical outcome in life. In fact he is probably one of the most gifted and inspiring track & field coaches you could ever meet and this bro knows the Word, he has a very kind gentle loving character. God has used him on the college campus to minister to our youth as a faithful, true and mighty witness. Amazing how God works all that out, the joy and passion that this bro has for the Lord. Anyway a few years back we were going to be doing a youth ministry in-reach for the children and youth in the body of our church and everyone pitched in and helped with doing all the various things entailed for this in-reach except no one wanted to volunteer to get or bring firewood for the camp fire, it was the most physical thing that needed to be done for our in-reach. But who did the Lord lift up; the one who was least physically able to do it, the one with a willing heart to serve, the coach did it with a joyful loving heart he made sure we had plenty of firewood, probably the only time we ever did have plenty. Bros that alone ministered to me in such a powerful way and still does to this day. Just like the Lord knows who are His and He will use those who have a heart to serve Him in spite of their lack of ability or areas of weaknesses and those who will take a stand for Him and just like those martyrs in the future you will find them under the altar that privileged place. The Lord knows those who are sold out for Him no matter what. He knows your heart and the motives that drive your heart, He knows those committed totally for His glory the ones that don’t care if they get acknowledged but only want to give the Lord all the credit. The saints we read about that were under the altar before the throne of God actually no better place to be then and even today that we should be as those martyrs were; a living sacrifice to God, that we would have that same heart. They that commit their lives to God, stand for God and His Word. Now those future saints their prayers were coming right from His altar ascending before God. Bros that is closeness to God, their prayers are coming from and to the heart of God from His altar, His communion table. The place of holiness, where we sup with Him, where He sends out His word, the place where sacrifices are made and received, where hearts are broken, melted or softened and given over to the Lord for His healing and restoration, that place where prayers are lifted up before the Lord and that place where we serve Him where we leave everything behind, where nothing matters but the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand” (Revelation 8:3-4).

Bros have you ever asked the Lord “How Long”? I have plenty of times and so that is the second thing I want to take a look at or consider… One thing for sure is not how long Lord? But when we ask that we remember to wait on and for God, wait for Him alone to move, let Him do it. “But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew [their] strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). I can attest to the fact that there is growth and maturity in those times of waiting, painful as it may seem because waiting is tough and may seem a vary harsh chastisement or time of just trusting or having faith in the Lord whenever you receive it- “the wait”, but it is the opposite of harsh in reality it is the most gentle form of correction and direction we can receive from the Lord and seems to have a way of drawing you closer to the Lord. It forces you in a gentle way to look to God. Things maybe we don’t see at the time but the Lord is doing a work in us through this time of waiting. God told them to rest a while longer. “God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us” (Hebrews 11:40). …”Until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed” (Revelation 6:11).  God will wait for them to come to heaven, when I say wait for them I mean He already knows the day and the hour- He won’t throw His saints under the bus, but rather place “those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held” under His altar, His authority, His protection, His love, His rest and His eternal plan. God doesn’t get tired of waiting for them because He knows already…He already knows when we will be there too. We just need to trust Him and learn what He wants us to learn when He has us do “the wait”… But they were asking, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" In Zechariah 1:12 that same question was asked how long?  “Then the Angel of the LORD answered and said, "O LORD of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?"(Zechariah 1:12) Then the Lord returning to Jerusalem with mercy, comfort and prosperity will again choose Jerusalem. Seventy years is a long time- that just shows how long suffering and merciful our God can be even with us. In Psalm 74 “A contemplation of Asaph”- he states in verses 9-12, “We do not see our signs; [There is] no longer any prophet; Nor [is there] any among us who knows how long. O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever? Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? [Take it] out of Your bosom and destroy [them]. For God [is] my King from of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth. (Psalm 74:9-12) You see God has a plan for each of us, He knows how long and until he moves and completes his plan we are to wait and rest in Him, just like those martyred saints in the future. He is our King. When you are kicking back at home you might throw on your robe and relax and rest. When you are at a fancy hotel they might loan you a white robe and then try to sell it to you before you leave. But God has a better White robe for you that can’t be bought or borrowed waiting for you that He wants to give to you. He will clothe you with His righteousness and give you rest as you wait on Him. Bros don’t be afraid to make a stand for Gods Word, don’t be afraid for the testimony He has given you to share the Gospel. What can man do to you? So we may boldly say: "The LORD [is] my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6) What will God do with you today? Will you use the gifts He has given you, serve in the ministry He has called you to, share the Gospel with whom He puts in your path, will you be the one that goes after that neighbor, friend or family member to tell them how much Jesus Loves them…To encourage all you encounter in the things of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the witness of the Gospel and the testimony you have in Jesus Christ- Amen!

"You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created"(Revelation 4:11).

“[He is] the Rock, His work [is] perfect; For all His ways [are] justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright [is] He” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

In our world Construction defects are in everything that is built or manufactured it seems impossible to make or build something absolutely perfect. Contractors see all the defects, even though they try to build everything perfect. I don’t mean that they are intentional or major defects but the little nuances that come from building something by hand and by so many different people assembling things that all tie in together to create the finished product. There are bound to be some variations especially when mixing old with new or remodeled. Sometimes when the project is finished you look at it and it looks great to most folks. But as the builder or creator of a project you know every defect and sometimes it is hard to look past that and see the overall finished product. It can sometimes be like a scarred heart- it doesn’t show on the outside but if you could look inside you could see the defects and know the exact underlying condition of the structure. And when you know these things are there and that a project is less than perfect sometimes that is hard to except because we demand perfection but are incapable of ever creating it totally or being perfect in our own lives for that matter. So not even being able to be perfect ourselves we try to create perfection with everything we do and then the frustration can set in, where can we possibly think we are going to end up in our efforts to be perfect in all we do or try to create, except as even more frustrated than we started out being because of our lack of ability to be perfect. I would like to contrast building a project that is perfect to being without sin- just a little…

We are incapable of being without sin or perfect in our own power or by any self will as individuals, having that sin nature why would we think we can create perfection or do anything exactly perfect to begin with and that brings me to this thought; how does God do it?  What I mean is how can He tolerate us, knowing all of our sins and sin nature, when He looks at us or looks into our thoughts or see us in our actions or hears us talking or knows our motives or looks into our hearts? How is God able to be concerned about us when He knows our sin nature and what we are going to do before we do it? Because of love, He loves us and He created us and knows us intimately and every detail about us, every little- what we might call character defects and sins? But did God create sin or is this something we did on our own? Again I am thinking as a contractor and looking at this through my eyes, knowing a project I build is less than perfect not by choice even though I try hard and I want it to be perfect but it never will be. God knows we will never be perfect either…No matter how hard we try we will never be perfect because we have a sin nature and Jesus Christ is the only One who is absolutely Perfect. In spite of all this the Bible says; "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"(Romans 5:8).

