Promises Of God & Man

As we look ahead to 2006, it is usually right around this time that many people begin to make promises for the upcoming year. We call these promises "New Years Resolutions." A more appropriate name for these would be "New Years Intentions." The reason I say this is because most of the people that make these promises, (resolutions) never stand by them for more than a few weeks. There are many qualities that are necessary to succeed that are lacking in people today. Discipline has all but disappeared in many people. There is also that fact that the word promise has been so overused that it has lost its impact.

I remember when I was a kid, if you made a promise and didn't keep it, you would have a major problem. Today promises are broken far more than they're honored and people have just learned to accept this instead of correcting it. These are a couple of the fundamental faults in the world today. I know that when I personally make a promise, I still hold it in very high regard and I honor my promises. I also never make a promise I can't keep. So I don't make "New Years Resolutions" except for one and I make it every year. That is to be a better person than I was the year before. So far I have managed to succeed in keeping that one. In 2006 I expect to make even greater strides towards being a much better person, Christian, father and friend than I have in previous years.

I am so thankful that God stands by his promises. On New Years Eve 1992 I wanted to quit smoking, and Rosalie also really wanted me to stop. I was smoking two packs a day for about fifteen years and I was only 27 years old. Rosalie had been praying that I'd stop and on the morning of January 3, 1993 I woke up and felt paralyzed. I was face down in my bed and could not move. God was doing a work in me that would change my life. I was unable to get up for about thirty minutes. When I did get up, I had no desire to smoke and in fact couldn't smoke. That promise that God made to me that morning has lasted thirteen years as of January 3, 2006. God keeps his promises and we need to get back to using God as the model for our lives. When we do, the word Promise will once again have the impact it was intended to have. God has been making and keeping his promises since the beginning of time.

Imagine for a moment what the world would be like and how history would look if God didn't keep his promises. We would lose out on.
Forgiveness and victory over sin (Jeremiah 31:31-34 Hebrews 10:14-17 John 6:37 Romans 8:1 James 4:7-8)
Answers to prayer (1John 5:14 Acts 10:1-4)
Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39 John 4:14; 7:39)
Security of our souls (John 10:27-29 Matthew 28:18-20)
Resurrection from death (John 5:28-29)
Eternal life in heaven (John 3:16 John 14:1-3).

If God did not keep these promises we would all be doomed. Take a moment and thank him for keeping his promises. We not only have the obligation to keep the promises that we make to ourselves, God and others, but here's the best part. We can count on his promises to help us keep our own promises, here's how.

Repent for your sins and receive his forgiveness. Pray that God will help you to keep your promises. He will send the Holy Spirit to be with you and help you in your times of trial when obstacles appear that could prevent you from keeping your promises (resolutions). As long as we count on God and use him as the model, we will be successful always. Having total faith that God will stand not only by his promises to us but that he'll help us keep our own. How awesome is that?

Let us pray

Dear God I thank you for standing by your word and keeping your promises. It is your example Father that we need to follow in order to not only keep our promises, but have the discernment to know which promises to make and not make promises that are unrealistic that can't be kept. Father help us to have the resolve to stand by the resolutions that we make for this upcoming year and to be the beacons of light for others to follow. Thank you God for all of the blessings you have given us, promises you have kept with us and forgiveness you have handed out so generously. I give you all the glory God for all of my victories in 2005. My desire is to bring more glory to you in 2006.

I ask this in Jesus name.
Amen

Have a Happy and Safe New Year May God's Peace & Blessings Be With You All In 2006.









"The Sharpshooter"

Winds Of Change

When we pray for someone or speak life or health into someone's life, our words will become life as long as God breaths over what we spoke. Without the breath of God covering what we speak or pray, it cannot happen. By ourselves we are like sails on a boat, powerless without wind. When God breathes his mighty wind over our words, there is an instant transfer of his power to us. We go from being willing vessels for him with no power, to being anointed vessels full of his blessing and power to do his will. We are nothing with out his mighty wind in our sails.

There are many times when we pray for someone or we ask for Gods healing power to fall on an individual and nothing happens. The possible reasons that nothing happens are many, but most of the time it's merely because either the person administering prayer or the person that’s being prayed for has not put themselves in the right place spiritually to receive. Have they repented for their sins? Are they holding onto an issue they need to let go of? Do they not totally believe that they can receive what God has for them? If the mind, body or spirit is not cleansed by repentance, the breath of God will not come forth. So it is of utmost importance that we do several things on a routine basis. Keep our thoughts on good things, keep our bodies healthy and keep our spirits in tune with God always.

