Cheery Heart

Proverbs 17:22 says that 'a cheerful heart is good medicine." When do you need medicine? Well, when you aren't feeling good. Headache? Feeling sick. Stuffy nose? I can't stand a stuffy nose. Or how about when your heart is feeling sick, down, or broken. Medicine is a fix for an ailment. Here the scripture doesn't describe what sickness a cheerful heart is good medicine for, So God is saying that it is good medicine for whatever is going on. I guess the difficult part is how to have a cheerful heart when you’re not feeling good. I mean the over all idea of not feeling good is very anti cheerful. God is showing us that a cheerful heart is something you choose,  not because you feel like it, but because you know it's the right thing to do. In fact, ever notice how medicine usually tastes nasty? So it might be the same. What I mean is, when you are down the last thing you want is to take some cheery heart as medicine. So how you feeling? Do you need some medicine, well, put the pepto away, plug your nose, and drink a hot cup of cheery heart. Goes down rough, but you'll be feeling happy in no time.  Now take your medicine!

Light

If you're looking for something at night, what do you need? Well a light. And for searching, the more light the better. According to John 1, Jesus, is the word of God, and light. The Word of God is the bible, and it is described as a lamp unto my feet. Now listen to this: Proverbs 20:27 says "The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man, it searches out his inmost being." For searching we need a lamp, the lamp of the Lord is the bible. Okay, so what is going on in your inmost being? Well I'm not sure, but it would be good to know, since it's you. Now lots of people try and search for themselves, trying to find out who they really are. But who you really are is only going to be revealed by the one who created you. And the tool He has given you is the bible. It is the lamp you need to reveal yourself. What can you do? What are you capable of? What is it you really want, or what are you here to do? What is your purpose? All good questions, but as you search make sure you grab your light, the bible.

Forsaken

2 Jeremiah 2:13 "My people have committed two sins; they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, cisterns that cannot hold water." You know, it isn't a new thing that sometimes even God's people walk away from him. People try and do life on their own, or have a better idea. Or maybe get discouraged, or even decide that the pleasures of this world are more fun. But eventually they find out that without Jesus, the cistern in them runs dry. This may be you. You knew God, but you walked away, for this reason or that. Truth is, your not a bad person, you are in a world that has a lot of wrong thinking, and it can be hard to come out of that. But it is not by accident that you are listening to this today. The well within yourself is running dry, but Jesus has a spring of living water for you. God has called you to come home. Sometimes the people of God forsake God, but remember that God will never forsake you. The blood of Jesus has reconciled you to God; right now you can have a brand new beginning with God. Tell God right now, Lord forgive me, I hear you calling, and I'm coming home.

What Do I Mean By Worldly?

Young people listen up, if you’re gonna get married one day, then you need to know that who you marry is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. Let me ask you a question; is the worlds system for marriage working? Well, ok, no it isn't. The world’s ideas for dating and marriage are broken, the system has failed. God's system for marriage works wonderfully. His very first marriage He designed was Adam and Eve, and at that time divorce rate was down to 0%. Marriage lasted. I would guess Adam and Eve were married at least 900 years. That's a long time to make it work. Most Americans can't make it past 15 years. When Jacob was going to go find a wife, His Mom and Dad said "Do not marry a Canaanite woman." OK, so here is who you don't marry. A Canaanite was symbolic of the world, so what he was saying is to NOT marry a worldly girl. That includes the really really pretty fun girls who are worldly. Rats. What do I mean by worldly... ahh, actually you know exactly what I mean by worldly. Pray for your future spouse, and follow God's plan, a woman who fears God, who is strong in moral character, this is a woman who will love you for a lifetime.

Speak the Solution

When Jesus healed he never spoke the problem, He would speak the solution. Eyes open. Lame, get up and walk. Leprosy, be clean. He told the problem what it needed to do, instead of describing the gloom. Remember the storm as it raged on,  Jesus rebuked it and said Peace Be Still. Christ asked us to follow him, so this is an example for us.  When we talk about the problem, it makes us feel worse. Isaiah 8:20 says it like this "If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn, Distressed and hungry they will roam through the land." It goes on to say that all of the stress and hunger will cause them to curse the King and God. Well we don't ever want to be so worked up that we get mad at God. Look at what the word tells us to do; it says to speak according to this word, the word being the bible. Well then what does the bible say. It says you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus; you are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, blessed coming in and blessed going out. Ah, speak that kind of stuff, obey God with your mouth and watch stuff change.