Because God loves us, and His love was shown upon the cross, how great His love is for us that He allowed Himself to be separated from the Father because of our sins; He took the penalty for our sins- that is LOVE. His Love for us was shown without hesitation on that cross taking our place paying for all our sins, our inability to be perfect, but His ability to Love us.

“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9).
Gods’ creation, that would be us, we were created by His design and in His image, so what happened to us, we know that the incident in the garden had a huge impact on us? How did we stray from what he create us to be and to become who we are and like we are today- having sin nature and that lack of being fully able to be Christ like in our Christian walk? Not to say that we are supposed to be perfect in the sense that Christ Jesus is. But I know we want to be like Christ and so we are yearning, thirsting, hungering to lead Christ centered lives, it is with that sense- sort of pursuit of holiness knowing we will never achieve perfection until we meet our Lord Jesus Christ face to face but now following Gods perfection Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. He made us and He knows all the sins that we choose to do and every area where we are weak, just like a builder knows the less than perfect areas in his building. I don’t think God made any defects when He created us, but because He gave us free will to choose to follow Him or to choose not to follow Him or to obey Him or not to obey Him we are the ones that add sin to what God created to be when we allow our free will to take us away from God instead of using our free will choice to honor God and obey all His commandments and to me that free will when we allow it to follow our flesh is like a gear or centrifugal clutch or centrifugal force if you will, and by it’s force it moves us away from center, its when it engages by force that it moves away the free wheeling or free spinning position or for us free will position. It’s like God gave us a neutral gear for our free will or self will and we can choose to take it out of neutral and then when we allow a force to control us like our sin nature flesh or the world to influence us or the enemy the force thrust us from being God centered and into high speed sin gear and we begin to move in revolutions away from God so as not to be centered in Christ Jesus.

 Centrifugal force is when something moves away from center; a force that makes rotating bodies move away from center. Then the force that moves it away from center becomes greater while the force is allowed to have control, once it engages, its power controls it. God is our center and when we are centered on Him controlled by the Holy Spirit and draw near Him we are in perfect harmony with His will for our lives. It’s when we allow the power of forces by our choices to move us away from being God centered that we are living outside His will for our lives. These forces can be sin in our lives that dominate our walk or limit our walk with the Lord or even sin on a lark- non intentional or spiritual warfare, a falling away that takes us away from His Word, prayer, Bible studies, regular fellowship, breaking bread together or accountability to God and other believers. It’s like the construction defects I spoke of in the beginning there are things that are not readily visible from our exterior but God knows and sees the interior all the dirt of sin that is inside and He is the only One who can remove those sin faults and present us faultless. “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present [you] faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, [Be] glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen” (Jude 1:24-25).

 It’s a choice Bros we can allow our free will or that very sin nature to control us and to slip away from neutral to centrifugal force of sin nature or the enemy or our fleshy desires or the things of this world to consume us and force us away from God or we can choose to follow God and stay centered on Him and His ways for our life. “For it pleased [the Father that] in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight”—(Colossians 1:19-22). 

Dear Lord Jesus help us to choose You and not allow the forces of our sin nature flesh or evil or pride or lust of the eyes to prevail in our lives. But help us to be God centered so that we would stay close to You and Your perfect Will for us. That You would break down any walls the enemy has erected and remove the shackles of bondage that we might be caught and bound up in or maybe we have been back sliding away from you right now in our lives, slowly falling away, make us whole again so that we would come to honor You Father, to praise you Lord Jesus Christ, to be controlled by Your Holy Spirit and not allow us to add our sins to what You created in Your Own Image and cause Your heart to be so grieved. Let us rejoice that You did create us for Your good pleasure and as You desired and that we would not allow our sin nature to control us Your very own creation, except may we do that which honors You and exalts You Lord Jesus above everything else, You are Perfect in every way Lord and we thank You that You alone are Perfect and everything You created was by Your Perfect Design and Purpose. And because You are perfect and everything You have done in the past is perfect and everything You do today is perfect and everything You do in the future will be perfect too.

You are Perfect Lord and everything about You is perfect and we are thankful that we are made whole by Your Love and Your Grace and Your Mercy. In You only Lord Jesus Christ can we be made whole because of the love You poured out for us and into us on Calvary taking our place on the cross, thank You Lord for giving us the perfect sacrifice for our sins Jesus Christ our Redeemer so when our sins are removed we are washed from our sins according to Your perfect plan by taking our filthy sins that we added and washing us and making us white as snow and cleansing us from all unrighteousness to show the world that You are indeed God Almighty and You have the power to make what is dead in sin alive and perfected in Your Love, Mercy and Your Grace and no one but You Lord Jesus Christ can forgive our sins not the porcelain buddy ha, Moe ham mad, nor confusion, or mary not one can cleanse us from our sins and wash us but only You Lord Jesus Christ.

You are the Master Builder Who sees and knows everything about everything and You love us all in spite of the sin nature that exist in us, that lack of self control which we can perpetuate the wrong way when we exercise our free will to satisfy our flesh. Only You make us cleansed through confession of sin to You and repentance and You take those sins away with Your perfect restoration, Your perfect forgiveness, Your perfect cleansing and washing by the blood of Christ Jesus-Your perfect remedy for our sins, Your perfect healing touch, Your perfect ability to mend a broken and contrite heart through our Fathers Love, Abba Father and only from our Daddy’s’ love can we experience the fullness of Your perfect love Jesus Christ in our lives, make us to follow and look to Your perfection our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:12).

“[As for] God, His way [is] perfect; The word of the LORD [is] proven; He [is] a shield to all who trust in Him.”For who [is] God, except the LORD? And who [is] a rock, except our God? God [is] my strength [and] power, And He makes my way perfect” (2 Samuel 22:31-33).