If we should go wrong in any of these areas, we need to be sure to recognize that we have faltered and repent immediately. With repentance comes forgiveness and with forgiveness comes God's breath on whatever we do in his name. His winds are mighty and full of power. They can transform the very landscape of our lives. 1 Peter 4:10-11 God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you. Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then God will be given glory in everything through Jesus Christ. All glory and power belong to him forever and ever.

God sends a mighty wind into our lives and it transforms the landscape entirely. These are called “winds of change.” How much he changes that landscape that is our lives, is up to us entirely. In some cases we yield a little bit and sometimes we yield completely. In both cases however we always want as much of his blessing as we can get. So we want it but are we willing to give our problems and cares over to him so that we become in a sense a clean canvas on which he can paint. He won’t just fix a problem half way. He’ll take it away like it never existed and wipe the slate clean. The question is, will we let him?

When we feel God blowing the “winds of change” in our lives what will we do?
Are we wiling to let go of all burdens and let him fill our hearts anew? Will we only give over some of the troubles in our lives in an attempt to retain some control over them? Though the thought of retaining control of our problems is an illusion, people still try to do this. They forget so quickly that it is their problems that control them, not the other way around. This is why we have to give these things over entirely to God. Only he can take the full burden away from us and restore peace, calm the storms in our minds. Worst yet, how many of us will deny him and not allow him to help at all? God help them

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for you grace. I thank you Father, for loving us so much that you will take all of our problems from the smallest to the biggest. I thank you, that you will restore our hearts, souls, minds bodies and spirits God.
My prayer Father is that you would blow your life changing winds into all of our lives and that we would have the fortitude to deny the evil one who wants to oppress us. So that we could be free of any illusion that we are in control, and that we would willingly deliver all of our problems to you God.

I ask this in the precious name of your son Jesus.

Amen

God Bless You All & Merry Christmas







“The Sharpshooter"

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Anti-Christians

Over the past several years, the Anti-Christian sentiment in the United States and the world has grown and with the power of the Internet, these unbelievers are spreading their propaganda like wild fire. I’ve seen so much of this that most of it can simply be summed up as “Anger Campaigns.” They are angry at God for something man has done. Its people that hurt other people and my father once said something that has stuck in my head since I heard it and that was, “Only hurt people hurt.”

These people have their reasons for feeling the way they do, but their anger should be at people or religion, not at God. Some have been hurt by a church leader or someone in the church body, and then there are those that have become very discouraged with all of the different religious factions claiming that their way is the right way, just to name a couple. Most of us know someone that has turned away from God because of pain or disappointment, but when they turn away from God it is because they have been sold a lie, something like, “If God really loved you, he never would have allowed this to happen to you.” At that moment the hurt person is so vulnerable that they believe it because it goes right along with how they already feel. The devil isn’t that smart, he’s just a really good opportunist.

Satan has been trying to destroy the cause of God since the day’s when Adam & Eve walked the earth, by using a snake to lie to Eve regarding the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 3:4-5 (The Message) the serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil." Today he uses anyone and anything that’s available. His commentaries are heard by millions who will hang on his persuasive propaganda. The content as well as the form of his speech will attract, he will even be sincere and passionate, but he is a liar. He’ll add dashes of truth to the mix of things he tells people, so that his lie sounds like truth. He will use all the right catchwords, even using the language of the church, throwing in a Bible text or two. But he is the ultimate Liar, and he will deceive many.

The devil knows that to attack the Church is to attack Jesus and to do damage to the body of Christ is to inflict damage upon Christ. He also knows that, because the members of the church are the chosen of God, eternally loved by God. To destroy them is equivalent to defeating God. So the objects of his fury are the men and women of God. The Anti Christian sentiment continues to grow because it is so hard for people to look to the light of Christ when there is so much darkness and despair in their lives and Satan is taking the opportunity right when they are the most vulnerable, saying things that are very believable at that moment. We need to love on these people with extra care, compassion and understanding. We need to teach all of those that don’t know the truth that Jesus Christ came for relationships not religion. Man created religion, Jesus did not. Jesus loves each and every one of us, but requires that we go to him. We have to make the decision to call on Jesus for help because we were given a free will.

This is the message that the lost ones need to hear. They need to know that Jesus loves them right where they’re at in life. He may not love what they’re doing, but he certainly does love them and they need to know that. Through the delivery of this message maybe some will get their deliverance from the evil one who has stolen all the happiness in their lives. Let us always remember even in our darkest hours that Satan will always take even the smallest opening to influence us when we are hurting, desperate, or in a weakened state. He'll twist our perception when we're not focused on God, and sell us the lie that satisfying our own desires and pleasing ourselves is the way to go. Once he has had the opportunity to get into a persons heart, it is that much harder to bring them back to God, but when we win one back for Jesus the victory in seeing that persons life change before our eye’s is sweeter than anything else in this world.