Eyes of Man

Proverbs 27:20 "Death and destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of man." What are you looking at? Our eyes are capable of always seeing something we want more than what we have. For this reason, they cannot be satisfied. And when you are not satisfied, well, your not happy. God has a better plan. He tells us to walk by faith, and not by sight. Our faith is satisfied by the Lord. Fulfillment can only come from God, whom we cannot see. Your eyes might try to find someone prettier than who your with, a nicer car than the one you're driving, a better suit, a bigger house, more more more more, me me me me, and if you let your eyes lead, they will take you to death and destruction, to always feeling like you don't have what you want. Instead, what does God want, well, He wants to grow the local church, the body of Christ, to get His word out, He wants for you to give, serve, and love Him and others. It's  Funny but true, your eyes will lie to you, and seeing isn't always believing. Close your eyes, and follow God. Unless your driving right now, then keep your eyes open cuz, you know, your driving.

Let Another Praise You

Whatever you are doing today, be great at it. Let your trying, your perseverance, your ability to not give up be a part of who you are. You are capable of greatness, God created you that way, and then, when your greatness shows up to talk about you, well, instead, talk about God. Say you score that goal, ace that test, or win that contract or you help carry someone’s load, encourage another to win, or buy some shoes for a kid that needs them, well, Let's say you win big, wisdom teaches us in the word to not go advertising your goodness, just be good. Let your actions speak for themselves. Proverbs 27:2 says "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth". Save your words for encouraging and cheering on others, no need to toot your own horn. When you hit the game winning shot, tell everyone it was the team that won, not you. Truth is you are a child of the King; you are going to win big. When you do, send the glory to God, encourage others. Now Wasn't that a great taking a minute today, man I am really on lately, high five for my mad skills... oh wait, uh uh.

Complete the Mission

So Jesus is out teaching and healing and some Pharisees come by and tell him that he better leave or Herod, the leader of that region, was going to have him killed.  So in Luke 13:32 Jesus replies, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today, and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’  Jesus here is immoveable from what He has decided to do, and no threat is going to change that.  He had a goal.  I mean, He had a big goal of dying for the sins of the world, but here we also see that He had set a three day goal.  What is your three day goal this week?  Jesus described His goal as something he was going to reach.  The very idea of reaching something means it may be a stretch. Jesus goal was to help others.  And notice that this interruption from the Pharisees didn’t distract him from His goal.  When we set goals that we have to reach for, goals to help others, we need to remember that obstacles may come our way, distractions, or even mountains may try and stop us.  When a mountain comes your way, well, remember Jesus words, “Go tell that fox that I will reach my goal.”  And you will!

The New You

Transition is the movement from one area to another. It's like moving to another home. Living in one home is fine, living in the next home is fine, the moving part is a lot of work. Transition is usually a short period of time with intense work. And the more baggage you bring through transition, the harder it becomes. A baby moving from being in the womb to being born is the labor of transition. In Matthew 4:19 Jesus comes to some fisher men and says "come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. Notice they did not hesitate, and also notice they left their nets behind. That means no going back to that old way of life; they were done with the nets. When we choose to follow Christ we too need to let go of our old way of life, our old nets, our old thinking. The more we try and bring with us, the harder it will become to follow Him.  The old girlfriend may not accept the new you, and your partying habits may not be what’s best for you right now.  If your nets are keeping you in the past, well put em down, make the transition, start brand new today.

Work Work Work

You ever work and work and work and then it just doesn't seem to amount to anything? Well, one of the things that happened when  Adam sinned was that God told Adam that as he worked, the earth would no longer produce for him. Thorns and thistles is all that you get Adam. Psalms 67 teaches us another way though... It says in verse 5 "May the people praise you, Oh God. Then the land will yield it’s harvest." Ah ha, I just had an Ah Ha moment. We want our work to grow into that harvest. We want our work to produce, to make a difference, to be successful.  But the fact is most of us think of praising God after the big blessing comes in, but here God shows us His plan, and it sounds different than our plan. He says that we should praise Him first. Then after the praising the harvest comes in. God wants to be thanked even before we see the blessing, or the victory. And you know why He is giving us this secret today, well, it’s because He's excited to see you win, He's excited for your harvest, He wants you to succeed.  Then when that harvest comes in, well, to be God be the glory. 