2 Peter 1:10-12 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.

The last thing we tend to ever think about is our departure date even as we are growing in Christ everyday knowing our ultimate goal is to be with Jesus. As we get older these departure thoughts come to the surface of our thinking more and more and in a more profound way and I am referring to departure for the moment as it relates to this side of our life in the human concept of life, but all that seems to fade away when we put it into perspective and realize even though we depart from this life and earth we will be supplied an entrance abundantly into the ever lasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ- so run to not only finish the race but to win the race too! Bro look for the entrance to be so lavishly or abundantly supplied we will think it is fit for a king and we are undeserving- well we are undeserving but perish the thought bro, the Lord is going to do just that for us in fact He has already done this for us when this time comes, the Word says “for so an entrance will be supplied” as in already done as believers and receivers of Christ Jesus and, because our election already took place before God formed the earth He chose us for Himself and that makes our call to be abiding in Him.

Now back to these Departure thoughts as I was saying; when some of us were younger or for some you may be yet young, now the thoughts of death never entered our thoughts in a deep thinking way and if they do it is because someone else brought them up or there was a recent death in your family or circle of friends or the news maybe. But as I reflect back in my younger years I never looked at death as closely as I do now perhaps because I am on the furthest side of past middle age….  And there are more years to look back on than possibly there are in the future. This past couple years or so I have experienced more deaths of family, dear friends and church family than any other time of my life and you may be experiencing this too and that makes me look and think about Departure even more so. It seems like people are dying all around us some maybe unrepentantly or they never realized maybe that they should get right with God now, not later and that there is a place we all are going to after we leave this earth it will be heaven or hell no other way- there are no other choices- Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life and also that we don’t know the day or hour some will leave very un-expectantly and some it seems at a young age.

I think often of where I will be when the Lord calls me home; will I be taken in my sleep to never wake up or driving somewhere or some freak accident or will some disease take me home or will the Lord allow me to live to be some ripe old age…. Should you or I be taken home to the Lord where will He find us in that day? Will we be sharing the Gospel with some poor soul; will we be making a soul richer by introducing him to Jesus Christ Lord and Savior of all? Will we be too busy thinking of and doing what we think would make a great exit strategy for our Departure? That would sure keep us on our toes occupying our time trying to be doing the most desirable thing that would please the Lord Jesus Christ upon our Departure but, not knowing the day or the hour though… but always thinking man I hope the Lord takes me doing this or that, or will we be found in some compromising situation that sheds suspect on who we really are or who we are thought to be, you always hear folks say- I never knew that they were into that or had such a wild side or thought that they were capable of that, they just never seemed like the type to do that and the list goes on….

Training as a Chaplain a few years back- we spent a day with the Coroner and you would be amazed at the weird and perverted things some people have been doing when they departed this Earth.  Where will you be in that day? That is a question we should ask ourselves frequently? This thought of Departure is entering into my thoughts a lot as of lately having lost so many dear ones that were family members or dear friends including a good friend’s dad and as you get older all the ones you love are family really. Some have been in their fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties; more than half of these I have known were in their fifties- now that gets your attention I know it did mine. That hit home like a grand slam and made me think and seek God more saying Lord I want to always be right with you in every way everyday. I don’t want a second to go by with any (sin no matter how small I might think it may be sin is sin in Gods eyes) un-repented sin; David set a good example for all of us trying to always have a heart that sought repentance, he shares this in Psalm 51. Lord I do not want to be doing things that are not above reproach and doing anything to not honor you. I do not want to walk away from or into an argument or situation where I have not reached out a hand to extend mercy, forgiveness, love or an opportunity to show humility to honor God. You might have an ongoing battle with a family member or neighbor or some altercation on the highway- where will you be if God takes you home in the middle of one of these Bros??? Stay close to the Lord always and especially just in case you get an early Departure Ticket, that way you will always be ready and it will be a short trip into His arms.

In the 2nd Epistle chapter one verses 13,14 & 15 of Peter He talks about his Departure and says:” Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding [you], knowing that shortly I [must] put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.” He is leaving a written legacy as a reminder and he knew that his Departure would be forthcoming at some point. I believe also it is an important reminder from Peter as long as he is around he will be reminding them the believers as we too should be stirring one another up as a reminder and a legacy to our life following Christ Jesus and also the way we should look at our Departure not so much from the standpoint of when or how we will depart that does not matter, but we definitely want to be glorifying our Father in heaven at all times-  leaving a godly legacy by stirring one another up in the things of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be above reproach in our lives so that we are prepared for our final Departure at any given moment, because we don’t know that time, but it is close and with that in mind just keep following Jesus closely- not from afar bros, we know what happened to Peter when he fell back little by little…

What is important is not where we will be physically but where is our heart spiritually located when we are called for Departure? It may be time to check the *1020 (*location) of your heart, there is an awesome manual you can do this with, it was written and created by the Creator of us all, so that we could get a correct reading on our hearts and minds in the things of God, take it from Him He knows everything! He wrote the book, our beloved Bible the Word of God Almighty.

We do still wonder how it will happen, but what really matters is where we are going when we depart- into the arms of our loving Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Sure the most desired place for any of us is to be at during this final Departure is serving the Lord when that day or hour does come, we want to be working for and rightly loving our Heavenly Father, taking care of His business. Whatever unfinished business we leave on this earth the Lord will take care of that for us. He will mend the hearts and comfort the broken hearts of those left behind He is the only One that can do that. He created each and everyone of us and knows us intimately and knowing that I can’t think of anyone better suited to leave the details to than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, He alone will make the final Departure time and date, just be ready in case He calls you when you are least expected.  Place your trust and hope in Him alone.