Though it is true that we are all responsible for our own spiritual walk and that we're not responsible for anyone else's. We do owe each person the opportunity to have a divine encounter with God. What they do from there is totally up to them. We can only sow good seed and pray that the seed grows into a great tree of faith and love and bears great fruit. The people that have turned their backs on God are the ones we need to be the most sensitive to and understanding with. This is where we get to practice the love, compassion and understanding that we preach. We can lead these people back to God and there's absolutely no doubt about that. It just has to be handled in a non threatening understanding way though, they have been hurt enough. We need for them to see Jesus in us and love them as Jesus does, right where they're at.

Please pray this with me.

I thank you Father, for loving us and protecting us from all evil. Thank you for giving us the caring hearts to help others, and God I thank you mostly for the knowledge you’ve given me to help other people and the wisdom of knowing how to just plant a seed in the people that don’t want help right now, instead of passing them by. Father we can do all things in Jesus who strengthens us. May we always do our best to please you God, and to bring home the lost sheep to your flock.

I ask this in Jesus name
Amen

God Bless You All








"The SharpShooter"

"Thy Will Be Done"

As a rule I like to start each day the same way. I get in my car to go to work and on the way there I think about the day ahead. In thinking of the upcoming day, I think about how God wants me to handle things. I put my focus on him closely for a little while so I am aware if he speaks to me and then after that I will allow my own thinking to come in to play. I do this for one reason and that is because I want to be right where the lord wants me to be, doing whatever he wants me to be doing. If I am operating in my own thoughts and desires before his, it won’t matter how good or righteous my thoughts may be. If I’m not constantly striving to be what God’s vision is for me, then it is not likely that I will have much success...

It has always struck me as wrong when I see someone that knows the right way to do things but chooses their own way instead. Another way to put it would be doing what God want’s mixed with what they want, when they know or they should know that what they want can only lead to fulfilling their own desires and not pleasing to God. I’ve never seen anyone that had the same desires and goals for themselves as God would have.

If we do things that put our interests and desires first and have any success at it, we inevitably will become, arrogant, boastful, and full of pride and other emotions. Romans 12:6 let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else. Obadiah 1:3-4 you are proud because you live in a rock fortress and make your home high in the mountains. `Who can ever reach us way up here?' you ask boastfully. Don't fool yourselves! Though you soar as high as eagles and build your nest among the stars, I will bring you crashing down. I, the LORD, have spoken!

We need to know when the word of the Lord has come forth, whether it is through a song, a book or from the mouth of a friend. God won’t always give to us directly the words we need to hear, simply because he does not want us to become independent. God knows all to well, that if we can do something independently, we probably will. King David is a good example of God not speaking to him all the time but speaking to him through Gad. 2 Samuel 24:18-19 Then Gad came to David and said, Go up, rear an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. So David went up according to Gad's word, as the Lord commanded.

The human brain is a powerful thing and none of us really know its full potential, but one thing we do know is that without even trying hard we can convince ourselves of practically anything. That said, there are those that are doing what they believe God has anointed them to do, but it’s really just their own desires that they’ve convinced themselves is God’s will for them. A good indicator that it’s not of God is when we keep hitting barriers, resistance or other signs that we’re not having success.

If we’re doing what God wants us to be doing, nothing in this world could stop it from being successful, whether it be a ministry, leadership, or just reaching out and being rejected. Maybe we weren’t supposed to reach out at that time in that place. There have been many times when an entire church has almost come undone because the leadership was running on they’re own motives. How many times have well all seen an Evangelist on TV turn something wonderful (preaching God’s word) into a money making corrupt thing. Satan will have his way if we give him the opportunity.

Ultimately it needs to be God’s will be done, not our own. If we just pay attention to what and where he wants us to be, we’ll always do the right thing. We may still hit opposition at times but we’ll overcome any opposition because our mission is really from God and not our own desires deceiving us. Anytime we get a feeling we’re supposed to be doing something that God wants us to do, he’ll never penalize us for double checking and using discernment to really check our hearts to be sure it’s not ourselves we’re hearing.

Let us pray

Father God, I thank you for the ability and opportunity to serve you God. I ask Father that you would put within all of us a desire unlike no other to do your will your way and keep our own thoughts and desires quiet. We need to always stay focused; to be sure that what we’re hearing is you God. Father help us always to communicate more with you so that in doing so, we become so familiar with your voice that there could never be confusion between your voice we’re hearing or our own thoughts. If we do this Father, we would have a much clearer view of when we’re stepping out of your light and into the darkness of failure that comes from us doing things our way. May your will be done.

I ask this in Jesus name
Amen

God Bless You All
Adam