Doing What You are Told

Esther 2:10 “But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecia had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.”  Okay, so Esther is doing what the guy who raised her told her to do.  Now not every kid does what Mom or Dad says.  But listen to this, her following this one, kind of strange order, ends up being key to winning, it saves her life, and the life of the entire nation of Israel.  She could’ve said “hey, I don’t have to do what you say,” or “I’m not ashamed of where I came from, I’m not hiding…”  It was a weird rule this guy had given her, but she did it.  Sometimes those older people who tell us what to do, know some things we don’t.  It doesn’t say she totally understood why, it just says she did what he said, as normal.  Like she usually did what he said.  Sometimes the voice of God plays out through the voice of those who are trying to help us, who love us.  If she hadn’t listened, if she had said “well I don’t agree”, well, she might have lost everything.  Okay, so now you have to do what I say… oh well, just kidding.

The Source

I want to talk about this story In Luke 13 a bit more.  Jesus proclaims freedom for a woman and she is healed.  Sweet.  But it’s the Sabbath, and one of the synagogue leaders starts complaining outloud about Jesus workin on the Sabbath.  Which is ridiculous.  Okay, if Jesus heals someone, well never complain about it.  So Jesus replies “Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years, be set free on the Sabbath.”  Jesus always had a different answers than others, he spoke differently, prayed differently and saw things differently.  He made it a point to say that Satan had bound her.  Who bound her?  Satan.  Who was the source of her pain?  Satan.  Jesus was willing put the blame where the blame needed to go.  He’s all, look Satan is the source of the woman’s mess, but God is the source of healing and freedom.  Boom, sets her free, she’s healed.  We need to know our source.  Satan brings death, sin, destruction, but don’t be scared, Satan has been defeated.  Our source is Jesus.  When Jesus became this woman’s source, she was healed.  What do you need?  Life?  Joy?  Peace?  Wisdom?  Well, who is your source?  Make God your source. 

Free, Free, Free

When Jesus came he proclaimed freedom.  Freedom from what?  Well, a lot of stuff, Psalms 79 says we are free from death.  And Hebrews 2:15 from the fear of death.  Romans 8:21 says we are now free from the bondage of decay, and revelations 1 we are free from the sinful chains.  When Jesus proclaimed freedom for a woman in Luke 13, she was healed.  Isaiah 58: we are free from burdens.  You, know even though Christ has proclaimed the freedom, we can steal feel a bit tied up, worried, or sick.  We could feel strapped in to that bondage of decay, where things seem to be getting worse instead of better.  But you are free, Jesus said so.  In II Kings, when Jehoiachin was set free, the bible says “So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table.”  When Jehoiachin was declared free he had to take the prison clothes off and put them aside.  We need to see ourselves as free.  You are free, take off them prison clothes and put them aside..  Today, let the worry go, say goodby to fear, and let the light that God has placed in you light up your world. 

Get It Done

Moses led the Israelites to the Promised Land, and as they got ready to go in 12 spies

were sent to check out the Promised Land. 10 came back saying, "no way, we can't go

over there." and the other 2 said, "we can do it, and the land is rocking." They all saw the

same thing, but had different reactions. We are presented with the same opportunity in life every day. Looking at the same mountain, some will see an obstacle, others will see an opportunity.  Those 10 who said it was impossible got exactly what they believed. They ended up dying in the wilderness. But the two who said it could be done, Joshua and Caleb, they ended up making it to the Promised Land, both recorded as heroes in the bible. Every day we can choose to believe God, or to listen to our worries and fears. We can believe God, and what he has promised, and all that Jesus has achieved, or we can believe the doctors, the newspapers, or we can see the bad instead of the good. God has given His children the land. You are a child of the King, all things are possible with God. There are two choices, choose to believe see the good. Today, be Joshua and Caleb.

Taking A Hike

Ever stay up all night.  For some it’s like “oh that’s easy” others, like me, not so easy.  I like my sleep..  In Luke 6:12 the scripture says “Jesus went out to a mountain side to pray, and spent the night praying to God.”  Staying up all night is tough, staying up and praying, wow.  There are many instances of Jesus hiking off somewhere to pray.  Sometimes he prayed for a long time.  Praying is a cornerstone of our relationship with God, and a reminder that we are trusting in Him, that there is a hope beyond what we can see with our eyes.  In Matt 6 Jesus told us not to worry about praying long or ornate prayers, but here he was telling us not to worry about impressing others.  As we can see from Jesus example, it may be a good idea to really spend some time in prayer.  Jesus prayed all night, and that is a long time to pray.  The next morning is when He chooses who will be His disciples.  Take some time to pray with God today.  Pray for others, your leaders, your nation, pray for direction, or just chat with God.  Prayer was an important part of Jesus’ world changing life, It can be an important part of our lives too.