Sometimes it can be sad thoughts on this side of death- but in the twinkling of an eye the other side might be something like- this, imagine seeing and being with the Lord Jesus Christ as He hugs you and wraps His loving arms around you & pulls you in real close to Him and tells you “See I said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” and I meant what I said. Welcome home son or daughter! Well done my good and faithful servant I love you! The love He has for us seems inexpressible in our thinking realm because of our limited capacity but thank you Lord Jesus for Your unlimited capacity of love for us and towards us. I guess the best way for us to understand the capacity or gift of the love He has for us is to reflect upon what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross for you and me, He died for us shedding His blood to cleanse us from all our sins, serving our needs rather than His own, meeting our needs though His Departure from earth was only temporary as our stay on earth is temporary He rose from His Departure and came back again and then departed to live eternally forever in eternity and in our hearts. He departed after taking our place on the cross to be resurrected and lives forever, just as we will someday live forever with Him- that is love bros, we have that love, that hope, that promise and even then it is more than we can fully and totally comprehend, but we can see the depth of the never ending love He has for us in this offering of love by our Savior Jesus Christ.

No matter how close our departure day or hour is on this earth we know the love that is waiting for us to receive us and that truly will be something to behold and totally beyond our comprehension and imagination or in our wildest dreams we cannot conceive what He has in store for us, when he calls us home it will be the sweetest call and as we are following Him we will be in the perfect position to answer that call and it will be the most perfect thing we could ever imagine, can you imagine it bro!

2 Timothy 4:6-8 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

2 Corinthians 5;1-8 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So [we are] always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.  For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Our Departure is our final act on this earth following Jesus Christ but our first act arriving in His presence for eternity in the twinkling of an eye bro, amen!

Psalm 57:1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until [these] calamities have passed by.

I remember the Lords tender mercy as I cried out to Him; He did indeed hear my pleas and indeed did show great and awesome mercy beyond my understanding. You can never really or fully comprehend the total mercy of the Lord when it is happening, it just comes gushing forth and there is no way to turn it off- not that you would want to, it’s too big, to massive, it has the power to bring you to your knees and usher in unstoppable buckets of tears from overwhelming joy and unbelievable heartfelt praise and thanksgiving. You stand in awe and just say Lord how did You do it or how can You do it or this is too wonderful for me and what did I do to bring such magnificent blessings, (that answer is quite simple you did nothing) or why would You bestow such miraculous incredible feats of Your undeniable power of love and divine intervention. Words that are not known by me or could only be hoped to be learned in my lifetime and then still they would not be fully adequate or wonderful or beautiful enough and even still could never ever fully describe the ever-loving merciful God we serve. He is too amazingly marvelous for us to comprehend, understand or fathom, words cannot come up from a lifetime of learning our language or going thorough a life that is able to teach us or would teach us how merciful our God is, it is only from seeing and experiencing His tender mercies in our lives that we can see His great love for each one of us. His great mercy is able to teach us and allow us to be able to see, feel, know and say how beautiful and sweet and awesome and mighty our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is to us even in the midst of great trials, tribulations, testing of our faith and sorrows.

Bros, I know from personal experience as I am sure each of you also do too, that the Lord is merciful and hears our cries as His children as a Father hears the distress calls from the hearts of His children, we have that heritage or birthright as His children that we can call on Him anytime, anyplace and He will hear from on high…. And answer according to His Will; know that He is full of mercy, love, grace and compassion for His children, His heart is set upon blessing you and loving you and allowing you to come to Him in any situation, His heart aches for you, for you to draw close to Him- that is His desire and He is willing to wait for you in that time of your despair and looking for you to call just as a parent waits for that phone call to hear from their child to know that all is well within them, so to is He waiting to bless you, to be merciful, to show His great love and blessings to you, to pour Himself out for you as a drink offering, to pour Himself into you to fill you with His goodness and mercy, His love and all that He is, and was and is to come He gives to you because He loves you that much bro. 

A few years back my dear sweet mom went home to be with the Lord, man how we miss her and still love her so much and think of her everyday. I often think of that season when the Lord took her home. His great mercy He had on our family to allow us all to say goodbye to her and He gave us three days where we could share, cry, laugh, pray, read scripture to her, love her and listen to her give us that last advice that only a mom can give. I remember that day before this all began I visited my mom in the assisted living home she was living and even took her for an ice cream cone, I’ll never forget that day! The next day was Valentines day and we had been invited to come to a little party they were having there where my mom lived, they wanted me to bring my son as they so enjoyed having children around, in fact they were so blessed by children. With the next day came news that my brothers’ father in law had passed away whom he and my mom were the surviving grandparents from both sides of the family and shared the same grandkids. So I decided I better go in the morning to share this news with my mom as I did not want to go to the party and break this sad news at that time, I felt it would be better to go first thing and then come back later for the party so that she was able to have some time before hand to absorb this difficult news. When I got there that morning I went to my moms room and she was not there, so I headed for the den area, then the TV room and finally the dining area to no avail, she was not there, so I thought maybe she is bathing or showering. I went to the front lobby and inquired at the front desk and they told me she was around somewhere, so I searched again and still could not locate her. Finally I was getting frantic; I asked what has happened to my mother, so the gal looked through some clipboards and finally said oh your mom was taken to the hospital last night at around midnight to my shock and disbelief. I asked why no one had called me, she then said oh we called but no one answered, I said I have voice mail and then if you called me and got no answer why didn’t someone call one of my three brothers of which she had all the numbers, she offered the excuse they called all the numbers. I said which hospital is she in so she told me, so I headed over there and called my brothers as I drove and told them what had happened and none of them had a received a call about our mom either.

When I got to the hospital and found my mom and saw that she was in a confused state and didn’t really know where she was or what was going on, I asked the nurses and Doctors what has happened to my dear sweet mother. They said she got sick at around midnight, complaining her stomach was really hurting and she was very sick, they had done x-rays and all that stuff and said she had a very large tumor in her stomach and it was probably cancerous and at the time was thought to be inoperable and eventually it was found that they were correct in their thinking. I couldn’t believe it bros, just a few hours earlier I was having ice cream with my mom and now she was on her deathbed… I was angry, hurt and with a torn heart. I tried to talk to my mom and finally asked the Doctors why she was not herself and why she was in this coma like condition and why she did not respond when I talked with her and even as she looked at me it was as though she didn’t recognize or know me her son. She was like this for a few days, by now my brother had come from out of state as well as my moms little sister whom she loved and her husband, with family gathered around in the days ahead and much prayer being lifted up asking God for His will and the grim news ever coming forth from the Doctors, it was sad to see her and yet know she didn’t seem to know us or even know where she was or what was going on. My brothers and I were praying and seeking the Lord in that time as we were pacing about between home and hospital and asking for His mercy the Lord suddenly brought my mom out of this coma like condition that had covered over her like a blanket that she was deep under, now she knew who we were and we were able to communicate with her. We were able to share with her and relive old times together, to pray with her, to read the Bible with her, to have my son in law play his guitar and sing to her, to tell her how much she meant to us and how much we loved her; it truly was a miracle from God. She was still able to dispense advice that only a mom can to her grown sons and all her grandchildren, it was a sweet blessing from the Lord that lasted a sweet three days and then she drifted back to the original state until the Lord took her home a few days later.

I share this with you bros because God in His wisdom and Great abundant mercy gave us the blessing, privilege and honor of seeing Him perform a miracle for us so we could spend a few days with my mom and share, laugh and cry with her and say goodbye. The Lord loves us so much that He wanted us to be able to say goodbye in a way that He knew we needed and really blessed us beyond belief. He allowed all my moms close family to be able come and be there that three days so we could do that, so Bros know that God loves us that much that He can and will do awesome an mighty things for us and with us not because we deserve it but because He loves us and He is a merciful God who loves you more that you could ever know or fathom and He showed us that great love in those days and even today evermore does His love and mercy shine forth with each new day….

Just as David cried out that day and asked God to be merciful to him and fled into the cave from Saul and God gave him refuge in the shadows of His wings David’s soul trusted in the Lord and we can know that as the Lord gave David great comfort and refuge from his calamities we can know that He will do the same for you, even as He did for me and my family that day until the calamities have passed by as we made our refuge in the shadow of His wings, (Psalm 57:1).

He is faithful and full of mercy for you and me and His desire is to put us under His waterfall of continuous mercies washing down over us in that day, that we might rejoice because He is our God, mighty and awesome is He and always will He be all of that and more, for words that we do not have to describe His indescribable love and mercy for each one of us!

Psalm 116:5 Gracious [is] the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God [is] merciful.  Amen!

Luke 6:36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Bros be merciful always just as our Father is merciful, look for ways to be merciful, go out of your way today to be merciful you will be blessed!

Matthew 5:7 Blessed [are] the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

Thank you Jesus for your tender mercies!

In His mercy and love,

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God [are] a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-- These, O God, You will not despise.

Bros, that scripture taken from Psalm 51 was the aftermath of David’s sin with Bathsheba. God used Nathan to bust him about his sin with Bathsheba. How David must have felt so broken at that moment when it all came rushing home. How tragic, but also how God used that to break him, love can be painful…

 Now my prayer has always been to make me but never to break me that never has it been my prayer and I know probably not most of yours as well ever since coming to the Lord, but always that God would make me the man of God He desired me to be; I never really prayed much to ask Him to break me though. I always thought oh the Lord is going to use me to do this or that because I am serving Him and doing all these wonderful things for Him…. But how can God use me or any of us if we haven’t let go of our fleshly ways or our flesh has not been burnt away or put into check or we are not practicing self control, so that God can perfect that which He desires in us.

 I can tell you from first hand experience it is a shock when you come to the place in your walk with the Lord and you realize you have been praying that prayer for so many years asking and asking God to make you a mighty man of God. And then you hit the pavement skidding when trials come instead of running to the Lord and there is a huge flesh fire burning up your ways that have been etched into your deepest depths over your lifetime. I mean it is unlike anything you have ever experienced. And as this flame roars you begin to seek God and soon you are seeing things about yourself you have never seen before and it is looking even uglier every day, every moment and every second. I want to tell you bros when you reach this place and some of us might and some of us might not, and for some it may be very difficult and for some they may come around very easily, it can be one of the biggest reality shocks and God can do it more than once in our lifetimes, for some it takes many flesh fires, others one time is sufficient. I don’t care how godly you thought you were or how perfect you thought your walk was, when God is removing the dross or burning away the flesh it stinks to high heaven. It is sad and weird that we are the last ones to see or notice this heaped up flesh…. Bros I don’t mean that we are necessarily blatantly sinning in the flesh like deliberate transgressions but what I mean is things that are not readily noticeable in our walk that may be in the way of what the Lord wants to do in us, those barriers that are standing in the way. Things that God wants to do and sometimes are not noticeable to the human eye. Stuff only He can see and in His wisdom and perfect timing He reveals them sometimes one at a time and sometimes all at one, I think it depends on the size fire He needs to create to get the job done, in my case it was a huge blaze….

 Also the Lord is merciful with us and maybe knows we cannot take it all at once so He only gives us what we can handle and it is a process as the Lord desires because He does not want to burn us up… But they are things after they have been exposed you stand in amazement at how God reveals and removes those things which can hinder our walk and service unto the Lord Jesus Christ.

 I remember a couple of years after I came to the Lord, He began to do a work in me and I can describe it as one of the most difficult times in my life and also one of those times I felt so loved and close to the Lord. He showed me not to depend on anyone else but Him and Him alone or look to anyone other than Him. But bros it was one of the most painful things I have ever endured and I can tell you I could not have went through it if the Lord hadn’t been with me all the way through, He never allowed the heat to burn so hot that I burned up, but I can tell you it was consistent until God accomplished His desire. I pleaded and pleaded with Him and asked why I had to go through this and the Lord showed me to trust Him and He would never leave me nor forsake me. That Verse in Hebrews 13:5 was given to me about this time period to remind me of His faithfulness even when we are faithless, and it resonated within my soul.

 I asked this old Pastor who was an interim pastor at our church why I had to go through this, why did the Lord have to strip away everything from me. The Lord had allowed my business and work of fifteen years to be taken away, all my personal, business possessions and accumulations were gone in an instant, He stripped all my financial resources right from my superhuman grip that I had on them and after He had allowed every possession a man could have to be removed, He started to get my attention…. Then I read in the Bible where David had praised the Lord three times a day morning, noon and night and realized that was not enough so He praised Him throughout the day so I began to praise the Lord all through the day for all I had in Him and began to thank Him for everything I had, my wife and family and then He allowed that to be taken from me. Bros that broke me, and caused me to draw closer to God to be able to receive His blessings of loving correction from this trial, He knew what it would take for me to see how much He loves me.

That old Pastor who had such wisdom that God gave him especially in what he shared with me during this great battle. He told me he grew up on a horse ranch in the Midwest and he said that as a young man he would spend his time helping break the wild horses they had on their ranch so they could sell them after they were broken and made ready for use. He was amused in that some of the horses he said you could climb up on them and they would heed his commands by the pulling of the bridle bit right away and he could ride them and then put a saddle on them and they responded and submitted and surrendered to the authority that their new masters had over them very quickly. But he also said that some of the horses were not that easy and they would fight him all the way and they would not allow themselves to be broken easily. He said they would suffer so much fighting them, trying to buck them off their backs and slamming them into the side of the corral fence and then running real fast and stopping as they are leaning real low in front to try to get the riders off their back they would literally run themselves ragged trying to get their way- not wanting to give up and submit, sound familiar... It was a battle of wits and stamina, who could out last the other and in the end the cowboys always won and the horse was broken, of course it probably involved much harder bronc busting techniques like spurs rightly applied and a whip stick of correction.

Bros that hit home with me I realized I had been fighting God and going against His will for my life for so long on many fronts. I guess the weird part about the battle with the horses and even us is if we wouldn’t fight, the battle would be over a lot quicker, no matter how hard and long the horses fight or we fight trying not to be broken by God, not intentionally but really in rebellion, kind of subconsciously though, the outcome is always the same- we cannot win against God. But also God is not trying to punish us but He is lovingly correcting us in His never ending love for us and we have to go and make it as hard as possible… Looking back I wish or would rather have been like the horses that broke easy, knowing what I know now, really I would just be the horse that gets down on the ground on it’s belly so the Cowboy could climb on really easy “no muss no fuss”….

Bros what a lot of wasted time putting up such a fight of arrogance, pride and self righteousness and self will trying not to submit or surrender to God- He has already won all the battles already anyway and you will be better for the wear by letting Him have His way to search you and know you and lead you in the way of everlasting. Surrender and know that He is God, there is victory in dying to the flesh…There is no gain without the Lord Jesus Christ. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Let God make you the mighty man of God He wants to make you, He will break you if that’s what it takes because He loves you that much that He wants to make you a man after His own heart, the man He can use.

2 Samuel 22:32-33 "For who [is] God, except the LORD? And who [is] a rock, except our God? God [is] my strength [and] power, And He makes my way perfect.

Nahum1:7 The LORD [is] good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.

It seems in this day that we live in it calls for us to trust in God more than ever. Yet sometimes that can be the hardest thing we can do. Why is that? Is it our pride, wanting to handle everything our way and saying yeah we are just trusting in the Lord all the while forcing and manipulating our plan to make things happen in a way that is favorable to our liking and then saying it’s the Lords way? And then always going to the Lord after the fact when we have exhausted our own self will and saying we have waited and trusted in You alone Lord. If the Lord is truly good and He is, we all know that, but having said that and read that in the above scripture why can’t we truly trust Him fully and wait on Him? I believe it is our self will and wanting our self centered way right now. We have this notion that we can handle everything and that we are up to the task and maybe don’t want to bother God with trivial things so we just go about everything with the perception and attitude that we are doing things Gods way because it seems good to us. But is it good to God? Have you ever noticed when we do wait on the Lord and He hears our cries and pleas for help in whatever situation, that He is so good to us that we can hardly stand it. One thing I can compare it to would be like a Basketball game and your team is down by two points and the end of the game buzzer is going to go off in two and half seconds and out of nowhere Jesus shows up you didn’t think He would show up in fact you thought you would try and win the game without Him... But from outside the three point line, really I mean half court He stops takes aim with less than one second to go then closes His eyes turns around backwards with His back to the basket and chucks the ball over His head backwards to make a three pointer and win the game for you, it is like that always when we let the Lord take control He always delivers us it seems in just a nick of time in some miraculous way and His timing is always perfect. He always delivers us in a way we could never imagine or fathom and it always seems so simple and something we never thought of before, we kind of go through all of the scenarios in our mind that we think will fix the situation and as each one of these or our so called ideas for deliverance passes by, we are like saying Lord what are you doing this would have been a perfect way to deliver me, but Gods ways are not ours.  I mean I have been blessed and delivered like that so many times by Gods three pointers and I just cry because God is so good and so merciful and so wonderful He just blows me away every time He loves us so much and I just can not fathom how good He is and I keep crying and thanking Him and praising Him for His goodness. He is faithful even when we are faithless. Bros I know many of you have been blessed like this and it is like a gentle iron grip of love, mercy and grace that can never be loosened from us, that He has on us with His goodness in the day of trouble; he surrounds us with His incredible grace. When we fully trust in the Lord and He knows when we are letting go of our ways and looking, waiting, searching, wanting, longing for Him to bless us in that day of trouble He knows those who trust in Him. He’s our stronghold bros, what else is there, we have all lived in the world and for the things of the world and there never was anything that could help us out there. The things of the world controlled us in the past, they are not good, never will be good nor can they be relied upon or be a stronghold in a time of trouble, we see the finance’s of the world gone in a second and so many have put their trust in those type’s of things and now they are broke and broken, shipwrecked with no life Savior to hang on to. But we have the Lord, He is good, He will protect us in the day of adversity what can man do to us. The Lord knows us better than we know ourselves, so He does indeed know those who trust Him. Bros lean on the Lord cast your cares and burdens on Him, trust Him to help you, believe in Him, rest in Him, wait on Him, seek Him, and search with all your heart for the One you can always trust. He is Good, He is God and He will never leave you or forsake you. Psalm 46:1 …God [is] our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Trust Him, pray, seek, wait, watch and rest in Him,

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

We have all often heard that in Real Estate the three most important things to consider are “Location, Location and Location” when considering a Real Estate investment or purchase. If you want to be successful then you will need to apply these three principles of the same then you have made a wise investment in this area. When you think of buying a piece of Real Estate and do not apply these three basic principles before you make your purchase you could be headed for a huge financial disaster.

But as Christians it can be said the same is true if we hold fast to the Word of God that is a very wise investment. In fact it almost seems like the Real Estate market may have modeled their location, location, location strategy on the way the Lord tells us about His Word in the beginning. It’s all about the Word of God from the beginning it was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, it’s the Word, Word and the Word…The Word is our life preserver & Savior, our standard of measure, our road map, our life course, our directions, our compass to show us which way to go and which way not to go when we compare anything and everything that we could ever do or go through in our lives to the Word of God and weigh it and measure it against and through the Word of God we know that When we start out each day, each conversation, each thought, each action on and in the Word of God we can draw nearer God receiving that precious investment of life more abundantly in Christ. We will have made a wise investment in our life each and every time when we apply what Gods Word says into each and every decision and situation. His Word gives us complete and absolute truth for all our cares and every thing this life can throw at us. His Word will equip us for each and every battle, every relationship issue, every type of problem we might ever face God has it covered in His Word.

How much more do we need to know than this verse in John 1:1”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”. The Lord is very clear that He always was the Word in the beginning, and the Word is with Him, and the Word was Him. The Word is faithful; the Word is always right for every situation in our lives and has been since before the beginning even of God creating us in His image or mankind’s existence. The Word is and always was even before the beginning, there is no beginning and end to God He always was and always is and always will be. We can only imagine, we cannot fathom Gods existence as we think of beginnings or the start of something or even the middle or the end which there is neither of any of these to and in of God. God is God and the Word was with God always…This particular story I want to share with you is how God used His Word through my next door neighbor who was just talking with me one day as I was coming out of my apartment quite a few years ago. What she shared with me caused a lot of heartache and grief in my worldly walk…

We had many conversations during the time I lived there; you see she was a Christian whom I avoided like the plague. But this one day she was talking with me and she shared His Scripture that says “You reap what you sow” now I had heard that one, hundreds if not thousands of times over my life. She was not beating me up with it but rather it came out as we were just talking about something, in other words she was not directing it at me by saying Dan “You reap what you sow”… But it had that effect on me none the less...

When she said it something happened in my mind that caused that Scripture to register. I remember thinking of ways to try to get away from her, you know making excuses so I did not have to hear what she had to say to me. But this day the Lord spoke to me through this Scripture. You might be saying what could the Lord be doing by having her use this Scripture or what could the Lord use me to say to someone? How could He use this to lead me to Him?

Well let me tell you He did plenty. Over the next two years I heard this Scripture His Word that was planted deep in my heart and mind over and over in my mind and heart every time I was partying when I came home and tried to sleep or really pass out I would hear this in my mind over and over to the point I thought I was going to go crazy. It was like a broken recording going over and over in my mind it would not stop I couldn’t stand it. I was so convicted in my heart, and my mind would race as I kept hearing those Words over and over from this Scripture “You reap what you sow” I would begin to tell myself I was reaping what I was sowing and God showed me this, all the things I was doing against Gods will.  I could not sleep at night for two years this would not stop. I would go out of my apartment and come home wasted and then pass out for maybe an hour and then the booze and drugs would wear off and the Scripture would come into my mind and I would hear it and it would not stop. I would begin to think of all the foolish things I had been doing while drinking and doing drugs and living separated from God. My heart would be so convicted and completely and utterly racked with guilt and shame and fear I would be so exhausted and drained each and every day when I got up for work.

I am not saying that every time we share the Gospel or some Scripture it is going to have an effect like this, but you better expect it though really you never know how the Lord will use what you say to someone when you are sharing the Gospel. That is why we pray for the Holy Spirit to give us discernment and wisdom and what He would have us share. You see God knew what it would take to turn me and He used a Christian neighbor to deliver His message His Word. It’s not like it was a surprise to Him that this Scripture worked in my heart and conscience but He led this lady by His Spirit to send His message to convict my heart…and eventually and ultimately His Word shared with me is what led me to the Lord. He was there in the beginning speaking to me and I finally heard Him and submitted to Him.

His Word is powerful and never returns void, use it in all your conversations and you will be amazed at what God will do through you when you speak His Word and share of the love that His Word brings and the healing comfort of Gods every Word. He is the Word- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…

This story that I want to start out sharing is a kind of like warfare we can face in the physical flesh. Except I actually had to use a carnal weapon to kill the enemy, but our spiritual weapons are not in the flesh and they come from and are in and through God. But it is easy to see that the enemy we have in the spiritual realm is way craftier, cleaver and destructive than the ones we face in the flesh sense not to say that he cannot use these types of attacks like this in our physical flesh. This is just kind of a case in point or illustration how the enemy can attack us and try to deduce fear and chaos in us.

Therefore beware of hitchhiking Parasites…. They are after blood, yours and mine, before you even know it they are welded onto you and attacking full force siphoning off your strength. A few years back I took my son hiking up in Trabuco Canyon up to the falls and after our hike on our way home in the car I felt a little twinge on my side so I reached with my hand under my t-shirt and felt this lump there on my side and kind of lightly rubbed it and felt something wet and pulled my hand out only to have blood running all over my fingers. I pulled my car over and though what is this, I thought I don’t remember getting poked with any brush or a branch, why am I bleeding? Then it hit me I have a blood sucking hitchhiker tick on board, trying to suck the lifeblood right out of me. So when I got home I had to get tweezers and pull that little bloodsucker out by the head and I knew that might not be enough so I put some fire in the hole and fried that rascal for good with a match head. Oh it was painful but I was ticked off and I had heard all of the stories if you left the head in it can grow back and come back bigger and stronger than its original size. Kind of like when we invite the Lord in to clean our house and we let the enemy come back in due to falling away or allowing the enemy to get a foothold in the door, we open it a crack for old time sakes and man o man the killer rushes in, more harsh and more evil than before… so no way was I going to chance this tick getting a second life to torment me and inflict pain on me…

Luke 11:6 "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds [it] swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with [him] seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last [state] of that man is worse than the first." Live and learn from God don’t give ticks or satan second chances to kill you…

Weird how I never realized or felt that parasite climb on board, he just snuck under my shirt and clung to my side, it happened so stealth and fast without me realizing, talk about being ticked, just like the devil does to us he tries to climb onto everything or get in the middle of whatever we are trying to do for Jesus.  

Before you know what hit you satan’s little minions are all over you like spies watching you for a chance to sneak aboard or like a parasite to drain the lifeblood right out of you whenever whatever you are trying to do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never stops or rest just keeps striking like a pile driver bam, bam driving harder and deeper on each hit taking a toll, slowly trying to weaken you as he tries to beat the light out of you and cover you with his darkness and evilness and slow you down and turn your focus and divert your attention from the One you are serving and seeking Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. In his constant steady beating he tries to give you a workout to wear you down and inflict as much pain as he can possibly squeeze out of every episode and trial that brings you to the point of wanting to quit or makes you lose ground he tries to paralyze your heart, stagnate your mind, freeze your zeal, incapacitate your entire psyche and send your soul adrift in a boundless and merciless tail spin of agony and defeat and exhaustion of all your physical and mental faculties. He tries everything in his power and at his disposal including using innocent victims to subdue his prey. Bros don’t let slue foot pistol whip you, don’t be his puppet.

I like what Pastor Chuck always says remember the three R’s.  Learn to *Recognize the attacks of the enemy, *Refuse the attacks of the enemy and *Rejoice in the Lord always. (The three R's)

Satan is like a roaring lion;

1Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

Put on the armor, put up the shield of faith to extinguish those fiery darts that the enemy tries to fire into your mind.

 Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things [are] noble, whatever things [are] just, whatever things [are] pure, whatever things [are] lovely, whatever things [are] of good report, if [there is] any virtue and if [there is] anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.”

 In other words meditate on the Lord Jesus Christ and on the things of God, He is truly the only One who meets every one of these. Take all thoughts captive into the obedience of Jesus Christ.

      Ask God to bind the enemy and breakdown the strongholds. He says whatever we bind in His name here on earth will be bound in heaven. So don’t let the enemy rip you off and have a field day with you bro, call on the Name above all names and plead the blood of Jesus and He will crush and rebuke the enemy. We have victory in Jesus, let’s not forget that, sometimes we get caught and blindsided with the tricks of the enemy and deceived with his craftiness and forget the power we wield when we get on our knees and take it to Jesus in prayer. The Lord is our deliverer. Even though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh AKA “Carnal Weapons” -tweezers won’t do us any good in spiritual battles... When you are in the midst of spiritual warfare and maybe ticked off, don’t respond in the flesh that is carnal warfare, instead take it to the Lord, it is a spiritual battle let Him break it down for you and He will pull down the strongholds. The battle belongs to the Lord…

Pray first before you do anything else, pray in the name of Jesus and by His blood that was shed for you and me, pray fast and ask the Lord to bind the enemy, pray hard and ask the Lord to breakdown the strongholds and knock down the walls that might have been erected to separate you from the Lord and remove the blinders and mufflers so you can see and hear from Him, pray long in Gods love, forgiveness, mercy, and come boldly to the throne of grace and Word, pray always and don’t let up for one second bros you will kill and crush the enemies plan and bind the enemy with prayer and stem the tide of his destruction. God will bind up all satan’s henchmen and crush them under foot. There is power in the Blood; enemies flee at the name of Jesus, the name above every name Jesus Christ. God has given us the greatest weapon known to fight every battle and have victory in every battle through the power of prayer unto our Lord Jesus Christ Whom bestows great spiritual and victorious blessings towards His children when they call on Him.

1Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Bear with me bros for a moment, allow me to contrast something that in a lot of ways can be compared to us in how we might be living our lives right now or maybe lived in the past and have been delivered from by the grace of God- Praise the Lord or maybe it is something that is not listed here or something many are still struggling with today and have forgotten that God is still on the throne and He knows everything we are doing with this body He gave us and what He says about our bodies. Let’s suppose for a second, most all of us have rented a house or an apartment at one time or another and more than likely a lot of us are still renters. Can you imagine if you rented a place and then told the landlord that you were going to be dealing crack or some psychedelic or psychotropic drug out of the house they are renting to you or you were going to use their place as a house of prostitution, or maybe a porn movie theater or porn movie rental place or some other ungodly, immoral and illegal type of activity that goes against the laws of God, our land and their rules for tenants and also knowing they are watching you all the while you are doing this type of activity, almost like how God sees our every move. Or maybe you just tell them you want to abuse their house or apartment by doing some radical things to it, like not taking care of it, to totally annihilate it by doing things that it obviously was not designed for, like storing large amounts of toxic chemicals in the house, soaking the place down with booze everyday, manipulating and contorting the place to make it do things it was never intended or designed by it’s creator to do, you know overloading the load capacity, putting things that go against the law of God, nature and man into the house to please yourself for a brief moment knowing that it could destroy the place instantly but, putting that aside so that you can enjoy it in that context for a brief second or maybe two.... Destroying the value and purpose of the house for your own pleasure not thinking about the impact it may have on the real owner.  Think the landlord would be cool with that kind of stuff happening to their prize possession rental property? Can you see those types of items in lease agreements saying they are OK to do? On a rental lease agreement if you violate the terms or conditions they can evict you out of the place, but if we have broken the law of God He has a provision whereby we can be fully exonerated from our sinful failures and restored to a right standing with Him but most likely not with a landlord.

Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Bros would you consider doing things with your body that you would not even do with a rental unit knowing the property-Owner wouldn’t approve or want His temple used in that way…

But that is exactly what we do with this body God gave us, yet it belongs to Him. Think of the greater value your body “The temple of the living God” means to Him who created you.  He doesn’t require any rent on it, He gave it to us to use while we are here on earth, we can use it till it wears out and falls apart or He calls in the loan… No strings attached, it’s free, He doesn’t even make us follow Him or love Him or anything, and He gives us freewill to do what we want…, but there are eternal consequences with that freewill choice.  He does say some things about our bodies in His word that we ought to think about and maybe look at following a little closer if we are truly His. He says our bodies are the temple of the living God, to separate ourselves from these idols, these things that keep us bound up day after day, month after month, year after year and separate us from the Living God. Bros the Lord wants us to walk away from whatever is trying to take residence in our hearts, minds and in our bodies, that is unholy, that goes against God and His Word, it does not belong there in the first place and He does not want us to continue to pollute His temple with sin, He wants us to be pure and to not touch what is unclean and He will take delivery of us. Listen to the One who created you and me and owns this tent we dwell in, we shall be one with Him forever. He holds the lease on our very lives forever, He dwells in us, so the property- Owner is always present with us to claim us and be our God, we are His property, He paid for us on the cross at Calvary, He is our Father and we are His children, so we are His personal property and He will protect His investment with all His Love, Mercy and Grace, He made you bro and He loves you and He wants to inhabit in you.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people." 17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty."