Your Victory Ministry

NEVER FORGET

2008-09-11T12:37:00.005-04:00

This morning I turned on the television and it was already tuned to a news channel. On this channel there was a special remembrance ceremony going on for all of those who lost their lives on this day in 2001. The lost were remembered, those left behind were allowed opportunity to grieve their loss and speak about their loved ones. It was a moment for all of us to refresh our memories and “NEVER FORGET” what took place on September 11th 2001.

As I watched this though, one of the television cameras panned the crowd and focused for a second on this man holding up a picture of his brother. On the picture were the words “You live in our hearts”! This single moment struck my spirit in a way that nothing else in recent memory could have. That one phrase was a wink from God reminding me of something. Do we have Jesus living in our hearts as much as we have the pain of what happened to our nation living there?

As we remember the loss that was suffered on September 11, 2001. We should remember even more what took place on a cross at Calvary. The event that changed you and me forever took place. The event that should be the most significant event in all of history took place. Jesus Christ, the only son of God the father was crucified. He did this voluntarily as he knew that he had to do this. He was born for this moment. To die for our sins, and in doing so, wash our spirits clean in the process. This one act of selflessness gave all of mankind the opportunity to have fellowship with God the father again. No longer were animal sacrifices necessary. God sent his own son to die as the PERFECT sacrifice.

Luke 14:25-26 (The Message) say’s. One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one's own self!—can't be my disciple”. We are to love the Lord with all our hearts, all of our minds and all of our strength. We are to cling to Jesus and let go of the things of this world.

My children were only six years old when I began to teach this lesson to them. It was a hard lesson for them to swallow at that time. However at only age 9 ½, they now fully understand that they must love Jesus more than mommy or daddy, more than Grandma and Grandpa, more than their friends, teachers and cousins. I know that if something where to happen to me that caused me to die. I have no doubt that I would surely be missed and it would be sad, but I also know that my children would lean on the Lord Jesus Christ more than on their own understanding.

People ask me from time to time if I ever go to the cemetery to visit my father’s grave. Often to their surprise, I answer with this. No I don’t go there because there is nothing there. I went a few times shortly after he died in 1999, but I was just beginning my walk with Christ at that time and didn’t know what I believed or understood back then.

Many people have a tough time when it comes to this. You have to let go. If we cling to anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ, we cannot be his disciple. There are many who don’t understand this fact and it’s critical that we all do. We cannot talk to the dead. The dead cannot answer prayer. There are so many people that won’t let go. They pray to the dead as if they are as powerful as God because they died. I have a friend who lost a couple of close friends on Flight #11 on September 11th 2001. I know they are with the Lord now though, so as much as I wish that never happened, I know they are in a far better place where there is no terrorism or fear.

Let’s never forget the tragedy of September 11th but let’s make sure that no matter how much the media sensationalizes something that we never allow anything to become more important than what took place a couple thousand years ago on a cross. There is nothing in this world that deserves our attention, thought and prayer more than what Jesus Christ did for us on that day.

Father I pray right now for the families and friends of those that lost loved ones on September 11th 2001. I pray that they would find your peace which surpasses all of our understanding. I pray Lord that they would come to know you more and that their lives would be filled with the joy of knowing you. I pray that they would let go of the things of this world and cling to the things of God. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen

May the grace of god be with you always!

"The Sharpshooter”

Paying The Price

2008-07-29T12:11:00.005-04:00

Bills! We all have them; there is no disputing that fact. The cost of living in 2008 is astronomical. Times are really hard and it’s not looking like that will change anytime soon. We all have bills that we pay every month and some are weekly. There’s the monthly credit card bill, the monthly rent or mortgage, the food bill, the car payment, fuel for the car, insurance, unexpected bills and then the occasional dining out bill. We all really have to stretch our finances and our imaginations to make ends meet sometimes.

In thinking about paying bills, I started thinking about how sometimes we complain about our bills. The mail carrier has a tough job these days. He’s delivering bills all of the time. Whatever happened to receiving a letter from someone every once in a while to break the financial monotony?

I can think of numerous times when I have taken someone to dinner. The check comes to the table and I take it and I say that “I will pay it. It’s all set”! Thinking about paying that bill for someone else, evokes a really good feeling in me. I like doing things for others, so I enjoy this sort of thing when I’m able to do it (which lately isn’t often). I recently thought of paying that bill a little more in depth. “I’ll pay the bill”. This made me think about paying the price.

Jesus paid the ultimate price for our salvation. He gave up His life, so that we could have ours. He paid the price that no amount of money could ever pay. You can’t buy your way into Heaven. You cannot buy salvation. You cannot buy peace, love, compassion or blessings; none of it can be bought. In Matthew 19:23-24 (Amplified Bible) Jesus said to His disciples, truly I say to you, it will be difficult for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into the kingdom of heaven.

This was said regarding a man of wealth who had just spoken with Jesus. The man had followed all of the commandments from his youth and wanted to know what else he had to do to gain entry into Heaven. Matthew 19:21-22 (Amplified Bible) says that Jesus answered him, If you would be perfect [that is, have that spiritual maturity which accompanies self-sacrificing character], go and sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have riches in heaven; and come, be My disciple [side with My party and follow Me]. But when the young man heard this, he went away sad (grieved and in much distress), for he had great possessions.

When Jesus was on the cross and he said “It is finished”, that also said to me that the price was paid. That selfless act of love by Jesus cost him everything and cost us nothing. When you see a less fortunate person on the street, do you pass them by or do you maybe exchange a pleasant hello or maybe even offer to buy them a sandwich. Where would we all be if Jesus decided not to go to the cross? We all were that person on the street until he paid the price for us to be free. I have a soft spot in my heart for the homeless and the poor. The way I was brought up was to treat everyone the way that I wanted to be treated.

That lesson isn’t often taught today. The mentality in the world today for the most part is to take care of you. There is nothing wrong with taking care of you first, but what about those who can’t take care of themselves? What about them? What would Jesus do? I believe that the poor and needy would be his best friends. The last would indeed be first.

See, when Jesus gave up His life for us. It was the ultimate act of selfless love. He taught us how to love. Yet if Jesus walked the streets today dressed as a poor person, I’m afraid he would be passed by many times, without someone even saying hello. As Christians, people are supposed to see Christ in us. If they don’t see Christ in our everyday lives, how will they ever listen to us when we want to minister to them?

I’ve heard people say things like (I need to be careful around certain people, so they don’t think badly of me). My response to that was if a person needs to put on a mask around anyone, then they have a lot of work to do on themselves. We shouldn’t have to be concerned with who we might run into. If we are living as we should be, all people will see a consistent picture of Jesus in us.

In closing, regarding the bills. It would be in our best interests if every time we spend money on anything, that we recall the price that Jesus paid. It will help us to keep in perspective how small our problems financial or otherwise really are.

Father I thank you for this message. I pray that we would all let this take root, so that we could be fruitful in areas where we may not currently be. Father, help us to see things as you do. Help us to have not only a servant’s heart but a giving spirit. Give us divine visions of how we can abolish poverty once and for all. Lastly, Father, I pray that you would help us to let go of concerns of worldly wealth and to embrace the reality of spiritual wealth and health.
In Jesus name I pray.
Amen.

God Bless You All.

“The Sharpshooter”

“Practice today for a better tomorrow”

2008-04-04T17:04:00.007-04:00

We are living in a time when the world is a mess. Work life, home life, even recreational time for many people has become so rushed and stressful that the ability to enjoy the moment, or “Live for today” is being missed. There are so many legitimate concerns that people have today, that you end up planning life six months to a year down the road and this has become a way of life for too long. We need the Lord’s touch in this area of our lives because we cannot in our own strength fix this. How did it get this way one might ask? I can say with all honesty “The devil made us do it.”

We are prisoners of our most precious commodity, time. Both of my parents were fifteen years old in 1940. I always hear about when they were in their teens and early twenties and at that time not many people could afford to own a car. The majority of people walked or took the trolley to work or school and maybe used the family car if they had one for a weekend ride or vacation. It was a simpler time. The newspaper was a source of information and entertainment and not many missed reading it especially the Sunday edition. My dad worked for the major Boston newspapers for a better part of his life. This is how I know this. Today journalism is a lost art and it has become sensationalism that just stresses us out. I have not watched a news program on purpose for over a year because of this. My stress dropped at least forty percent when I let go of that.

As time went on especially in the United States, everything was being made to make things more convenient. We were able to do more things in less time and that was thought to be a good thing, so what did we do, we kept on compressing that convenience until now you can heat up a bowl of soup (organic of course) in about two minutes. Have you ever seen someone almost lose their mind because the soup in the microwave was taking too long? I saw that once and at first I agreed with the person heating their soup, because we’ve all been conditioned by this system of doing more in less time with fewer resources. Then I later thought about it and realized that soup on the stove takes fifteen to twenty minutes easily. How could someone get irritated by two minutes? That’s quick!

We are so rushed today that we have become the most over medicated people in the world. Many folks are just swallowing there problems in the form of a pill or alcohol. There is a better way and that way is through Jesus Christ. The only way that I can truly cope with the stresses of life is when I relinquish control to my savior Jesus. That in itself is not that easy because all of us want some form of control and we have this belief that relinquishing that control means we are out of control.

I’ve often heard people say that this is “The nature of the beast”. Most people that say this have no idea what they said; they just think that it sounds good. However it is the nature of satan to want control. He wants to control every aspect of our lives to the point that he is able to pull us away from God with temptation of what looks like an easier way. Trust me, there is no easy way. The idea of control being lost when we give it over to Jesus Christ is a total illusion created by the enemy of our souls. In fact we are in the most control of our destinies when we give control of our lives over to Jesus Christ, because he’s the one that knows the plan for our lives, we have no idea what the next few hours hold.

We need to begin making changes in our lives that will decrease our stress and improve our quality of daily life. I am making a conscious effort to take the long way through life; I have to break what I call the microwave mentality which is all about short cuts. If we all start to make changes that will incorporate some old school thinking and slow us down, we will better be able to enjoy our today and it’s only through enjoying today that we can have a hope for tomorrow.

If we continue to zip through today, then our tomorrow’s will come and go and we’ll have missed our potential, our purpose and our freedom by being bound to convenience which only equals stress and that is nowhere close to the purpose that God has for our lives. “Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God said that “I have for you a plan that will cause you great stress and strife” On the contrary. Jesus said in John 10:10 (Message) that “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of”.

Won’t you take a moment now and thank God for sending his only son to die for our sins so that we could have eternal life with God the Father?

Father I thank you for all you have done in my life and the lives of those I know and love. Father without you sending Jesus, we would have no hope for redemption and it is only because you loved us so much that you sent your only son Jesus to die on that cross for our sins. I can never say thank you enough, but I can do my best to bring honor and glory to you in all that I do. I know that this is your will for all mankind and if we’ll just step into your will, we will step into our destiny. I pray father that you will bless in double portion all who read this message and help them to break through the miry clay that this world has become.

In Jesus name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All.

"The Sharpshooter”

yourvictory@gmail.com

The Vines & Root's That Bind Us

2008-03-26T18:56:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I had some tree work done and in our yard we have these huge Oak trees. On one of them we were shown that Poison Ivy had grown alongside the tree and had grown to look like it was part of the tree. The bark and every other thing about it blended in like it was part of the tree. This Poison Ivy vine had become close to four inches in diameter at the base and it wrapped all around the tree at least half way up. It was estimated that this Poison Ivy vine was literally choking off this tree for the last forty or fifty years. Limbs at the top were not blooming well and some branches were actually falling off. After this took place the Lord put this message in me.

Just as these Poison Ivy vines grew very slowly over years and consumed this tree, so grow the vines that the devil wraps around our feet. This is only one reason why we have to be so tuned in to the Lord. So that we can have ears to hear and eyes to see in the spiritual to be able to stop the devil in his attempts early on. If we are not hearing and seeing in the spiritual realms, the devil has all sorts of time to have his way with no interference, and the longer he has to work on us, the harder it becomes to unwrap those vines he connects to us to hold us down in sin, oppression, addiction and so many other things.

If I were out in the woods and had an encounter with a large snake, I know it would be much easier to defeat the snake as it tries to wrap itself around my legs than it would be to get it off of my neck. We must all become more aware of the things that satan is trying to accomplish in and around us. There is such a high number of people in this world that are bound up in vines that they need help to get out of. We need to be that help. Many don't even recognize that they are being consumed by these vines, whether it is drug addiction, alcoholism or sexual immorality. These are vines that were placed on God's people by satan to keep them from achieving the plan that God has for their lives. As the salt and the light we need to bring Jesus to these suffering souls so that He can set the captives free. They won't get free without his help.

The biggest problem in doing this though is that many people have had these vines wrapped around them so long, and been in that place so long, that they may not want to let go of what has become comfortable. Father give them eye's that see and ears that hear. Only our Savior Jesus Christ can set the captives free and He can only do that when He is invited to do so. We cannot do any of this on our own strength. We need Jesus and we have to call on Him. We all have a free will and Jesus will not force himself on anyone, saved or unsaved. He wants so badly for each and every one of us Jew & Gentile to call on him and let Him save us. He will un-wrap the vines and free us from anything that the devil has set in our path. He will sever every vine that is on us and cut every root that the enemy has connected to our spirits.

There are many people that read this blog from all parts of the world. I ask you now, if you were to die today. Do you know that you would go straight to Heaven? The bible says that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. Secondly it says that "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." We are all whosever's. If you do not know for absolute certain that if something happened to you today, that you would go straight to Heaven, please say this prayer with me.

Heavenly Father: I come to you in prayer asking for the forgiveness of my Sins. I confess with my mouth and believe with my heart that Jesus is your Son, And that he died on the Cross at Calvary that I might be forgiven and have Eternal Life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Father, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you right now to come in to my life and be my personal Lord and Savior. I repent of my Sins and will Worship you all the days of my Life!. Because your word is truth, I confess with my mouth that I am Born Again and Cleansed by the Blood of Jesus! In Jesus Name, Amen.

If you read & spoke the Sinners Prayer and truly believe the words you read & spoke, then Praise the Lord as you have been saved and your name will appear in the "Lambs Book of Life!"
Thank you for reading.

God Bless you all.

"The Sharpshooter"

Open The Eyes Of My Heart

2008-01-09T20:35:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed that there are times when you are so encouraged by what the word of God say's, but when you go to apply that word to your life you just don't seem to have the power or discipline to get the job done? I have been going through that in many areas as I’m sure many others have. The problem with me though was that I didn't understand my problem because I didn't feed myself the word as I was supposed to. I'm sure some of you have experienced a time like that. Instead of reading the word for myself and saving myself long suffering, I went through all sorts of problems until I heard the word taught to me last night in such a way that it pierced my spirit.

I was at church this past Tuesday night for a bible study on Romans. Pastor Wayne taught with brutal honesty and I learned right then that I was not alone. What an eye opener that was. I found out that I was not going through something new, not at all. Paul and countless others had experienced the exact thing that I have been experiencing, but Paul so eloquently wrote about it. I just didn't have the discipline to read it. There is no doubt that I could have saved myself a couple of years of heartaches and headaches had I simply done what I knew in my heart I was supposed to do, but instead I let procrastination thoughts overtake my heart.

Romans 7:14-25 (Message Bible) say's
“I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me join's in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.”

What Paul said in this passage speaks to so many of us that it had to be repeated. I pray that I will conquer the rebellious side of me on a daily basis because that’s what needs to die. I cannot live totally for Christ if I have not totally died to sin. Jesus never asked us to give him half of our best. He gave us everything and we bring him half. Mathematically that just doesn’t work out. He deserves our very best. I’m amazed that we won’t hesitate to ask the Lord for everything plus increase and somehow we are able to rationalize giving back less than that.

I am so thankful that my eyes have been opened to this. As painful a lesson as this was to learn, I am thankful. I pray that all who read this will get what I got if they haven’t already, and that’s a wake up call that no matter what you’re going through in life. Someone else has been through the same thing before you or something very similar.

I am now equipped to win this battle that is inside of me. I now know the recipe for the destruction of sin in my life. I recently read something that Bill Johnson wrote that speaks to this battle of good & evil. He said that “King David was known for killing Goliath in His youth. Yet there are at least four other giants killed in Scripture—all killed by the men who followed David, the giant killer. If you want to kill giants, hang around a giant killer. It rubs off.” I hang around my Pastor and his family at every opportunity I get, because when I am around them for a few hours, I go home a different person. I pray that everyone would have or find a person they can look to that is a spiritual giant so that the strength and discipline that they need will rub off on them

Father I thank you for this lesson. I pray that you would surround all of us Lord with people that are giant killers, So that we can capture the anointing that they have on them and acquire the ability to defeat the giants in our lives. Sin, discipline and any other areas that we need to conquer.

I ask this in Jesus name

Amen

God Bless You All.

“The Sharpshooter”

Living In The Dark

2007-05-08T20:03:00.000-04:00

The Lord brought something to my attention today that I felt really compelled to write about. I know that I can say from a personal standpoint and also that most everyone has felt this at one time or another for a brief time or a long time. You feel like you’ve been living in a fog, like you’ve been existing but not living. Everything good seems to be happening to someone else, nothing feels quite right, it seems like there is a darkness surrounding you that you just wish someone else could see so that they could help to pull you out of it.

This darkness is caused by deception, as well as things that we see, hear and feel that are not righteous. It’s a darkness that satan wants to bind you up in so that you lose your hope and give up on God. If he can accomplish this he wins the war over you that he fights every day. He waits literally like a snake in the grass just waiting ever so patiently to strike. The devil will use any means necessary to steal you from Your Victory and God’s promises. The devil could be compared to a sideshow worker at a carnival trying to sell you his show or his goods. Inside of this show tent though there isn’t a regular sideshow. Instead there are things that can tempt us such as pornography, drugs, alcohol, all in abundance free for the taking, because he knows that if you try it once you’ll be hooked and begging for more. You can be the most upstanding person on the planet but if you fall into that trap, you’re in the dark and at first it doesn’t feel so bad because so many other people are there with you, so you don’t recognize the darkness. However you’ve been tricked and temptation got you. Is it bad, oh yes it’s bad. Is it unforgivable? NO!

When we finally cry out to the Lord for “HELP”! He hears us just like a parent hears a child crying for help when they fall or get hurt. God does the same thing as any other good parent too; He picks us up, dusts us of and tells us to try again. We have an opportunity to start over just like a child would. What we do with our next opportunity is the most important decision we can make, but we often don’t take the time to think. We run on impulse and we end up falling again and again, so that we eventually need that device that goes around your neck to call for help. “Lord I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” That’s the point of desperation that we need to get to before we’ll actually look at the Lord’s help and not take it for granted. We’re more apt to be forever grateful. If someone saves you from falling off of the roof of a tall building, you’re very likely going to feel indebted to them for saving your life.

Jesus Christ not only pulled us in from the edge of the roof, He gave his life in the process so that we could live. He did not have to do this. He chose to do it because of his love for us. Hearing that needs to cause a physical reaction in all of us. Every time I hear what Jesus did for us or when I see the cross, my heart grieves over what He did for me. I can’t afford to take this gift for granted. I am drawn into repentance as I recall this act of love that exceeds anything you or I can comprehend. Just be thankful and love Him back. That’s all he wants is our love.

When we are steadfast (firm in purpose, resolution, faith) we resist the darkness and the devil will flee from us, taking with him the darkness and negativity. Leaving us to see and bask in the beauty that the Lord has surrounded us with. 2 Chronicles 7:14 (Amplified Bible) say’s, If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Cry out to the Lord for help. Let him pull you from the darkness and into His light. He will restore your peace! He will restore your joy! He will restore the life that had been stolen from you. We have a major part in this though. We have to not only let Him fix us, we have to feel worthy of it and accept the blessing that he has given us.

A Prayer

Father I thank you for this message. I thank you for the opportunity to share it and possibly help some to see your light, from the darkness in their lives. Father I pray that each reader would have peace, health and love and have these things in your abundance God. I pray that each of us will keep our hearts soft and pliable so that we don’t let the darkness of this world, harden us to a point where we lose sight of you. Be with us all and guide our every thought and step.

In Jesus name I pray

Amen

God Bless You All.

“The Sharpshooter”

Why Have You Forsaken Me

2007-04-20T15:39:00.000-04:00

Jesus cried out from the cross "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which translated means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

At the time of his biggest trial, even Jesus felt like the Father had abandoned him. Though this was only a feeling as the Father had not forsaken him, it must have been an extremely intense feeling of abandonment. Even through that feeling Jesus then said "Into your hands I commend my spirit". Jesus never lost faith in Father God. He knew that the Father had a bigger will for Him and he wanted the Father's will to be done not his own. How close to that way of thinking are we?

Often times our spirits cry out the same thing as we feel that feeling of abandonment. "Father, Father, why have you forsaken me". Many times we feel like God's presence is not with us. We begin to wonder if He's even hearing our cries for help. When we don't get an answer from God we often times blame Him for whatever we were going through, because he didn't fix our problem or speak to us. Whatever the problem or need was it certainly wasn't God's fault. It was of our own doing or our own fault. We fail to realize or accept the fact that we are sinners in a sin filled world. God is perfect; none of us are or can ever be. So the fact that we are in sin, no matter how big or little our sin is, is most likely the thing blocking us from feeling God's presence in our lives and being in the position to receive the things of God. It is not Him choosing not to communicate with us because he doesn't feel like it.?

When we repent for our sins, our Father is gracious to forgive us of our sins, but the question we each need to ask ourselves is, are we asking God for his forgiveness, or are we rationalizing with ourselves that what we are doing isn't really sin? Every one of us is a sinner and every one of us needs to repent for those sins. It would be best if we made this a daily practice to set time aside to seek the Lord, repent for our sins and pray for God's grace and forgiveness. We should do this before we pray for anything else or anyone else, because by repenting and cleansing our spirit of sin, we are in better communion with the Lord

I don't know how many people have ever stopped to ponder this, but it needs to be looked at. Why have we forsaken God? We often feel that he has forgotten or forsaken us, but we are the ones that want control of our own lives and we want God on our terms. He accepts us just as we are. It can't work like that. We should be so in love with Him and desperate for Him that we'd be willing to handcuff ourselves to Him, just so that we would never be separated from Him. We go to Him when we need something but very few of us ever spend time just talking to God, or just praising God. He is there just waiting for us to come to him, He will not makes us come to him, and he will not chase us down. God wants so badly for us to communicate with him as "Our Father". I know parents that have communication breakdowns with their children and the pain they go through is agonizing to watch. Imagine for a moment the pain that we cause God to feel when we only go to him when we need something from him.

He wants to be a part of our "everyday" lives. He has plans for each of our lives that were never intended to be kept secret. He wants very badly to tell us these things, but he can't share these things with us until we become mature enough spiritually to receive them. If you don't have a relationship with the Father, He could talk to you all day long and you wouldn't know his voice. The time is coming sooner than we realize when Jesus Christ is going to return to this earth for His people. It is essential that right now we stop and take a spiritual inventory of ourselves. If you've never had a relationship with Jesus or had one and let it go stagnant, you need to call on Jesus, repent for your sins, and ask Him to make your spirit white as snow. Then draw near to him and stay close. Watch how your life begins to change right before your eyes.

See unlike us, He is merciful, graceful and forgiving. If we ask for His forgiveness, he will do it. So it is not too late for any one of us to make things right with the Lord. He tells us this in Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If anyone has forsaken anyone, we His children have forsaken Him. Let us not miss the opportunity we have to mend that relationship with Him or begin one if you never had one. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.

A Prayer

Father I thank you for this message and I give you praise for the wondrous things you do for us. Father I pray right now for the ones that don’t know you and for the ones that have known you and fallen away that you would strengthen them all so that they could battle through the negative forces of this world to find their way to you Father. Remove the scales from their eyes and open their ears Father so that they could see and hear you in their spirit. Build in them father a burning desire for you that could only be quenched by the living water of Jesus Christ.

I pray this in Jesus name.

Amen

God Bless You All

"The Sharpshooter"

Doubt the Doubter

2007-01-05T22:02:00.000-05:00

Revelation 3:15-16 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

If you look at a battery for any appliance you have, you’ll see that the positive and negative posts are very far apart so that they cannot touch. If they touch there is destruction by way of explosion.
When we are HOT, on fire for God, we are not only believing and loving him, but we trust him beyond anything or anyone that we would trust on earth. We do not just believe that He can do what he say’s that He will, we are trusting that He will do that thing.

Many times we will believe God for something but we may say something to the effect of “Well, I know that He can do it, but he probably won’t do it for me.” When we do this we are mixing a positive and a negative which is a dangerous mix. Have you ever noticed that when this happens it ends up being a relatively painful experience? Not only don’t we receive what He has for us because we doubted, but we have actually allowed ourselves to become the one thing that the Lord despises and that is lukewarm. It is better to be a non believer than it is to be a believer that doubts Him. At least the non believer doesn’t know God, and never had a relationship with Him, but to have a relationship with Him and to know Him but not trust Him or doubt Him is one of the worst things a Christian can do.

I pray that you never experience being lukewarm for God, but if you ever do it can feel like nothing good will ever happen again. You begin to feel like you’ve breathed your last breath in God’s favor. Questions like “will I ever feel close to God again?” will pop into your mind. Know that this is the devil trying to gain total victory over you; it is a time when you don’t feel like praying, worshiping or doing anything to help yourself. Again this is satan trying to gain a total victory over you. It is a time when you have to force yourself to pray, to worship, and to get in the Bible and just read. It will help you to hold on until you get breakthrough. I have experienced this first hand and I never want to experience this again.

This is not to say don’t question God. Questioning God is a good thing and encouraged because when we do we’re often seeking confirmation for something he said. We have got to stop doubting the one we should believe, and we need to stop believing the one that we should doubt. Many have this backwards and in this New Year, there is no better time then the present to clean out some bad habits.

I have lost count as to how many times I have heard someone say that God said He’d do something but the person doesn’t believe it can happen for them. This is because When the Lord said He would do whatever it was; the thought process didn’t stop there. The devil sneaks right in and tells us that God won’t do what he said and sometimes we agree with that for whatever reason.

The best thing we can do is to doubt the doubter. When God say’s he’ll do something, we need to receive it and go into prayer and thanksgiving for that thing. When the devil comes lurking around trying to tell you that God can’t or won’t do what He said, just tell the devil I doubt that. If you want to confuse the devil, that’s how to do it. He’ll go off talking to other devils (can you believe that I just told this Christian that I doubted God and the Christian doubted me right back? Can he do that? That’s not fair!! Now what do I do?

Let’s start putting a hurting on the devil. Let’s start kicking him around instead of letting him run rampant in our lives.

Lord God I thank you for this message. I thank you God for reigniting the fire within my spirit for you. I pray father that with the wisdom I have gained from the difficult times I’ve experienced, that you would send me to those that are experiencing a dark time in their lives, so that I could impart the peace and love that you have so generously given to me, into them. Father God I’m asking for a special blessing for all of the readers of this blog, that they and their families would experience your supernatural love, favor and compassion all through 2007. May this year be the year of revival fire here in the United States!

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

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Service To The Lord

2006-11-16T19:49:00.000-05:00

Luke 17:7- 8 “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’

The North American Church unlike other countries seems to have twisted the meaning behind this scripture. Many Christians today go to church to be feed a great message that lifts them up to make it from Sunday to Sunday. Often times if there isn't a meaty message, people will move on down the road going from church to church until they find a message that feeds their spirit. Church is not for feeding our spirits and our wants and desires and it was never designed for that purpose.

Jesus said in Matthew 21:13 "It is written," he said to them, “My house will be called a house of prayer. Church has always been known as a house of worship." When we are there, we are there for one purpose. We are there to give thanks and praise for all that the Lord has done and continues to do in our lives. We give Him glory. The idea that we are going to go to church and come out all filled up is wrong. We might come out with our spirits filled up because something the pastor said in his message put us in a positive space, but that was not the sole purpose. We feel good mostly from the overflow from our praises to God.

Our receiving comes from our giving. I don't mean money. I mean praise and thanks. When we honor the Lord, we prove worthy before him. He loves when we praise, when we show faith, when we give to him or to others in need. The good feeling we are all looking for should come from our giving of ourselves. Having our hearts and minds in the right place and focusing on the things of God. That is where the great feelings come from.

The Pastor is not there to make us feel good. Preaching is all about getting us right with God. The pastor leads us through the dark areas of life and into the light, using the word of God, drawing us closer to that place where we are in communion with the Lord. The pastor's message should draw us closer to God. It should convict our spirit of anything we have done wrong in thought or in action, so that we can repent for that thought or action and become able to be forgiven and washed white as snow by the blood of Jesus.

I long for the day when the fire of the Holy Spirit flows through the hearts all of us, so that we can really see what God can do. There are many churches in the United States, but unfortunately many of them will never actually see God move. So many churches just go through the motions of a service or mass and they stick to a structured routine. There is nothing structured about God, belief, faith, praise, or miracles. I can’t endure sitting through that type of service anymore and I cringe whenever I have to go to a church that is like that, I thank God that those occasions are rare. If you are in a church like that and you’re content with it, you couldn’t have experienced a move of God. Anyone that has seen something happen that absolutely no question had to be a supernatural move of God could not be content to do church like that once they had.

I actually refer to those kind congregations as “churches” and the places where the spirit of the Lord resides as “houses of worship”. The difference is like night and day. It is just a whole lot more fun to give praise, worship and glory to the Lord in great abundance. If prayer is the thing that moves God, then “Houses of worship” are the place to be, because there is nothing like seeing the result of God performing a miracle or healing someone or giving favor to someone. My heart skips a beat every time I see something that God has done. I love just hearing the testimonies from people that have received a blessing from God.

So be joyous in all of your giving. Serve the Father the way he deserves to be served, with all of your heart, soul, mind and spirit. With everything you have serve Him. In everything you do serve Him. Spending our entire lives from the womb to the tomb serving God wouldn’t be enough. We owe him for everything we have.

1 Peter 2:21-22 (The Message) This is the kind of life you've been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step. He never did one thing wrong, Not once said anything amiss. They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you're named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

I invite you to pray this with me

Father God, I thank you for all that you do for us. We are not worthy of your grace, and forgiveness, but you do it anyway. If only we could show you the unconditional love that you show to us God. You deserve our best, your word teaches us how to live and how to serve you. Help us God to be better servants to you. I ask you to take control and guide us all into the place you desire for each of us. Lord Jesus come. Come upon us and fill our hearts, help us to be better at giving away the love, compassion, and blessings that you bestow upon each of us. Teach us how to do your will better so that we get into the place where we can see you performing miracles as an everyday occurance.

I ask this in your most Holy name

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

The Priority Of Seeking God's Face

2006-11-07T19:11:00.000-05:00

2 Chronicles 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Psalm 27:8 My heart says of you "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek.

Psalm 105:4 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

The instruction is given to us many times in the Bible,” Seek His face." It is supposed to be the face and the heart of God that we seek for there in his heart is his love for us. In his face is his relationship with us. Spending time with the Lord should be our primary focus. We should be seeking the Lord just because we want to spend time with him, whether that means being in prayer, reading the bible, meditating on His word or having conversations about him. In all of these instances we are spending time, giving praise, acknowledging His many works and when we are speaking about him to others we are giving testimony of what God has done in our lives. The power of our testimony should never be underestimated. When we tell someone what the Lord has done for us, we are creating an environment for God to move in. Our testimony creates an environment for the supernatural to happen.

Instead of seeking His face though, many people just seek the Lord's hand. They don't want a relationship; they only want what’s in it for them. It becomes all about them instead of being all about God. These people very rarely receive a blessing unless God feels that a sign or blessing from him will be the thing that moves them into a place where they accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Usually though people that just seek the Lord for his hand, don't get much. They end up saying "See, there is no God" or "God doesn't love me." Oh, if they only understood what they were saying, but they don't and that's where we as Christians have to shine the light of God into the lives of these people in order that they would see the errors of their ways and get on the path of righteousness.

Christians need to be the light of the world that pierces the darkness in people’s lives. It can be a monumental challenge to do this on a consistent basis no doubt but it’s what we are supposed to be. If we fight negative with negative, there is no victory, there is no hope, and there is no light. Jesus said in John 8:12 "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

When we stop seeking God's hand and we begin to seek relationship with Him, we will begin to see change almost immediately. God wants to bless us abundantly, but until we can be trusted with His relationship, we won't be trusted with His blessings. Then when we are worthy of His blessings, they will start small until we can be trusted with those. When we get to the point of receiving God's blessings, we are not to keep them for ourselves. They were not given to us for our own benefit like a reward. We are to take our blessings and bless others with them.

We are God's representatives to others and when we bless someone else and give from the heart (not from obligation) God will bless the giver in return. The more we are entrusted with though, the more responsibility we have. Luke 12:48 When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

We need to understand that everything we have was given to us by the God. No matter what it is, whether it is a job, a family, finances, health, without His approval we’d have nothing. That said we need to stop complaining and murmuring about our circumstances and situations and give Him praise through it all. When you complain about your job, that you're not being paid enough, think of this. Maybe God hired you for that job because he needed light in that place. He didn't hire you to provide you with money. If God wants to provide us with finances, he could do it in any way he pleases. Money could fall from the sky or come from a rock. God is God and we are not. When God is ready to provide you finances, he could have an enemy of yours come right up to you and write you check. Psalm 34:10 “those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”

I invite you to pray this with me.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for providing for us and being the light that pierces the darkness in our lives, so that we can spread that light into the lives of others. You always lead by example Father and show us the way to live. Give us the strength Lord God, to endure the trials and difficulties that we encounter in bringing your word to others that need it. Help us God to persevere and to never take for granted the things you do for us, the things you provide for us and mostly for the Love that you give to us.

In Jesus Name I Pray.

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Faith By Hearing.

2006-11-02T22:49:00.000-05:00

Romans 10:13-17 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?” So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

For a person to be saved, they must call on the Lord in faith and turn from their sin. But the immediate question that is addressed through Paul is asking how anyone can call on God if they do not believe God and His Word. There is also the question that they cannot believe God if they have not even heard of Him. So it is clear that there needs to be a preacher to proclaim the truth to them so that they might know Who God is and what is required of them to be reconciled to Him.

We have to understand that this is not speaking of a preacher in the sense of a pastor or evangelist or an "official" church position. It is speaking of the role that we all have to be proclaiming the gospel to those around us. So it is not necessarily preaching from a pulpit, but any declaration of the gospel from those who know it to those who need to hear it. Paul say’s that the preacher must be sent. While we understand the call of God on the lives of those serving as pastors and missionaries, we must not forget that it is the responsibility of each one of us to preach the gospel to the world.

Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,[baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. We are all to be sowing the seed, because if we do not tell people about God and about their need for salvation, then how can they call out to Him and be saved? God us as the means to call sinners to salvation.

People must hear the Word of God in order to know the truth and believe it. Faith comes by hearing the gospel, not just listening to it, but hearing and understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ. and hearing comes by the Word of God. God uses His word to open ears and eyes to hear and see the truth. Without Him we are dead, blind, and deaf, but when He uses His Word to open our ears and eyes, we can hear and see and believe and call out with our mouths, and "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." This teaches us that the power of the Word of God is alive, active, powerful, and has unlimited power.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is living and powerful. It cuts right to the heart of the matter. It is a two-edged sword. It reveals the true intentions of the human heart and exposes our every thought.

James 1:23-25 if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. The Word of God is a mirror. It reflects to us the truth, unvarnished. And the way we respond says much about our faith and maturity in the Lord.

The Word of God ALWAYS accomplishes the purpose that He means for it to accomplish. The Word is never sent out to return with no results. We make the mistake sometimes of forgetting that the Word can bring more than one result because often we are seeking one primary result, the salvation of a soul and when people don’t get saved we think that either we have failed in our witnessing or that the Word of God failed and did not bring forth fruit.

God's word not only brings salvation, it also brings healing, it convicts our spirits, it sanctifies us, and breaks us. This should give us great freedom in preaching the Word to those who need to hear it because the results of our preaching are not dependant on us, but on God's Word and the Word never fails!

Let us pray:

Father God, I thank you Lord that your word is as alive today as it was in the beginning of time. I thank you God that your gift of salvation is available to every soul because your son Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross and shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Father guide us is our preaching. Give us the right words for this season that people would receive you God. I pray for every lost soul Lord. That we would have time enough to reach out to them and offer them your free gift of salvation, before it’s too late.

In Jesus Name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Seeking Him for Him

2006-10-19T18:48:00.000-04:00

When you cry out to God, are you crying out for Him and Him alone or are you calling on Him out of personal need? Many times when we do this we don't even know it until it is an afterthought. Our Father is there for us twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. He never sleeps or takes a break. The people that are in right communication with the Father are the ones who spend time in His presence daily. These people spend time meditating on His word and they put what they've read to use in their daily lives. They spend time with the Lord just to spend time with him. They're not calling on him just because they need something. By spending time with no personal motives, we establish a relationship filled with knowledge and understanding. There is daily fellowship with the Father and those that spend that kind of time know him best.

There is no room for negativity in our lives when the Lord is a part of our daily routine. Negativity can not be where God is. When we spend time with the Lord as we are supposed to, it is unlikely that we'll experience things like bitterness, oppression, hatred and selfishness. because we are so full of the word and God is guiding our every step. Our faith is high, our hearts are full and there is no room for these negative things to come in to our lives, no matter how hard satan tries. Negativity can not be where God is.

When we start to feel negativity creeping in, it is because we have allowed room for it. We have not spent time with God on a personal level. We may have gone to church and heard a great sermon, but that is nowhere near the same as spending personal devotional time with the Father. When we go to God with a problem or a need, is it fair to expect an answer or a blessing when the only reason we're calling on Him is because everything else we tried has failed? Not at all. I would never expect God to move on anything in my life unless I have a relationship with him based on love for Him all that he does.

If someone came to you only when they wanted something from you, would you respond in a favorable way all the time? Most likely no, but if a person has a relationship with you just because of the person you are, it's very likely that your going to move mountains for that person. Why then should our relationship with God be any different. Seek God just for God. Spend time with Him because you love Him, not because you feel your supposed to. He wants us to come to Him because we want to, not because we have to. He'll never force us, but if we miss out on what the Father has for our lives, it's entirely because of the choices we made.

Being in right standing with God is the key element and deciding factor of how your day, week and life will be. We can choose to spend time with God and become very strong in Him, which will in turn produce great things or we can choose to call on him just when we need something and pray for his mercy. God is merciful and he gave us free will, so he will answer both the prayer warrior and the one lost in the wilderness of life, but wouldn’t you rather have the comfort of knowing that you have a great relationship with God instead of hoping he’ll help out of mercy?

Like anything else in life the more you do something the better you get at it. Nobody can just pick up an instrument for the first time and sound like a great musician, nor can we expect our first efforts with our prayer life or devotional time to be life changing. We are a work in progress always. Our prayer time and devotional time will improve with use and the more time we spend, the better we'll get at it. The result will be a great two way relationship with Our Father in Heaven. He so wants to have this time with each and every one of us. He will never force us to come to him, but he is there waiting for you to pick a time in your day to spend with him. He loves you and he wants to bless you. The question is do you want Him the way He wants you? I pray that your answer is a resounding yes!

I invite you to pray this with me.

Father your mercy is often more than we deserve. I pray Father that you would help us all to always be faithful in our devotional time with you. To always spend time with you just to be with you and no other reason. I pray for that person who is coming to you only as a last resort Father. I pray that you will forgive them Father and be merciful to their need, because they don't know you. The power of your blessing can make them see that you are who you say you are, you are God almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth. Guide us in our daily lives Lord God, help us to seek out the lost and give them the opportunity to know and understand you and have that relationship with you that they need and you want for them.

I ask this in Jesus name.

Amen.

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

A Change of Pace

2006-10-03T22:33:00.000-04:00

Many of us have heard the term “God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow”. Well, that goes for Heaven as well. In an effort to think more in line with what things are like in Heaven, I took notice of many things. I’m here to tell you, our lives here can be a whole lot better than they are now, no matter how well we think we’re doing

In Heaven there is no stress or anxiety. Time itself I would imagine is not a big deal, as eternity is a very long time. This life we are living now in these bodies on this planet should be lived following the Bible which is the owners manual for humanity. Have you ever noticed that the people living their lives by the word of God are living much different than those that are not living by the word of God?

Faith is important to the people that are referring to the owners manual (The Bible) but faith is not important to those not living by the Bible. There are many manuals for us to refer to when problems arise, but only one holds the answers to anything we could ever have a problem with or a question about and that manual is the Bible.

A good example of what I mean is the out of control pace that we live at today. Life here on earth is not the same yesterday today and tomorrow as it is in Heaven. Do you think that this was part of God’s plan regarding having life and having it in abundance? I don’t. Over the past fifty years or more, the pace of life has gotten increasingly faster. With that speed comes the expectation for us to maintain that speed and still have the same quality that people had back in a simpler time. That goes for life at work or at home, whether you’re making your bed or making a major corporate decision. Anxiety becomes a problem because our minds and bodies were never meant to go at breakneck speed all of the time.

So today we live in the most medicated society ever. Medications for stress, anxiety and depression issues have become such common place that the lay person knows as much about these medications as the doctors do. The world shoves this information in our faces and many of us buy right into it. Take this pill you’ll feel better! This is an extremely temporary remedy and it’s the farthest thing from a solution. This all goes into something I wrote about a while ago regarding childhood. That was a simple time too but because we wanted to be older and get the drivers license and even become legal age to drink alcohol, we asked for it and we got it, but in rushing to get there we lost our child like thinking.

In the same way, through the years we have wanted to improve things to make them easier and faster.. There is a price for that and I don’t think that was ever considered. The great deceiver satan, the great illusionist made everything appear as though all of these improvements would be free. They are far from free and now we’re paying the price. There are people ending their lives today by suicide because they can’t take the stress. In that respect satan accomplished what he set out to do. He wants to kill, steal and destroy us. We have the power to take back what is ours and that’s our peace and sanity.

The solution is that we need to make a conscious effort to take time to breathe, literally stop and smell the roses. We may not be able to go back to 1940 but we sure can make the effort to live at that pace. Put aside the microwave oven and cook a real meal. Put away the remote control and get off the sofa to change the channel of the television. Go for a walk to the mailbox, don’t drive one block. Take the time to spend with God every day. He’s there waiting for you and He’s the great problem solver and the great physician, all we have to do is make the time and go to him and ask Him for help. Let go of this frantic way of living and let God guide your every step.

Please Pray this with me.

Father I thank you for this message and for the wisdom and insight into the way’s we should be doing things. You want the best for us and your word tells us this many times over. Lord God I pray for your guidance. I pray that you would open our eyes to see the deception going on around us being promoted by satan. Help us to get back to a simpler way of living. We are in a time when we can’t even appreciate what we have because we’ve taken efficiency to far. We’ve made things more difficult by trying to make life easier. You meant for us to live life, not rush through it. Bring us out of the darkness Father and into your light where we will live in your perfect peace forever.

In Jesus name I pray

Amen.

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Father Knows Best

2006-09-19T22:28:00.000-04:00

You know those times in life when you want something so bad that you can’t think of anything else? Recently that happened to me and a lesson learned long ago, was not only proven but reinforced. There have been many times in life when I have wanted something and went against reason at times to get what I wanted only to find out in the end that it either wasn’t worth it or it wasn’t meant to be. This happens to everyone from time to time but I have a recent event that might be able to teach something.

As a child I always wanted a dog and every time I asked for one, my parents said no. So I ended up with a goldfish that didn’t really satisfy the desire for a dog, but it was something to love and it helped, but I was always mad at my parents thinking they were just terrible parents. I don’t know many people that haven’t been there and done that.

Looking back I can’t put my finger on the reason why I wanted a dog, I just did. I ended up getting my first one when I was 18 years old. The dog was a Pug and I named it Penni. She had been found by an animal control officer abandoned by its owner and she had just had pups, so it was evident they just used Penni to get a litter of puppies to make money on. I loved that dog and spent every moment I could with her, she even slept in my bed.

God was in control and I had no idea at the time because I did not have any form of relationship with him. I had no idea know God was in control. You see, originally I had purchased a Chihuahua from a kennel and while waiting for it to be old enough to take, something went wrong and I couldn’t buy it... So I asked what else they had for dogs and the girl asked me to wait a second. Out came Penni from the back room. I had never seen a Pug. My first thought was she is so ugly she’s cute. I ended up with a dog that needed me as much as needed her and she gave back the love she received two fold. So God provided for both me and the dog.

During the time I had Penni I found my way to the Lord and asked Jesus into my heart. When I did that I asked him to guide every step in my life and take over. “More of you God and less of me” was my cry. Well I got what I asked for and I am so thankful for that, but there are still times where my own desires get in the way of God’s will being done. His way will win out but sometimes you have to go through the process of doing it the hard way to see that...

Every month this year, there have been discussions between myself and Rosalie about getting a dog, partly for the children and partly for me. Rosalie didn’t want a dog and all of the responsibilities that went with it but I did. I kept selling the idea to her like a like a used car salesman and being the wonderful wife that she is, she didn’t give in, but she did to put her feelings aside so that we could get a dog. I didn’t realize even then what a sacrifice she was making for me. I do now though.

We went through a breeder and knew exactly what we wanted and got it. This past Saturday we brought home a Chocolate Labrador Retriever. She was a beautiful seven week old puppy. The pup had never been separated from the litter until we took her home. Neither of us ever thought for a second that this dog would keep the entire house awake while it cried and barked all night long. The poor thing was inconsolable. On Sunday I knew that this puppy was much more than we could handle and we had to return it. Of course this was a very emotional time and even Rosalie who hadn’t wanted a dog was sad to see the dog go, but she knew it was the right thing.

I am convinced that God gave me this experience so that I would see his will through it. I know that we did the best thing for that puppy and for ourselves. After a stress filled week of preparing for a dog and then getting one and having to return it, I have learned a valuable lesson. I need to be a better husband and father. My own desires got the best of me and to some extent blinded my sensibilities. I was no longer Mr. Commonsense, I was using little sense. Had I listened to my wife more and respected that she didn’t really want a dog, this hard lesson could have been avoided, but I didn’t listen and even through my ignorance, God is glorified. I had prayed about getting a dog, asking for provision, and guidance, but when I didn’t get answer to that prayer I got impatient. Again because of my own desires.

Here is what the Lord did and what I learned. He allowed me to get the dog in order to find out for myself that I had made a mistake and He left opportunity for me to return the pup and suffer minimal loss but enough to sting a bit. I had caused my family unnecessary stress do to arguing about getting a dog. The day after returning the dog, God has restored peace in my home and other areas of my life that were suffering. I think in the end it has made Rosalie and me even closer because I have a different respect for her today than just a few days’ ago. God is in the business of healing hearts, minds, bodies and spirits. He has done that for me and my family, but I had to learn the hard way. If I had only listened to all of the warning signs and been obedient, I would have ended up in the same place with the same peace but without the pain I had to go through to get here.

Thank You God for seeing past my faults and forgiving me. You do know best and we all need to cry out, “More of You God and less of us”.

I invite you to pray this with me.

Father God, you are so faithful. You see past our arrogance and ignorance and you even step aside to let us have our way even when it’s wrong. You know best Lord God and you show us through your gentleness and forgiveness when we completely mess things up, that you are there and that you care. You take bad situations and make them turn out ok so that we can see that our way does not work and we have to live a life of “Your will be done”. Lord God, I pray that would give me the ability to sacrifice the way you want me to and the way my wife did. Show us the way God.

I ask this in Jesus name

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

The Healing Powers Of Laughter

2006-09-06T20:21:00.000-04:00

Whenever an opportunity presents itself for you to bring light into someone else's life, don't ever pass that opportunity up. It is one of the most important things that a Christian can do. It is also a very fulfilling experience. It edifies the spirit of both giver and receiver. You can't ask for much more than that. When I think of bringing light into someone else's life, I use light two ways. I use light to bring positive messages to people that need to hear them and I also use lite. Lite to me is humor. For me one of the greatest gifts the lord has given to me is the ability to laugh and to make others laugh whether it is at me or with me, as long as they laugh.

We've all heard that laughter is great medicine and it's very true. Research has shown that after exposure to humor, there is a general increase in activity within the immune system, including: An increase in the number and activity level of natural killer cells that attack viral infected cells and some types of cancer and tumor cells. Laughter Decreases "Stress" Hormones that constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity.

The ability to laugh at a situation or problem gives us a feeling of superiority and power over it. Humor and laughter can foster a positive and hopeful attitude. We are less likely to succumb to feelings of depression and helplessness if we are able to laugh at what is troubling us. Humor gives us a sense of perspective on our problems. Laughter provides an opportunity for the release of those uncomfortable emotions which, if held inside, may create biochemical changes that are harmful to the body. The emotions and moods we experience directly affect our immune system. A sense of humor allows us to perceive and appreciate the ridiculousness of life and provides moments of joy and delight. These positive emotions can create neurochemical changes that will buffer the immunosuppressive effects of diseases and stress.

It's been proven that the power contained in a laugh can have a healing effect on people. I pray constantly "Lord use me to bring laughter into somebody's life and let it heal their hurts or illnesses in Jesus name." I have seen what laughter can do. It's natural Novocain. Have you ever noticed that even if you have a broken bone that when you laugh, for that time that you’re laughing, you have zero pain. The endorphins that are released when we laugh totally erase that pain. Imagine how much of a healing effect it can have on illness and disease.

Sickness comes from the devil! There are many Bible texts that denote the connection between illnesses and the satanic world. A mute possessed person was brought in the presence of the Messiah. Jesus drove the evil spirits out and Matthew 9:33 "when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke." Who was responsible for this sickness? The devil himself! This is why we are told to seek out the elders of the church when we are sick and let them pray over us. It's a spiritual thing. So when we are sick in any way and we are able to laugh, that's huge. I believe God heals through laughter and here's an example. Most of us have heard of "Holy Laughter", not everyone receives Holy Laughter but those that do; I believe get some form of healing from it.

Laughter is a healing balm in the body of Christ. If you cannot occasionally laugh together with a friend, spouse or coworker, you will find it hard to stay together with those people. In the same way, because of the stress and the many things involved in doing God's work, we need that healing balm to come upon our lives on a regular basis.

This is a wonderful time for you to stop and think about how much life has maybe stopped you from laughing. The fact that we can laugh is a blessing, and we need to treat our laughter as a blessing and remember to use it as often as we can. When you do, it does something to your joy. It kind of brings the child out in you again.

Somebody gave me a statistic that is hard to believe: Adults laugh 15 times a day; children, 400 times a day. Isn’t that outrageous? I heard recently about a little boy who was standing at an escalator in the mall, just watching it as it went around. One concerned lady in the mall walked over and said, "Son, are you lost?" He said, "No ma'am." Never took his eyes off the handrail. "You're not lost?" "No, ma'am, I'm just waiting for my gum to come back." Isn't that a great line? The boy didn’t have a care in the world

But it isn't just young kids that have a joyful attitude. I meet older people that have a joyful attitude. My mother’s side of the family has a great sense of humor. My aunt’s have the greatest laughs. Just hearing them laughing gets me started and I don’t even know why I’m laughing. You know your having a great day when that happens. Your guard is totally down and your heart is open and full of joy. My grandmother had a great sense of humor. Her name was Lulu, so I guess having a sense of humor was a requirement. The big joke in the family is that her maiden name was Mann, so we say that nana was a man until she got married. Isn’t that great? How can you not laugh at something like that? I thank them for my sense of humor and my ability to look at life and laugh it off when some others might scream.

We need to keep the child alive within us. You feel so much better when you do. Proverbs 17:22 say’s that "A joyful heart is good medicine". Is laughter coming into your home? Are you the source of the laughter that comes around you, or does it take somebody else to bring it? Laughter is the best medicine. Better than pain relievers, Doctors, Chiropractors and mom’s chicken soup. Laugh hard and live long. It will cure whatever ails you.

Please pray this with me.

Father I thank you for the gift of laughter. Your word say’s that a joyful heart is good medicine and I pray God that you would restore the laughter in the lives of those who seem to have lost their ability to laugh. In this broken world it is so easy to misplace our smile or worse yet, let someone else take it from us. Show us how to guard the joy in our hearts God in such a way that nobody could ever steal it from us again. Flood us with your Holy Laughter Lord God and through laughter help us to understand even further its healing properties. I pray that our laughter would become contagious and though laughter we could change this world one heart at a time.

In Jesus name I pray.

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

The Faith Of A Child

2006-08-29T19:26:00.000-04:00

Recently my daughter Linda sprained her right ankle really bad. It was visibly swollen to about twice the size of her other ankle and she was in quite a bit of pain. I treated it as anyone would, I put an ice pack on it for a few minutes then coated her ankle and foot with Icy-Hot and wrapped it with ace bandage. I tell you that to tell you this. What happened next was absolutely amazing and beyond that. I placed my hand on the ankle and prayed. I knew something was taking place and I kept on getting this feeling that the Lord was fixing her ankle. When asked how it felt she said it didn't hurt as much. I explained that faith sometimes needs an action for us to get our healing. What this means is to try and do what you couldn't do. We can say all day long how strong our faith is, but unless we take a step in it, it's just words and that will not get the job done.

So she stood up and did a few different things like stand on her tip toes, which she couldn't do and as she did this the pain went away more. I asked her then to walk around her room. She did and in less then five minutes, her limp was entirely gone and she was running the length of the house, Praise God. On this very night Linda received a miracle. It was by her stepping out in faith that she received her healing. God honors our faith but especially so when we walk in it instead of just talking about it. Our words without actions to demonstrate them are just words.

This is where the enemy will try to put up emotional stumbling blocks all over the place. He knows that if he can stop us from stepping out in faith because of fear, stress, or doubt he can block us from getting our victory. The sure fire way to defeat the enemy is to be so familiar with God's word and His promises, that there is no room for doubt in our minds. The enemy can only win when our guard is down which occurs as soon as we begin to become lax in our prayer life, and study of Gods word.

I've heard others say it and I've said it myself at times "having faith is so hard". Well, I have learned some things since saying that. The most important of those things I've learned is that we make having faith hard. Jesus said in Mark 10:15 (Amplified Bible) Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] positively shall not enter it at all. So having the belief and faith of a young child is what we’re supposed to have. This is why having faith, seeing miracles and healings is so uncommon in our lives.

We don’t have childlike faith. Adults are always trying to figure it all out. How did that person get healed? How did that storm miss my house? Why didn't I get that job? These are frequently heard questions and the answer is the same for all of them. We’re not supposed to understand how it all works. God is a mystery, how he does things is beyond our understanding, and I personally have come to accept that and be ok with it. Maybe we’ll get the answers when we go to Heaven, but I realize that I don’t need to know how the master does his work.

The end result of being able to accept not knowing how God works is this. I can think more like an eight year old now than when I was actually eight years old. Most of us were forced to grow up to soon. Everybody wanted to be older than they were until they hit thirty, and then they all want to go backwards and we can’t.

My thinking is that the devil knew that if he could get us to desire things that older people had, like cars, money, independence and even alcohol, we would lose interest in being children. Right at that moment we lost our childlike perception and our childlike faith. Is it any surprise that that the majority of Playstations, Xbox’s and Gamecube’s are owned by people in their forties? They’re trying to live out the childhood that they missed out on the first time around.

We need to ask Our Father to restore our ability to think like children. Not to act like children, just think like them. When we do, our ability to have faith in the portions that we should have will grow faster than we can comprehend. Our ability to see healings and miracles will also grow exceedingly fast. Then events that seem uncommon now will become commonplace in our lives. The impossibilities of God won’t be so impossible anymore. Thank You Jesus!

Please pray this with me.

Father God, you created us in your image and you call us your children. Before we can be great men and women of God, we must first be great children of God. So Father I pray that you would restore the childlike thinking to all of mankind. Bring us to that place God, where we can take the words Born Again to a whole new level. We want to see your miracles as everyday occurrences God and we need to see from a place of faith only available to a childlike heart and eyes. Father I pray for the future generations that they would be able to overcome the deceit of the enemy and not grow up too soon. A healthy childhood becomes a healthy adulthood and I know your will is for us to have health in every way.

This and all things I ask in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

May God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Communication Breakdown

2006-08-22T21:03:00.000-04:00

You know those times in life when you lose communication with a friend or a family member? When this happens we'll usually think of the person occasionally but not call for whatever reason (usually it just feels awkward). Sometimes it takes a long time for us to put our egos, pride and other obstacles aside. Once we've done that we're able to get back in contact with the person we fell out of contact with. The strange thing about this is that very seldom do we actually know why we fell out of contact in the first place. We don't just do this we people. This happens between us and God and I'll go right ahead and place all of the blame on us humans, because God is perfect and none of us are.

When this communication breakdown occurs between us and God, it can happen for many different reasons. Sometimes we get ashamed at something we've done and we don't feel worthy of a relationship with God. Other times we might be mad at God for not answering prayer when WE wanted it done. Someone may have lost a loved one in an accident. Another reason is laziness and this one is probably the most common. Once we've lost communication with God many things change. Everything in our lives is drastically affected by our separation from "Our Heavenly Father". We leave the door open for satan to come in to our lives and really make a mess of things.

As Christians, we can't afford to be lazy with anything especially our relationships with God. Without him we are lost. When this communication does breakdown we need to realize it right away and pray for restoration of the relationship. If we fail to do this, time marches on and marches faster than we think. The longer we wait to fix the broken relationship with our Father, the harder it becomes to push yourself to do it. The problem at that point is on us again. All we have to do is ask for forgiveness and restoration and God will provide it, however we have the hardest time asking sometimes.

The human race is strange like that. We’ll stay in broken dysfunctional relationships that might even be abusive with other people. That’s unbelievable to me and we’ll come up with every reason imaginable for our staying in that situation. Our relationships with God and with Jesus are the healthiest relationships we have, but we take so long to fix them when something goes wrong. It’s like eating. Many people won’t touch food that has the word health associated with it, but you’ll find the same person in the local waffle house having their daily dosage of trans-fats. We don't always do whats best for ourselves.

The point here is this. At times our thinking is backwards. We will invest time in things that aren’t worth it and the things that require and deserve our utmost attention don’t always get it. We need to fix that and quickly. Whether we are ready or not Jesus Christ is coming back and soon. I know in my own heart that this is so. I don’t need someone with the gift of prophecy to tell me that one. Find your Bible, blow the dust off of it and see how much it lines up with events in the world today. I’ve asked this before and I’ll ask it again now because it IS that important.

If Jesus comes back tomorrow, are you ready. Is your soul clean? Would he know you or would he deny you? To those of you that are currently experiencing a breakdown in communication with our Lord God. Take a moment and fix things now. Ask the Lord for his forgiveness and to guide every step you take from this moment on. Then you will know that you are safe. Then once you’ve been forgiven. Tell someone else that you know needs to get right with the Lord. Save a life, Jesus saved yours.

Let us Pray.

Oh Lord God you are awesome. The grace you hand out to us is beyond our understanding. Father I thank you that you never leave us, even when we pull away from you. Lord God you could easily reward our stubbornness with punishment, but instead you say “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. Father I pray that you would forgive us for allowing our communion with you to break down. Guide our every step Lord God from this day forth. Come into our hearts and fill us anew. Father God, I pray for those that have lost contact with you, that you would send your Holy Spirit to be with them and to heal their hearts Father. May we never ever forget that our salvation is a gift from you and not something we can earn by works?

I ask this in Jesus name

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

When the word of God is spoken.

2006-08-01T23:18:00.000-04:00

When the word of God is spoken, power is released into the area that the speaker is in. In a church setting, when the word is being preached the atmosphere in the church changes. Attitudes change, panic relaxes, peace comes upon us. In an outdoor setting the same thing happens. In fact no matter where the word of God is spoken there is change. That change causes preparation in our hearts, for us to repent and receive what God has and wants for us.

The power that is contained in God’s word is what causes these changes. Everybody has there favorite translation of the Bible and each of us likes a certain Evangelist on television or a Pastor in a church. We all have our preferences of how we want to here God’s word. That in itself is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. We need to listen closely whenever the word of God is spoken, regardless of who the speaker is, because it’s God’s word we’re listening to, not the person speaking them. The speaker that we don’t care for may be the one that has a profound word for us.
God is not going to conform to the ways of this world for anyone. We are to conform to Him and Him alone. The fact that we even want to dictate who ministers to us and how, tells me that there is too much of us in the picture and not enough desire for God which means we are not doing as we are supposed to. Here is an example of what I’m talking about.

There are people who will listen to Joel Osteen but these same people won’t listen to Benny Hinn. There are people that will listen to Joyce Meyer but not John Hagee. This is like saying that you will listen to Peter but not Paul. This is not what we are supposed to be doing. We are to listen when the word of God is spoken regardless of who the speaker is. If you have found a preacher that you connect with really well, that’s a wonderful thing, but don’t discard others just to listen to that one. Each time I hear God’s word being spoken, I listen really close, because I don’t want to miss what may come forth.

Everyone speaks and thinks differently, so that means that if you had 100 people explain the same verse in the Bible you’d get very different explanations of that one verse. That’s not to say that any one of those would be wrong. They’d just be different, and out of hearing all of those different interpretations, we may get a clearer understanding of that verse than we first had. This is why it is so important to listen to whoever is speaking the word of God.

We need to be as full of God as we can be and the only way to do that is to become well rounded Christians. The next time you’re watching your favorite Christian television station, watch one of the Evangelists that you wouldn’t ordinarily watch. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you hear and how you hear it. God will use every single one of us to bring forth His word, His message, His promises and His truth. So don’t play favorites. Listen to “The Word” not the speaker, because the speaker has no way of changing you at all, God does.

Please pray this with me.

Father God, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the fact that no matter who you use to deliver your word, it remains the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. Lord God help us to recognize those times when we start dictating how we want your word to be delivered. It’s all about you God, not us and we need to decrease so that you can increase in each of our lives. We are just walking aimlessly in a fog until we do that. Father instill in each of us a renewed hunger for you that we would stop at nothing to get as much of your word as we can. To much of you is never enough.

I ask this in Jesus name.

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Fruitful Prayer

2006-07-20T22:07:00.000-04:00

John 15:7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.

The first part of this verse (the condition) is the most important part of this verse because it gives the conditions that must be met in order to get to the promise. However many of us just see the second part of this verse. There have been many times when I've heard people quote this verse and not even include the first piece. It's made to sound like regardless of what we are doing, good, bad or indifferent, that we can ask God for whatever we wish and it will be given to us, or done for us. There are many that ask the Lord for something but they are in a place spiritually where they can't receive because they are not in Christ and His words are not in them.

We cannot get what the Lord has for us if we are disconnected from him in any way. In today's terms lets look at using a cell phone. If your cell phone cuts out, you’re disconnected from the person you were talking to. Now you can keep on talking and ask them anything, but they're not going to answer you because the connection broke down. Staying connected to God through prayer, Bible Reading, Bible Study, and meditating on what you've learned is the only way to stay connected. The Lord will honor that because we've abided in Him, so He is in us.

If we are expecting consistent answers to prayer, the words of Jesus must abide in us. That is, Jesus himself must abide in us speaking. We do not just stock ourselves with dead ideas that he spoke a long time ago, but we believe and remember and meditate on the truths that he spoke once and is speaking now as he abides in us. I want to focus on the (result) of this verse, "ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." If the words of Jesus abide in us, then the result will be that you pray with power and effectiveness.

Prayer is for fruit bearing. God designed prayer to give believers the joy of bearing fruit while God himself gets the glory. We can see this in the connection between verses 7 and 8 and then in verse 16. 7If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. "By this is my Father glorified". What that means is, by us asking God for things and His giving them to us. He gets glory as the one who is rich and good enough to answer prayer. But also, "By this is my Father glorified". That is, that we bear much fruit. The implication is that God gets glory when we bear much fruit because we have prayed and God has answered. This gives us a testimony by which he gets all of the glory. Therefore the primary point of prayer is fruit-bearing.

This is confirmed explicitly in John 15:16. Jesus says to his disciples, "You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give to you." The connections between the two parts of this verse are tremendously important. Jesus says that he chose and appointed his disciples that they should go and bear fruit that remains, so "that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you."

The point is that prayer malfunctions when it is not used for fruit-bearing. Therefore, because prayer is for fruit-bearing, if you are not devoted to fruit-bearing you have no warrant for expecting answers to prayer.

Prayer is not for gratifying natural desires. I know that Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day, our daily bread." What's more natural than wanting to eat? I know that there are dozens of instances in the Bible of people praying for desires as natural as the desire for protection, success and healing. I'm not implying that those desires are wrong. What I'm saying is that they should always be subordinate to spiritual desires, kingdom desires, fruit bearing desires, gospel spreading God centered desires. When our natural desires are felt as a means to these greater desires then they become the proper subject of prayer.

Just before Jesus said to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," he said, make it your heart's desire that God would hallow his name and that the kingdom would come and that the will of God would be done on earth as it is in Heaven. When your heart is caught up with those great desires, then having something to eat is not merely a natural desire, but a means to some great God centered end, and then it is the proper subject of prayer.

Prayer is for God's kingdom and God's will, it is for fruit bearing in all those great things. If our protection, eating, and possessions leads to those great God centered ends, (the kingdom of God and will of God) then that’s Fruitful Prayer.

Please pray with me

Father you are so good to us. You do give us the things we ask for when we are abiding in you.
My prayer God is that you would show each of us the times when we are not abiding in you as much as we should be, because there are times when we will think we're in that right place but we miss the mark. That with your help and guidance God, we would be more obedient to the urgings of your Holy Spirit to be in that right place to receive the blessings you have for us and that through this we would each have more testimonies to give that bring all glory and honor to you and the kingdom of Heaven.

I ask this in Jesus name

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Understanding Healing & Wisdom

2006-07-11T23:05:00.000-04:00

As believers, when we need a healing we call on the God to heal us of an injury or illness. Many of us also call on him for every ache and pain and I think that this is an area where we set ourselves up for disappointment, because we're asking God to do something that he doesn't need to do. God will no doubt heal things that need to be healed by him. He loves to do miracles, signs & wonders. However the things that he doesn't need to heal he'll advise us on and we need to be listening or we'll keep on suffering until we finally do listen. For example if there is something we need to be doing differently than we are currently doing it. That will be the solution he gives us and when we follow the instructions he gives us, we will in fact find relief which is a healing of sorts. I'll use myself as an example.

For the last three months I have suffered daily with intense pain in my left leg and I've prayed and prayed for God to heal it. Pastors and friends laid hands and prayed for this healing, but the healing never came, at least not the way I expected it to. This is where many begin to question God's will or flat out blame God for not healing them and become offended with God. We must understand that God didn't give us the condition we have and he can't because he doesn't have it and you can't give something you haven't got. God is all good, he waits for us to go to him with our problems and when we give them over to him he gives the solutions. Sometimes that will be a physical or mental healing, and sometimes it will be only guidance, because that may be all you need.

I was awakened on Monday morning at 2:30 AM screaming in pain. Later that morning I went to the Emergency Room under the advisement of my doctor to be checked for blood clots, because the pain was mostly behind the knee and that's where the pain would be if a clot had formed. After five hours in the Emergency Room, they found no blood clots but they also found no clear cut reason for me to be in such pain. While I was in the E.R, I finally tuned in to what God was saying and it was then that I realized the pain I was in was muscular not joint related. I got an idea that I normally wouldn't think of. This idea was to see a Massage Therapist. I called on a friend who is in that line of work and made and appointment for Monday afternoon. The moment the therapist felt the muscles in my leg, he told me where the pain was before I had the chance to explain it fully. The muscles were tight as could be and were like iron to press against. There was just no give. It took over thirty minutes but he finally got the muscles to relax and with that came almost instant relief.

He explained that the larger muscles in the leg got stressed and tight and they in turn affected the smaller muscle groups causing the muscles to literally pull on the bones and joints which caused this tremendous pain. Today I am in far less pain and am able to walk normally but there's a catch. I have to change what I'm doing. I was told that I need to spend twenty minutes a day just stretching. If I do that I will keep this problem under control and even relieve it entirely. If I don't stretch, I will go right back to suffering. See it wasn't a healing the God needed to perform. I didn't need a miracle or a healing. I needed to get educated about my problem and change what I was doing. Most of all I had to listen to what God was saying. There's no doubt in my mind that He's been trying to tell me what to do about this for a couple of months. Had I been listening better and spending more time with Him one on one, I could have saved myself months of agony and putting extra burdens and stress on my family. So God gave me his wisdom instead of a healing, but I got the same result. He gave me what I needed and not what I wanted. So be sure that you’re always listening for what God is saying. Your victory could be only moments away.

Please pray this with me.

Thank you Lord God for the wisdom you provided me with as a solution to pain I was in. Father you always come through and you always provide for us in the way you see fit which is always the best way. Father I pray that you would help us to help ourselves by being more intimate with you God, by spending more time in prayer one on one with you and spending time in your word. We need to decrease so that you can increase in our lives. Help those of us that don’t need a healing but your wisdom instead, to listen more closely for your voice Father, so that we could remedy our situations and circumstances as fast as you provide the solutions.

I ask this in Jesus name

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Valuing Family & Friends

2006-07-05T07:29:00.000-04:00

These day's life has become so stressful and difficult that we often times in our frustration, take our problems out on the people that mean the most to us. Most of us have a very supportive cast of characters that make us shine. Our spouses, family, friends, and pastors are all there to support us, but do we realize the full value these people have? In the past, I personally have made the mistake at times of not valuing the people closest to me and that is absolutely the last thing I or anyone else should want to do.

Imagine for a moment what your life would be like without your husband or wife? How would life be without your close friends being there for you? What would you do if you had no counsel with someone such as your pastor? I know that for me personally, if I did not have these people in my life, I would not be the person that I am today. I would be a lonely, depressed and misguided individual. We need to pay special attention to the people in our lives that we could not do without and appreciate them always. Giving them special honor from time to time, maybe take a moment and write them a note thanking them for the things they do that add to your life. Maybe even surprise them with flowers or take them to lunch, just because.

In valuing our family's and friendships, we are sowing and reaping. These wonderful people have sown seed in us by adding to our lives, by building us up, by supporting us and loving us. We in turn are sowing seed by honoring them and as we do, they are reaping the benefits of what they have sown. What a wonderful circle that creates. If we don't honor those that support us and make us shine, we break that circle and invite in all sorts of problems. People will feel disrespected, dishonored and worst of all like they wasted their time on us. Satan will take any opportunity we give him. If we break that circle we have created an opportunity for him to come in and wreak havoc on relationships. So to avoid this, we must always show those who have invested in us, that it was both beneficial and appreciated.

Unfortunately sometimes trouble or tragedy has to hit our lives before we realize what is really important. Times of trouble teach us about our priorities regarding our relationship with God, and our families. We need to constantly be asking ourselves if we have our priorities straight? Do we have God first, then our spouse, family, and Christian and community service? Proverbs 3:6 says, "Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track." Make a new or renewed commitment today to put God first in your life. Spend time with Him everyday in prayer and Bible reading. If you're not already an active member of a Bible-teaching church, find one today, attend regularly, and get involved. Seek to honor God in your relationships, your time, and your material resources.

Have we spent quality time building our relationships with our spouse and with our children? 1 John 3:18 says "Let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions." What are some practical ways that we can show our spouses and children (or extended family and friends, if single) that you really love them? How can you use this time now to build family relationships?

If we teach our children the proper way to treat others and how to value friends and family, we are ensuring that the circle of sowing and reaping will stay intact. God intended the home to be the seedbed of truth, the place where children and their parents were to learn, appreciate and practice the real values of life; values which can only be learned in the company of others. These values are Love and affection, Honesty, Kindness, Fairness, Sacrifice - that greatest of spiritual investments, Discipline, Thrift, Teamwork, A sense of responsibility towards others, How to live under and how to exercise authority and Good communications. These and many other values are best learned in the family circle; and God has designed it so in order that we may know how to behave towards the whole Family of Mankind of which He is the Everlasting Father. Isaiah 54:13 tells us that. "All your children will have God for their teacher, what a mentor for your children!"

Here is a great opportunity for us to affect change in our own market places. By teaching our children the values of life, how to communicate well and the value of people in their lives, we are equipping them to change the landscape around us by creating good habits. These ways of life will be normal to them and they will be so secure in themselves that when they encounter someone who is not living correctly and these people try to be a negative influence, our children will be secure enough in their knowledge that they will not sway from the truth and they will have a great opportunity to create positive change in that persons life.

Please pray this with me.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the people that you have put in our lives that build us up and strengthen and support us. Second only to you God they are very important to us being successful in our daily lives. Help us to never mistreat them and if we should make the mistake of taking our frustrations out on them, help us to be quick to apologize for our offense. I pray that our appreciation and valuing of these people would never wane. Father your word say's in 2 Corinthians 9:6 that he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows generously will also reap generously and with blessings. Help us to never allow that circle to break God. I ask for your guidance in raising our children so that they are equipped to be not just the leaders of tomorrow but leaders of lost souls.

In Jesus Name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

In Good Times And In Bad, Give Praise

2006-06-27T19:32:00.000-04:00

Those of us that are married or have been married are very familiar with those words. They were part of a vow we made before God and all of our friends and family. We said that we would love each other in good times and in bad times, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, all the day's of our lives. I think it's safe to say that most of us miss the mark on some of these and it's time we start working on fixing the areas that we come up short in. Do those of you that are married, have patience with one another when financial troubles arise? Do you treat each other the same during bad times as you do in the good times? (This one is for the MEN) Do you give your wife the support and help she needs when she is fighting illness in the same way she cares for you without complaining? Do you have the patience with her and take care of the kids as she would, again without complaining?

See, I found a parallel between our love for each other and Gods love for us. He does love us in both good times and in bad. He does love us in sickness and in health. He does love us for richer and for poorer. However there are some people that only love Him when things are going great. As soon as trouble hits the first one they complain about or to is God. Why this God? Why that God? It is so easy to love when things are going well, but it's an effort to love when things aren't going so well. This is when you have to push through. This is the test that must be passed. In the book of Job, we find a man that went through many tests for the purpose of seeing if he would turn away from God when everything went horribly wrong.

Job 2:3-10 Then the LORD asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth--a man of complete integrity. He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you persuaded me to harm him without cause." Satan replied to the LORD, "Skin for skin--he blesses you only because you bless him. A man will give up everything he has to save his life. But take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!" "All right, do with him as you please," the LORD said to Satan. "But spare his life." So Satan left the LORD's presence, and he struck Job with a terrible case of boils from head to foot. Then Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, "Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die." But Job replied, "You talk like a godless woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

Job cursed the day he was born, because life as it was, just didn’t seem to be worth living. Then Eliphaz the Temanite spoke to Job. Job 4:3-7 "In the past you have encouraged many a troubled soul to trust in God; you have supported those who were weak. Your words have strengthened the fallen; you steadied those who wavered. But now when trouble strikes, you faint and are broken. Does your reverence for God give you no confidence? Shouldn't you believe that God will care for those who are upright? Stop and think! Does the innocent person perish? When has the upright person been destroyed? They were trying to say that Job must have done something terribly wrong for this to have happened to him. They were wrong.

Job had so many things done to him and he could not understand why these things were being allowed to happen. We can all relate to that very feeling. When things aren't going right and we have a few days where everything seems to go wrong, we don't just complain, often times we'll go as far as to use the Lords name in vain. Job, complained to God but he never blamed God for anything that was happening to him. He was a man looking for answers because he didn't understand. None of us ever understand why things happen to us that are bad yet we never question why something good happened. We never understand why people that are bad were put in our lives, but we never question what we did to deserve a good person that was put in our paths. Rest assured that our Heavenly Father knows the reasons. It's not for us to understand everything that happens to us for the good or the bad.

The Lord finally spoke to Job after long suffering and having Job complaining and questioning while defending his innocence. He asked Job many questions and insisted that job answer them. They had to do with things only the Lord knew to show Job that he did not know as much as he thought he did. Then Job replied to the LORD: Job 42:2-3 "I know that you can do anything and no one can stop you. You ask, `Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I. And I was talking about things I did not understand, things far too wonderful for me.

Like Job, we say and do things against God because we don’t understand. We need to be very careful to not ever get to the point where we blame God for something bad that has happened in our lives. Give him praise throughout the good times and the bad. Through your sickness and your health, when you are rich and when you are poor. Blessings come through being true to God. He will not bless someone that is not standing on his promises and has a wavering trust in Him. Let us never make that mistake.

Please pray this with me

Father God, first we thank you for your grace. In the book of Job we learn that we don't have hardly any of the answers let alone all of them. Father, I pray for wisdom that would enable us to never confuse the fact that you are the one with all the answers and for us to even second guess your way is a big mistake. You want us to prove worthy of your blessings and that means at all times, not just when things are going well. Lord I pray that you would bless all who read this and that you would shroud them all with your Holy Spirit to be the comforter when times are tough, and to guide our thoughts at all times, so that we never forget that you are God and we are your people. We bless you and we thank you for all that your doing in our lives.

In Jesus Name

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Life Does Not End At The Grave

2006-06-20T20:58:00.000-04:00

1 Corinthians 15:35-44 (MSG)
Some skeptic is sure to ask, "Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this 'resurrection body' look like?" If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a "dead" seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it doesn’t look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.

You will notice that the variety of bodies is stunning. Just as there are different kinds of seeds, there are different kinds of bodies—humans, animals, birds, fish—each unprecedented in its form. You get a hint at the diversity of resurrection glory by looking at the diversity of bodies not only on earth but in the skies—sun, moon, stars—all these varieties of beauty and brightness. And we're only looking at pre-resurrection "seeds"—who can imagine what the resurrection "plants" will be like!

This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in approaching the mystery of the resurrection body—but only if you keep in mind that when we're raised, we're raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that's planted is no beauty, but when it's raised, it's glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural—same seed, same body, but what a difference from when it goes down in physical mortality to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!

Because Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and was resurrected again, we are assured that life will not end at the grave. The mortal bodies we wear are temporary; they will wear out and die. Our souls, our Spirit’s are what are alive inside these bodies and the Spirit cannot die. We will all have eternal life, which is a certainty. If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and lived as he instructed us too, we will be acknowledged by him to the Father in Heaven.

Our works, what we achieved in life and how much money we made won’t matter at all. The Lord is interested in where are hearts were. With the money we had, what did we do with it? Did we horde it away selfishly or did we give it to those that needed it. If we live selfishly and don’t accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, living as he instructed us to, we will not be acknowledged by him to the Father in Heaven, therefore our eternal life would be in hell. So it cannot be stressed enough for us to turn from the evil in this world, and turn to Jesus.

It is not our bodies that live, it is our spirits/souls that give life to these bodies and that spirit cannot die. When our bodies wear out or are damaged to badly to live they will die, but the spirit lives on forever. When our bodies are formed in the womb, they are lifeless until God breathes the breath of life into them. So we are to have hope not sorrow, we are to look at the light and not the darkness. For when we die, our lives do not end at the grave. We will be reunited with those that have gone before us.

When someone we know passes away in this life, the typical response to this is sorrow and a great feeling of loss. The battlefield of the mind kicks in to high gear at this very time, because Satan wants to deceive us and we’re in a weakened state during these times so we can become vulnerable to attack. The enemy of our souls wants us to not have faith in God, and believe that the person that died is just in the ground. We need to be very careful here because this is where many get tripped up. Don’t buy the lie, don’t call a psychic friend, and don’t get a crystal ball. Every one of those things is a deception from the enemy. We either trust God’s word on this or we don’t, you can’t have it both ways.

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, we thank you that your promises are Yea and Amen. Your word tells us Lord God that when we die to ourselves here we gain life and if we cling to life we will lose it. Father help this word get deep into the hearts and minds of the readers that are living in this place right now. Help them to put full trust in your word God and not the words of the enemy, be it on purpose or by being deceived. Cover them with a shroud of protection that the battlefield of the mind regarding death and the resurrection would be conquered and that path to you would become that much clearer.

In Jesus Name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

The Opportunity To Know Jesus

2006-06-13T21:00:00.000-04:00

Acts 2:38-42 (NIV) Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call." With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Today, the Holy Spirit still urges us to "get out of this sick and fallen world while we can" because the time is drawing near that it will be too late for those that did not listen. Those that do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior will not see Heaven, Jesus will not acknowledge them and eternal torment will be theirs. John 14:21 "The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that's who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him."

God wants all of us to be saved, but it's a choice that only we can make. Many people know about Jesus but a much lower number ever come to accept him as their lord and Savior. There are many people that do great works, are very generous with their time and money. Many people that live righteously feel that because they have lived this way that they will enter into Heaven with full honors. On the contrary, regardless of our works on earth, if we have not accepted Jesus, he will not accept us. They would be no better off then someone who had not done any good works. I don't know anyone that would want to be left out, but it is so hard for some to believe. There are so many forces in this world that make it hard for the non believer. The mainstream media, film makers, activist Judges, all act as negatives. The non believer sees that these forces appear to be gaining ground, so one would figure that if they're gaining ground then they must be right in what they're saying.

They can't understand something they know nothing about. If they don't know Jesus Christ in the form of a personal relationship, they cannot understand who Jesus was, why He came and what he commanded us to do. This is where Mark 16:15 is so important. It says, "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." This is what we are supposed to do. Any opportunity we get to share the Gospels with a friend, a family member or a coworker should be taken. Sometimes we need to search hard for the opportunity and sometimes God will prepare a situation for you where someone might begin to talk about themselves and give you an opening to share the fact that Jesus loves them and that He dies for our sins so that we could be forgiven.

We are getting what Jesus deserved and He took the punishment that humanity deserved. More than speaking this though we have to be sure that our actions align with our message, because people will watch us closely to see if we are living what we are preaching. We become the message by living out the message we share. Actions speak louder than words and people watch a lot more than they hear. Another thing we need to remember when sharing Jesus is that we cannot prejudge someone before we speak to them. I have read of many instances when someone had the opportunity to share the gospel and prejudged someone by the way they looked or acted and ended up not sharing. This person may have been in the perfect place to receive but was deprived the opportunity to here the gospel because someone felt that they wouldn’t receive it.

We need to be very careful as told in John 7:24. Be honest in your judgment and do not decide at a glance (superficially and by appearances); but judge fairly and righteously. Give everyone the opportunity to come to know Jesus. This is what we’ve talked about so much, going into our marketplace and having an effect on it and changing the face of that marketplace with the word of God, which is sharper than any two edged sword. Now is the time, this is the place and we have a great opportunity to see a great harvest from a seed that we never planted but the Holy Spirit planted. In order to be the complete body of Christ, we need to go and find the missing parts. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide, be sensitive to what he is telling you and you will know what the right words for the right time.

Please pray this with me.

Father God, it is a privilege for us to have the opportunity to bring the message of your son Jesus to this lost and dying world. I pray Lord God that you would increase our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, so that we would hear clearly the direction we are supposed to go, to find the ones who need to here about Jesus. Father I also pray that you would put a burden on the hearts of those that don’t know Jesus as their savior, that they would just get a curiosity and a hunger to have questions answered, so that this would create an opportunity to preach the gospel to them. Guide us and give us wisdom Lord God, so that we would know the right thing to say in any situation. So that we have the best chance to bring the lost back to you.

In Jesus Name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Everything Must Go

2006-06-06T22:36:00.000-04:00

Galatians 2:20 (AMP) I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Every now and then when we take an inventory of ourselves, we find things in ourselves that we expected and sometimes things we didn't expect to find. Over a period of years each of us has tried to improve ourselves where we thought we needed improving, similar to pruning the healthy tree to keep it producing good fruit. The thing we miss sometimes though and most of the time we are not aware of it is this. There are things that we in the natural think are wrong, and then there is a whole different standard of what God thinks is wrong. The two are never close by comparison. We give ourselves way too much grace when we know we've done something wrong and in sin.

How many times I've heard people say ("Jesus is very forgiving, so I can keep on doing things wrong and he'll keep on forgiving me"). It can no longer be measured by what we think is right and wrong. We're either doing it Gods way or we're in sin. It's that simple. That said it's time to have a spiritual cleansing, and (Everything Must Go). We have to keep on dying to self. Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me."

Romans 8:13-14. For if you keep on following it you will perish, but if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

In order for God to use us fully He needs to remove things from our lives. We also have to be willing to let these things go. In order to be used by God it is necessary for us to be an empty vessel. We need to be empty of ourselves so that God can fill us up with Him. Our thoughts need to become His thoughts. Our opinions need to become His opinions. Dying-to-self is a never-ending process. We have to continually ask God to show us what needs to be removed in our lives. We want to be used by Him. In order to be used we need to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. It has to be acceptable to Him.

We have to come face to face with the fact that we must decrease so He can increase. We need to learn how to deal with the fact that our feelings and wants are not the most important things if we are to be used by God. The more serious we get about our relationships with God the more He expects from us. Ultimately, He expects us to live for Him and not at all for ourselves.

We can't possibly do Gods will on earth unless we are fully yielding to Him. Before we can be effective in sharing Jesus with others we need to first be sure that we are letting Him share Himself with us, without any obstructions. Many times people without knowing it keep God in a box and limit what he can or will do. That stuns many people because they say "how can we limit God if he is so powerful?" He is omnipotent but he is also a gentleman and will never force his way in to our lives.

He knocks quietly at the doors of our soul. If we are tuned in to God, we will answer the door and let him have his way in our lives. That is what he wants us to do. However there are many that feel they want to retain some form of control. Saying things like, (I'll let God change this or that) but they don’t yield completely. God does not need our help to change us or the world around us. We just need to yield our Spirits to him and say Yes God. We need to seek out the deepest darkest things within us and we need to confess it to God and ask for His forgiveness and then let it go.

Then and only then will we be able to be in that place where we are able to receive what God has for us. We're human and we’re far from perfect. Sin will try to work it's way back in and we may fall prey to it again and again, but each time it happens we have to squash whatever it was, whether it be temptation, addiction, anger, offensiveness, or profanity. It's all SIN and it's all got to go.

Romans 12:1(AMP) I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

A Prayer from me for you.

Heavenly Father I first want to thank you for all of the wisdom you’ve given me recently. It is with this wisdom that I have found things that need to be addressed, that would have otherwise gone unknown to me. Thank you for the Holy Spirit guiding me each day to close the gap between where I am and where you want for me to be.

Father I ask a special blessing on all of the men and women of God that read this. Lord, I pray that you would seek them out and show them any areas that are sinful in your eyes. Give them the strength God to conquer any sin that is in them. Reveal to them all of the things that are not of you Lord God, so that they can get rid of those things, repent and receive your forgiveness. So that they would be able to be in that place you want them to be in, to receive the blessings that you have for them.

In Jesus Name I Pray

May God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Tell The World In Faith

2006-05-30T21:41:00.000-04:00

Matthew 14:29-31 "Come," He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

If today Jesus commanded us to come to him across the water, would we do any better than Peter did? Having learned about how our faith should be, from reading God's word. Theoretically, we should be able to do far better with our faith. Peter and the other disciples did not have all of this history to learn from. They had to hear what Jesus said and have faith in what he said right then. They had no time to think about it. They either trusted Jesus or they did not.

From Genesis to Revelations, the Bible is full of statements and examples of having faith and being faithful. Being believers and followers of God's word, we should have great faith. I never want it to be said of me “"Oh how little faith you have".” As Christians, the world should see Jesus in us, on us, and through us. Sure they will see our human nature as well, but if they do not see Jesus in us, we could tell people about him all day but it will fall on deaf ears, because people use their eye’s far more than their ears. They believe what they see far more than what they hear.

Do we share the love of Gospels with all people? No! Are we instructed to share the Gospels love with all people? Yes! Why aren’t we doing it then? Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:19. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Jesus also said in Matthew 28:20. “"Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

With a command and a promise like that, how can any of us read that and remain idle? The instruction is clear. We are all to go and preach the gospels to the world. In the United States we have become very comfortable in our belief that this is the job of Pastors, Ministers, and Priests. Many feel that it is strictly their job to evangelize and we can ride on the work they do simply because we attend church. Nothing could be further from the truth. NOTHING!

It is the job of each and every Christian to preach the Gospels to the world so that every person has been given the truth. Whether they accept the truth or reject it is not what we are to be concerned about. Our soul purpose is to bring the truth of Jesus to the world. If they accept Jesus, then we have won a soul for him and what better feeling can there be than that. If people reject the truth once it's been spoken to them, they are not rejecting us personally. They are rejecting Jesus. They are rejecting the hopes of eternal life in Heaven.

Our lives will not end here on earth. We are going to have eternal life and that's a certainty. Whether our eternity is spent in the fires of Hell being tormented or if it's in the Kingdom of God we will have eternal life. It is with the utmost importance that we keep an image in our minds of what Hell is like. It's a place that we wouldn't wish on our worst enemy. It is with this image in mind that we need to get into the soul saving business and stop leaving it for the paid people in the church.

If you were hanging onto a rope on the side of a mountain and your hands were starting to slip, you would stop at nothing to get back to safety right? I know I would fight to my last breath to get back to safe ground. Well being in a fallen world, all of humanity is hanging on that rope and Jesus is the safe ground that we need to get to. With that in mind, we need to do everything within our means to get the job done. I don’t want to think that anyone I know could end up in Hell. I will do whatever is in my power to make sure that they are safe, but all we can do is bring the message and the Holy Spirit will do the work within them if they let him.

So bring the word to the world. Don’t be embarrassed to talk about Jesus with your family or friends. Don’t worry about being judged by them. Worry more about the final judgment, when we stand before our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Please pray this with me.

Heavenly Father, it is a privilege to serve you. It is with great joy that we anticipate Heaven. Your word tells us to go out and evangelize, make disciples and baptize in your name. Give us the boldness God that we need to bring this truth to all people. Help us to fight through the whisperings of Satan telling us that people won't listen and that we can't save others. These are lies from the pit of hell and we need you God, to give us the ability and anointed covering that will protect our minds, hearts, and spirit as we go forth bringing your message.

In Jesus name

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Spiritual Bank Accounts

2006-05-23T20:22:00.000-04:00

There are many Christians that don't realize how much God has placed in their spiritual bank accounts. We can experience spiritual malnutrition because we have not taken advantage of the great storehouse of spiritual nourishment and resources at our disposal. For example, we will pray for things God has already given us. We will ask God to give us more power, yet 2 Peter 1:3 says, As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness! Or maybe we will pray for peace, when Jesus said in John 14:27, "I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid." It is not that we need more, as much as we simply need to utilize what we already have.

The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:3, "How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ." Paul was seeking to convey that in Christ, we have every thing we need. We are never lacking in spiritual resources. No Christian has to be spiritually deprived, undernourished, or impoverished, because God's heavenly bank account has no limitations or restrictions. His resources are more than adequate to cover the cost of all of our past debts, our present liabilities, and our future needs. Christians live in two dimensions. First, there is the spiritual dimension. As we walk in the Spirit, we know God in the Spirit. Yet we live on Earth. Therefore, we need to transfer what we have in the spiritual realm to the earthly realm.

Christians have resources in heaven that God wants us to start utilizing here. Some of us need to stop living like spiritual paupers and start laying hold of the resources that are available. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been made "accepted in the beloved". Because of our relationship with Christ, we have God's approval. It isn't necessary to earn it. We are loved by God. We are called by God. As believers, we don't need to doubt our salvation and feel beaten and defeated and unworthy. It is not about being worthy. Rather, it is about Jesus and what He has done for us. We need to understand that and then let it impact the way that we live.

Each of us has been predestined by God to discover His purpose and plan for us, glorifying Him with our lives, with our gifts, and with our talents. Are you utilizing what God has given you? Do you possess your spiritual possessions? If not, you can start doing so today.

I recently heard Bill Johnson speaking about this topic and he was saying that many people live day to day in the natural, counting only on the resources that they have available to them here and now in the natural. That is a very limited source. By counting on just what we have in natural resources, we are limiting what we are able to do and the impact we are able to have on our surroundings. When we count on the unseen, the unlimited resources of Heaven, we have a lot more to give away and here is the Good News. The supply is limitless. When we have an unlimited resource aren't we more likely to give what we have away, knowing what we give away is going to be replenished? If you had a $100 bill in your pocket and every time you gave it away it was replaced, wouldn't you continue to give it away? Sure you would. We need to count on the resources of Heaven and trust God to provide the things we need to accomplish the tasks he has set before us. We know that he never gives us more than we can handle, so we should also know that he provides the resources for us to complete the task.

We need to step out in faith and belief and keep our unbelief in check, so that we may begin to start believing for the impossible to become possible. Our faith is the only thing we need to make that happen. We need to take our minds out of the way, because when we try to figure things out we reduce the power and possibilities of God to what WE think can or cannot be. We cannot comprehend the unlimited power of God. Let us start believing for the miraculous to be an everyday occurrence. Let us start believing for the impossible to become possible. Let’s start making declarations for healing of what seems totally impossible and together let's watch as impossibilities bow to the name Jesus.

Nothing is impossible for Jesus. He made the lame walk. He made the blind to see. He healed the sick and raised the dead. So He can also create new parts for those who need them. He can heal any illness. He can do it all, but the only thing limiting what can be possible is our faith. Have the faith and make the declaration. Somebody has to believe for this, so why not let it be you and me.

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, You and you alone make the impossible become possible. It’s is our minds and limited comprehension that limit what can be done here today on this earth. Lord God we want to see your miracles become everyday occurrences. Help us father to walk in that level of faith. Help us to be bold enough to make the declarations that are necessary to bring about these miracles by our faith. You’ve already made the promises, now we just need to believe. Jesus did things that were impossible and proclaimed that “We would do greater things than these”. Help us God, to increase our faith exponentially, so that we can make the declarations and believe without question that you will invade that situation or circumstance and make it new and perfect.

In Jesus Name I Pray.

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Appreciating what we have.

2006-05-17T07:48:00.000-04:00

We've all been told at some point in our lives to appreciate what we have and stop looking at what we don't have. In some cases maybe we were told more than once. How come we have such a hard time doing this? It sounds easy enough and it's only two simple instructions. By comparison, if I gave somebody driving directions from Boston to Los Angeles, the directions would have probably 40 to 50 pieces and the person would make it there just fine. So it's not the number of steps in the process that we're hung up on. Often time the reason is that we don't want to stop looking at what we don't have. For many it has become a habit or even an obsession to look at what they don't have regardless of all the things they do have.

This week has been a great opportunity for a reality check for many folks as it became the second rainiest month of May in New England in recorded history. Rivers and streams crested and washed out roads, flooded homes and schools, destroyed cars and property. The city I call home (Peabody Ma) got national attention because it was under six feet of water in the downtown area. Roads and highways had been closed due to rivers being many feet above flood stage. My home happens to be in a higher area of Peabody and we were extremely fortunate that all we got was some water in the basement. There was really no damage in our house to speak of Thank God, but there are hundreds of people in Massachusetts and New Hampshire that have seen their businesses get destroyed by water or their homes get thousands of dollars in damage.

It's times like this we get a HUGE reminder to be thankful for what we have. When you see a person being interviewed on the news and they've lost most if not all of their material possessions but they still have it in them to say, "My family is safe and that's all that matters", that's a huge statement. That tells us that we have no right to be complaining about the things we don't have or the things we can't afford. Money and possessions are not what’s important. We need money to live on but it should be just that, to live on. Unfortunately money has become the most important thing for many people, almost to the point of obsession. This leaves no room for God.

Matthew 6:24 say's that. No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Hebrews 13:5 say's Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

The person I saw on the news had lost his cars, and his home had so much damage that they had to relocate. They never showed one ounce of self pity. The peace that this person had told me that they had their priority's right. They knew that God would provide for them. If only we could all just see this example and have it wake us up. Unfortunately this one example won't do it. Those that have not got their priorities in order need to work on getting them in order and then keep at it until the changes become habit. There are many references to money in the Bible. In many instances people are being told to build something with it or give to the poor. There are no instances where we are encouraged to horde our money for ourselves.

Our faith and focus needs to be on God not money or possessions. It’s all his anyway, we are merely stewards of his money. The better stewards we are, the more we are entrusted with. If we are just doing an ok job at managing what has been entrusted to us, then we will only be entrusted with a little. Those that live on what they need; that tithe regularly; that save well and live modest lives are the ones entrusted with more. I’ve had some folks argue this point with me saying that there are many wealthy people in the world that just do well in business that will run over the next guy to get what they want. This is true, there are financially wealthy people that will do whatever they have to in business to get what they feel is theirs. These people are not spiritually wealthy and their riches don’t last because it’s not of God. They are always looking for more money. They don’t understand that all the money in the world cannot fill the void in their lives that only God can fill. So yes we can get wealth on our own without God, but unless it’s of God and blessed by him, it will not last.

Nothing man has ever made has lasted. However everything that God has made lasts as long as he intends for it to. I once heard Bill Cosby performing and he was referring to the book of Genesis. He was illustrating how awesome God is. He said that God creates and man invents. God made a tree and called it good. Man makes car and calls it extraordinary. God made a rabbit and called it good. Man made a refrigerator and called it amazing.

Well the wheels fall of the car and the refrigerator broke down. The tree is still standing and the rabbit is still running. I think that say’s it all.

Please pray this with me.

Father God, thank you for all that you provide for us. Thank you for your grace which is unending and thank you Lord for forgiving us when we do things opposite of how you would have us do them. Father it is through you that we have all things, on our own we are incapable of doing anything compared to what we can do with your blessings. Lord God please help us. Help us to have total faith and dependence on you. Help those that don’t understand, to know that they need to ask in prayer for the things they need or need help with. They need to do some of the work, but your blessings have to be on what they’re doing in order for it to be fruitful. Father I ask that you bless the people that have been affected by this devastating storm. Help them to rebuild, give them the strength to endure this trying time and I ask for double portion for those that have not wavered through this, because they are counting on you. They are standing on the rock and will not be shaken.

In Jesus Name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Trials In Life

2006-05-02T08:20:00.000-04:00

Have you ever noticed that when times of trial come into our lives, we tend to look back at times in our lives when things seemed far better? I have been doing this for a little while now, not so much living in the past but wishing I had now what I had then. I had the great job with great pay and benefits, my marriage was awesome and my two kids were born, life seemed perfect. That sounds like the fairy tale, the perfect story. Well, reflecting back on that time can be productive and also counterproductive. Here is what I mean. When we go through times of trial in our lives, it is only natural that we look at better times. This can serve as a motivational tool for some and light a fire in us that will make us do what we have to do to get back what we once had, no matter what it was. For others it may serve as a reminder of what was lost, and actually magnify a person's current situation and send them into depression..

Circumstances and situations (the things that we struggle against) can change the landscapes of our lives. Sometimes it's for the better and sometimes it's for the worse. I have read and I have heard what Jesus said in John 10:10. “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance.” I have had to reflect on what that means so I could better understand it, because I don't know about you, but when things are really going wrong, that is all I understand at that moment and getting out of your own way can be very hard.

I have come to understand that when Jesus said this, he was not talking about what we perceive as abundantly. I believe that what Jesus was saying was, "If you acknowledge that I live inside of you (for I am in you, you are in me, and we are as one in God), you will know joy beyond your wildest dreams and imaginations." Stop listening to the voices that deceive and tell you that you "can't." Stop going after the dangling carrots and false promises of the world. It seems we are at times more focused on the pursuit of happiness than we are on simply enjoying everyday life. Look hard enough and you can find joy in every moment. For example I was recently in a store to purchase something and the employee at the store I was in greeted me with a wonderful smile, he had a true interest in what I was looking to purchase and had so much joy and warmth that an ordinary experience became and extraordinary one. Are we willing to do that for other people?

It's not easy to see the greater Truth in every moment. After all, we are human. Expect something wonderful today, and if there is hardship then look to God for the answers. One of the biggest mistakes that I believe we make all too often is in looking to the world for answers, especially when it comes to our self worth. That's a big setup for failure every time. Suddenly we are too fat, or too thin, too bald or too grey. We're not smart enough, rich enough, or we’re too smart or too rich. Our car is too big, or too small. It’s stuff that can make you crazy! Do you remember the phrase, “You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time?” How true that is! But, we can please one person all of the time: we can please ourselves, and be pleased with ourselves.

The only way out, is in. No one in the world knows you like you know yourself except for God. You know your indiscretions and your victories. So does God. Go inside, take a peek around, and be honest with yourself and God. Say things like, “God, I am feeling miserable about my tendency to be judgemental. Please help me to change!” Be willing to step into difficult situations and circumstances that will force that change, instead of living life in avoidance. Jesus Christ knew how he was going to die, and yet he didn't spend his life running from his destiny. He faced it head on, and gave a tremendous gift to the world.

Trusting God can be hard at times, but He’s far more than worth it, and so are you. Live a life that is in integrity with God’s love. Be compassionate and caring towards yourself, and stop throwing pity parties. Know with certainty that although you're maybe not where you’d like to be, you are where you need to be in order to grow. When and only God decides it is your time, you might possibly be able to enjoy some nice things like a vacation on some island beach in the sunshine or on a cruise ship and maybe not. Neither the island or the cruise ship will ever heal your wounds. Only God's love living inside of you and being expressed on the surface can free your spirit and heal your heart. Like I said before, the only way out, is in. Don’t compromise yourself and hide from the world. What the world wants from you is you.

Please pray this with me.

Father: Thank you for this message, for it brings our attention back to the place it should be, and that’s on improving ourselves and focusing on you. Lord God, help us to look within ourselves, into those deep places where we have hidden some things we didn’t want to deal with in the past. Help us God, to find those dark areas and clean them out. In doing this we become a little bit more whole. As we become more whole Lord, we become better equipped and able to help others. I pray that you will help us to always strive to improve our spiritual health so that we can be the light in the darkness that some people are living in daily.

In Jesus Name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Our Actions Must Match Our Words

2006-04-25T20:01:00.000-04:00

When people observe the way act and treat others. What do they see? Do our actions align with the words that we speak? This is probably one of the hardest issues we have to face both as people and Christians. We are held to a higher standard because we are Christians. I wonder how often people see us and say that just by observing us they can tell we are men and women of God? My hope is that our actions are matching what we speak so that others will see that we are people with good character. Our actions must match our words.

So often times we see a person in public or on television that claims to be very spiritual and one day they do something that totally discredits them. If I were a nonbeliever, I know that I’d be pushed further away from God by this hypocrisy. As believers and leaders, we need to be especially careful of this happening to us. As we become more mature in our faith, the likelihood of this happening to one of us is lessened, but it will always be something we need to watch out for.
1 John 3:18 say's. Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.

This is one of Satan’s favorite traps for Christians. If we’re driving on the highway and someone cuts us off, do we give them grace and forgive them immediately, or do we fuss and fume for even a minute. If we don’t forgive immediately, we’ve done it wrong and because this particular example is so common, it is one of Satan’s best opportunities to trip us up.

If we don’t forgive immediately or we happen to return the hand gesture that they gave us, Satan has then harmed us spiritually. We are no longer in good standing with God. This is the devil’s objective and we cannot allow him an inch of space to come in and harm us, the consequences are at times major. If someone knows we’re men and women of God, and they see us behave that way, do you think that telling them that the devil made us do it will make it alright? It was a choice and the wrong one was made. In my terms we need to “walk our talk” and if we don’t, our character will be constantly in a state of repair and it will not be a character that others will look upon with favor.

People that see us as Christians will constantly be looking at our character. Do we live the way we tell others too? Do we treat our family the way we preach to others? Do we conduct ourselves in a manner that is beyond reproach? I know that the answer in many cases is no we don’t, and since that is the case we need to become more conscious of our actions and always hold ourselves at a higher level. When this becomes routine, we’ll find ourselves “walking our talk” without any thought at all.

Spiritual maturity and Character are the key things that others will evaluate us on. If we are lacking in either area, our opportunity to be effective ministers to them will not be at its peak. It is so easy and natural for us to do what we want to do instead of being obedient to God, but we cannot live worldly lives and then expect God's power to be available to us when we feel like using it (such as laying hands on a sick person, for example). We cannot pick and choose which parts of the Bible we want to obey and which parts we feel like ignoring.

It's really quite simple when you think about it. If God says to do something then we should do it. If God says not to do something then we shouldn't do it. It's that simple! Unfortunately, we all have a "flesh nature" which often keeps us from knowing and doing the will of God. The process of maturing requires us to begin putting our "flesh" to death on a daily basis by making the hard choices that excellence and integrity and obedience demand. Many of us tend to rely almost exclusively on our own reasoning abilities, especially when we are wronged and we end up doing what we "feel" like doing.

Our reasoning’s and our feelings are part of our godless human nature, and we are commanded to crucify that fleshly human nature. In Romans 8:7-8 we are told that. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored. Our goal should be to live according to our spirits, not according to our "flesh," because we will not make any real progress in spiritual maturity and authority while we are slaves to our "flesh nature."

Every time our "flesh" (our minds, wills, and emotions) starts to rise up within us with feelings like anger, impatience, being judgmental, and so on, we have a choice to make. Are we going to let our flesh rule our lives (perhaps at the unseen urging of the devil), or are we going to take the "higher" road and be obedient to God by putting our flesh to death? When you catch yourself becoming angry or offended or impatient (and so on), try swallowing your pride and taking authority over your flesh by telling yourself something positive. “I will do what is right just because it is right, whether it makes sense to me or not, whether my flesh likes it or not, whether I feel like it or not, whether it will embarrass me or not, whether it will cost me some pride or some time or some energy, I will do what is right because that honors the Lord!”

I invite you to pray this with me.

Heavenly father, thank you for your patience and forgiveness of our shortcomings. We make mistakes and I pray that we would all learn from the mistakes that we make, so that we don’t make the same mistake a second time. Lord God, we know that the best way to be effective in our market place is to be of good character and be spiritually mature. Father please help us to become more mature in your word everyday, and help us to be more aware of our actions, so that they always reflect our words. This way we preserve our integrity and our opportunities to minister to others with the power and authority that you want us to have.

In Jesus Name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Spiritual Growth - A Retrospective

2006-03-28T22:34:00.000-05:00

With life being as hectic and busy as it is, we often times are forced to think at breakneck speeds, always living a week ahead of where we are. One of the biggest problems that this can cause is that we rarely stop to live in the moment anymore and the times that we do stop probably cause us all kinds of stress because we're afraid of falling behind. If we can't stop for a moment to enjoy what the LORD has given us today, how can we ever take time to look at the changes that have taken place in our lives over the past year or more and appreciate them? It is important that we must find time to do this, but it has to be done right because if you force the time you won't enjoy any part of this process. This is where setting priorities is so very important.

A friend recently mentioned to me that they had noticed how much better my relationship with God has gotten over the past year and that I have grown spiritually in ways that seemed unrealistic for where I was just one year ago. I thanked this person for bringing this point to my attention. Without that reminder, I may have never taken the time to relive the past year in my own mind. When I stopped and took time to look back, it showed me just how important doing this is and how important we need to make it. If you’re not a person that is good with prioritizing, then I suggest that you write a note to yourself or put it on your calendar to set one hour aside to just reflect on the changes that have taken place in you over the past year. Eventually making it a once a month event, kind of like checking in with yourself to make sure your on track.

As we grow in God, we advance from one level of understanding and maturity to another and as we achieve each new level, he reveals another level that we need to get to. Our growth is and should be a never ending process. God is perfect; none of us are or can ever dream to be. So we will always be a work in progress. I found though from looking back at the past year that I learned some things and became more familiar with other things. I got to see where I was at that time and where I've gotten to. I got to see the mistakes I have made and the land mines that I stepped on along the way. I saw where I got distracted and made other things more important than God. I also got to see the many things that I did right in getting to where I am at now. They say hindsight is 20/20, so if you use it you must have a perfect view of what you've done both good and not so good.

In advancing in our spiritual growth this can be priceless information. Most of what you can learn from your own past cannot be taught to you by anybody else. It's a personal experience and it's one of the best learning tools that we have. God looks at our hearts and he will certainly see the changes that we have made in our hearts over time. He'll see that we have learned and are maturing in the Spirit. Think of it as a house cleaning, by looking back at the past we will see what we should hang onto and what we should let go of. We need to let go of anything that can or will hinder our Spiritual growth. At the same time we need to cling closely to the things that have helped us.

Romans 12:1-2. Says, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

In this passage we are asked the question. When we think of what God has done for us, is it too much to ask for us to give ourselves to him? I can’t imagine any believer saying no to that, but there are still many people that don’t have their eyes totally focused on God, so they don’t understand the full impact of the choice they’re making when they say no to him. Many people especially new believers have just as much unbelief as they do belief. It is the job of the mature believer to reach out and help these new believers along until they are strong enough in the spirit to walk on their own. Just like a baby penguin is sheltered until it is one day forced to go on its own, new believers too must be loved, protected and nourished with GODS WORD until they are able to walk on their own with God. It is then and only then that they will be able to say a resounding YES instead of a confused or insecure NO, when God asks them to turn their lives over to him.

If we all take the time to look back once in a while and do a self check on how we’ve progressed in our Christian walks, we will always be aware of the following things.

We will be always know which areas of our lives we need to improve upon.
We will see the things we’ve done right, so we can continue to do those things but even better.
We will create a habit of stopping to take time to enjoy where we are today and how we got there.

Be sure to stop and smell the Roses. God didn't make them to just stand there and look pretty.

I invite you to pray this with me.

Heavenly Father: Thank you for this message this week. Thank you for caring about us so much that you want for us to take the time to see and appreciate our own spiritual growth. Thank you also for the reminder that we need to slow ourselves down God. We cannot enjoy any of your creation if we don’t take the time. Father I ask that you would help us all to be better at managing our time. Whether it’s spending time communing with you, or spending time with our family’s and friends or just spending time alone relaxing, enjoying the beauty around us especially now with the Spring season beginning and all of the flowers and trees awakening from their winter slumber.
Father help us and equip us to be the guides for new believers. Instruct us how to protect, guide and feed them so they can grow their relationship with you.

I ask this in Jesus name.

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Intimacy With God

2006-03-21T07:21:00.000-05:00

We often say and hear others us the phrase “I AM A FRIEND OF GOD”. If so many people claim to be “friends of God”, wouldn’t you think that if we were really friend’s of God as we say we are, that we would not have to ask Him to show us His will. We know most of our other friends far better than that, so why should God be any different. He is the ONLY best friend you’ll ever need and he’ll never let you down or disappoint you. There is a level of intimacy that we need to reach in our relationships with God, where we would really know what his will is, because we spend so much time with him. I know that with any friend or family member, if you don’t spend time with them, you don’t know their likes, dislikes, or desires.

I know everything that my children like and dislike. That didn’t happen by accident or luck. I spent the time with them enough so that I saw and heard what they wanted and didn’t want. The same hold’s true for everything, especially GOD. If we don’t spend the time with HIM who is of utmost importance, how can we know what His likes and dislikes are about us? The answer is we can’t know unless we spend the time with him. How we spend the time isn’t really important. If you like reading the Bible, do it. If you like to sing praises to him, do it. Don’t feel that you have to follow some specific agenda to commune with God, that’s not necessary. He isn’t sitting there with a chart saying (OK. Bobby prayed once this week and read two pages of the Bible). It’s not like that at all, but there are many people that picture God as a bully just looking for us to make a mistake so that he can punish us. God does not look at what method we use to commune with him, He just cares about us doing it. It’s about our love for him and spending time, not how we do it.

Oh how he wants so much for us to spend that time with him. Think of how well the creator of the universe and everything in it knows us. He knows the exact count of hairs on our heads. Our names are written on his palm. He knows us so well because he loves each and everyone of us so much that he takes a huge interest in everything we do or think about. If we knew him even half as well as he knows us, imagine how different our lives would be. It shouldn’t take any thought at all to know in our hearts that the world would be a far better place. We probably wouldn’t recognize the planet compared to how it is today. Oh God, how I that pray this happens.

We are supposed to be spreading the word of God to the world, telling people about Jesus and about salvation. We can’t do this effectively unless we know God intimately enough, that we allow His Holy Spirit to speak through us. As believers we Love God and we try to live as righteously as we can. We share God’s love with those we’re comfortable with but are we really being bold in doing that? Acts 28:31 tells us about the apostle Paul. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we had the intimacy with our Heavenly Father that we are supposed to have, we would have the confidence and ability to go into the world with great boldness professing his mighty word, telling people about our Lord Jesus Christ and offering them salvation. How great that would be, if we could do that as well as God wants us to. It’s all a matter of how much we give back to the LORD. We can’t just take all the time, we have to give back. He wants us to spend time with him, so let’s spend more time with him. Every day set time aside preferably at the beginning of your day, so nothing distracts you, and spend time in prayer. Talk to God like you’re talking to a close friend, tell him everything, the good and the bad, and be totally honest. He knows the truth anyway so there’s no sense in trying to hide anything from him. Spend more time reading the Bible, just pick it up and open it wherever you feel you should. That’s usually the perfect place to read from because God led you to that page, it was no accident. You’ll probably find something in the passage on that page that you can apply to your own life. Own it and bring it into your life through application.

Jesus tells us in John 15:1-5 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father I thank you for this message this week. Thank you for showing us the importance of spending time with you and how much you desire for us to do this. There are many instances in your word, where you tell us that we need to depend on you and not on ourselves for everything. Lord God I ask that you would help us to accomplish this. I know that once we start to spend more time with you and less time in the circumstances and situations of this world, there will be such a noticeable difference that it will be a life changing event. A desire will grow in each and every one of us God, to spend more and more time with you so that we come to know you as intimately and lovingly as you know us.

In Jesus name I pray

Amen

God Bless You All.

“The Sharpshooter”

Spiritual Food Groups

2006-03-14T15:21:00.000-05:00

We often hear about eating from the food pyramid or "four food groups" for our physical health, but there are also several food groups (ways of studying God's word) that we should be using to be as spiritually full and healthy as we can be. The food groups I'm referring to are, your church, reading books or listening to CD's of Pastors or spirit filled people. A Pastor of any church has many different jobs to do, preaching, studying, counseling, wedding's, funeral's etcetera. By tapping into these other sources of being ministered to, you will not only have almost limitless sources of feeding your spiritual hunger, but you will also take a lot of pressure off of your Pastor by not expecting him or her to fill your every need.

Something I've noticed over the last few years, is that one of the things that lead to a Christian becoming complacent is the fact that they depend on one Church or Pastor to provide all they need. That's alot to ask of one Church or Pastor. This is not to say that we shouldn't have a church we call home, we absolutely should and that's the church we should be supporting financially, but let's look at it like this for a moment. God has put out this big banquet of food (knowledge) on this big buffet table (many churches, authors, teachings on cd) for our consumption. You cannot reach all of the food from one end of that buffet table. You sometimes need to step out of your comfort zone (your home church) and go around to another part of the table to get other kinds of food (teaching's) you want or need. There are people that I've come to know as well rounded believers and they’re doing well in their Christian walks, because they follow this kind of pattern. They have a church that they call home, but occasionally they visit other churches, or they read books by other Pastors or spirit filled people and/or listen to Cd's of other Pastors, to supplement their knowledge.

It makes sense that this would be beneficial, because every Pastor is going to preach differently, and each one will have different strengths. By supplementing our study of God's word by reading or listening to other Pastors, we first lighten the load on our Pastor's and at the same time, we have the opportunity to get different points of view and different interpretations of God's word. We can only become better Christians more prepared to endure by having many different sources of food (knowledge). For if we eat from only one food group (one source of teaching) we are not getting all of the nutrition (education) that we need. That's not fair to anybody, Pastor or congregation.

Another way to look at what I'm saying is this way. I'll use fishing as another illustration of what I mean. Let's say you go fishing (go to church, read or listen to a teaching on cd) each pond you go to has a different variety of fish. If you go to the same pond (source of teaching) all of the time, you will eventually get tired of eating the same type of fish. This can lead to a person getting to the point where they stop eating fish (attending church) altogether and that would be tragic. It would be far better for a person to go fishing in different ponds and enjoy the bounty of the various ponds (sources of teaching) that God has provided us with. Every preacher has something different to offer. Each has a different approach or a different delivery or a different set of communication skills. What feeds one person may not feed someone else. Try all of the varieties that that Lord has put before you. You will never go (spiritually hungry) following this pattern.

We the people (the church body and Pastors) are the church, not the building. In being the Church, we are in a relationship with Christ. Some realize this, while others don't, but the invitation is for everyone and through accepting the invitation everyone gets to know the Son and the Father better. When we accept Christ, it means we accept his teachings, we accept who he was for us, a Savior, and it means we do our very best to live the life he wanted us to live; a kind of life that is best for us, that brings us the most fulfillment, that brings us peace which is like the most beautiful harmony you can think of. God WANTS us to celebrate with him!

In order for us to be effective in serving others which I talked about last week, we need to have a strong a foundation in our faith. We need to be equipped with knowledge of God's word through as many sources as we can, to get a thorough understanding. When your reading the Bible, try using other references like "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance" this will help you can gain a clearer understanding of the Word to enrich your study. With all of the resources that we have to learn from, there is no excuse for us to not get our spiritual thirst's quenched.

Please pray this with me.

Heavenly Father, you are so good to us. You have provided us with so many resources to learn what your will is for us, that you’ve eliminated the excuses that we might have had at one time for not learning and growing in the Spirit. The only excuse that seems to be left is laziness and that's the worst excuse of them all. Lord God I ask that you would instill in us a thirst for more of you that could only be satisfied by studying your word God. I pray Father that you would help us with any motiational issues that we might have. We will always have room to improve in our study time, devotional time and prayer time. Lord God I pray that you would help us to be better servants to you and bring your word to the lost that need to hear it.

In Jesus Name I Pray.

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

The Virtue Of Humility

2006-03-07T22:05:00.000-05:00

I‘d say it’s pretty much a certainty that we will never fully understand or make much of our lives, unless we first realize our place in this life. If we compare ourselves to God, we would see how lowly we are, how high God is and the immeasurable love that bridges that gap. We are living in a time when there is too much emphasis put on having self-esteem and not much emphasis on having Christ-esteem.

The number of people that don’t feel they have any need for a savior is growing, and if they don’t need Him, the certainly can’t love Him. They’re too full of themselves to have much room for Jesus. There are lots of people that profess to be Christians, yet they always complain about life, put themselves above others, mock other people and are selfish in other ways. They have too high a regard for themselves; they have too low a view of God and hardly any appreciation for what God has given them.

In all the time since the Bible was written, nobody has ever found a single verse in the Bible that taught them self-love and self-esteem. In fact we find just the opposite in Philippians 2:3. Don’t be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Human psychology's emphasis upon loving ourselves has skewed our perception of how we are supposed to be. No longer is our failure to love God with our entire being (heart, soul, and might) considered the gravest of sins and the root of all personal problems.

Instead, we are told that our problem has been a poor self-image and lack of self-love, and we are being urged to focus upon loving and esteeming and valuing ourselves. I agree that we absolutely need to think good things about ourselves for sure, but in no way does that mean we should have such a high regard for ourselves that we no longer need or appreciate our Heavenly Father.

God loves each of us so much that He wants to give us the greatest possible blessing: Himself!

How amazing is it that the almighty Creator of the universe offers Himself to such self indulgent creatures as us. His love is not an impersonal cosmic force; it is intimate and very personal. Think about that! Such love should awaken an impassioned response within us. Still, how many of us take time to express our love to God even once a day, not to mention loving Him with our entire being? Sadly, there are even Christians that are caught up in the forbidden love of the world and the pursuit of its deceitful rewards. 1John 2:15 say’s Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. If loving God with one's whole being is the greatest commandment then not doing so must be the greatest sin - in fact, the root of all sin.

As Christians, it is very important for us not to lose our humility, for there is no better thing in this life then to live in humility, loving one another and loving God with all our hearts. Quite often though, our pride gets in the way and once the heart becomes corrupted by pride we begin to lose our love for not only God, but also for our neighbor. It is absolutely imperative for our spiritual health that we defeat pride by humbling ourselves in love before our gracious God. Let that love touch everyone around us, friend and enemy alike.

How do we practice the virtue of humility in such a competitive, winner-take-all world? I’m sure that we can all agree that humility is an admirable quality in others, because we feel safe and comfortable around people who are meek and humble. But when it comes to ourselves, we may consider humility a hindrance to success and a by-product of failure. You might question how anyone can achieve success without ambition and a competitive spirit? Competitiveness and humility can co-exist. Look to our “Special Olympians” for demonstration of this. When you look at those wonderful people, you will see a boat load of competitiveness mixed with humility and a heart as big as their bodies.

Each of us knows that as we continue on our Christian walks, we must avoid pride at all cost, since pride consumes all that is good in this life. A great example is the humility shown to us by Jesus Christ, which brings great satisfaction to the mind, heart, and soul, like a wonderful spiritual fragrance that comes from the love of God. What is more important than anything in this life is the love of our God for us! If we desire this love of God, then we must consider humility as a great Christian virtue in our life.

Philippians 2:5-8 says to Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death--and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.

In closing let’s remember what is told to us in 1 Peter 5:6. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in his good time he will honor you.

I invite you to pray this with me.

Heavenly Father, forgive us for those times when we have put ourselves first and others second. We know that this is not the pattern that the Bible teaches us to follow. I pray Father that each new day would see a gradual change in all of our hearts, that we would become more humble and develop a servant’s heart. Because in having a heart to serve others we put ourselves last and in your eyes that put’s us first. Father I pray that you would instill in us the strength to persevere until we have become the humble people you want us to be. As Christians we need to be the role models for the world. God help us to do this at a level that is even beyond our own ability. You are the one that makes the impossible become possible. I ask that you do this work in us.

In Jesus Name I Pray.

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Winning The Race

2006-02-28T20:21:00.000-05:00

As our thoughts turn to spring and warmer temperatures, many of us begin to think of things associated with that season. When I personally think of the coming spring season, I think of "The New England Flower Show" which runs from March 11-19. Then we celebrate Easter on April 16 and then the Boston Marathon is on April 17. While thinking of these wonderful warm weather events. The Boston Marathon made me think of some things that everyone can learn from. Not so much the race itself, but how it is run and the preparation. I wondered why so many fail to make it to the end and how do those that do make it to the end, prepare for the race. You can draw a parallel with the Marathon runner trying to win that race and we as Christians working to win the race of life, finishing in great condition.

The Marathon runners take months and sometimes years to train their bodies to endure such a challenge. You could never just get out of your Lazy Boy recliner at home and run twenty six miles successfully. Why then should we as Christians think that we can run the race of life without proper preparation? I have a friend who runs in the Boston Marathon every year. I've known this man for twelve years, and each year when I ask him how he prepares for the race, he always has the same answer. He starts off running one mile a day and then he increases it to five miles a day and then ten. He does this until he's doing twenty mile runs every other day right before the marathon. So what he's doing is conditioning his body to endure, while also increasing its capacity and strength.

As Christians, we need to apply a similar philosophy to our Christian walks. We need to spend more time in God's presence everyday. Whether you’re having prayer time or reading the Bible each day. Our reading and prayer time doesn't have to be for a set amount of time, but when we spend that time we should feel that we have spent quality time in the presence of the LORD. I can't get that feeling from just reading five pages of his word, or by praying a quick prayer on my drive to work, nor have I met another Christian who can get by with very little time spent in God's presence.

We need to constantly be conditioning ourselves by spending more time in God's presence. If you’re currently spending little or no time, I want to encourage you to make a concerted effort to spend a little more time each day. You will eventually find the amount of time that you need to spend with our Heavenly Father. You'll know you've reached your peak condition because you will feel a completeness that you just can't get by spending mere moments with God. You'll reach a place where a little is never enough. 1 Corinthians 9:24 say’s Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

The more time we spend learning about our faith, growing our relationship with God and putting into practice what we've learned, the better we'll endure. The world is full of negativity that can easily wear us down. If we are not strong in the Spirit (God's Word) which is Spirit and Truth, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the negativity of this world. When we are strong in the Spirit, we are able to get past the negatives and also encourage others by speaking positives into their lives. This is what the LORD wants us to do.

We are to be the winners of lost souls. In order to do this we need to train like athletes, strengthen ourselves in God's word, and spend time in communion with Him so that we are familiar with his ways and not just our own. In doing this we equip ourselves to not just make it to the end of life's race, but we are then equipped to win. Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.

Please pray this with me

Heavenly Father, I thank you being our source of strength and for being our provider. LORD God, your word tells us to strip off every weight that slows us down. We know that some of these weights can be sin, guilt, oppression and depression. Father I ask for your help in shedding these weights so that the load is lighter and the race is easier to run. Forgive us father for allowing these weights to hinder our forward progress. Forgive us Father for not spending the time with you that you would want us to spend. Father I pray that you would give us all the strength and wisdom that would help us to equip ourselves properly with the things we need, to not only run this race of life on earth, but to run it in such a way that we win the prize which is your pleasure in us.

In Jesus Name I Pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Understanding The Promise Of Healing

2006-02-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

There have been countless times that I can think of where someone (including myself) has asked God for a Divine Healing and not received one. But there are also times when a person that never even asked for a Healing, got one. This leads to a lot of confusion and questions such as “Why them and not me”? A deeper understanding of the subject is definitely needed. In the training I am going through to become a minister, this is one of the areas we have covered at length. I now have a much clearer understanding than I had before and hopefully I can impart what I’ve learned to all who read this.

There is no single answer to why believers don't get healed. Only God knows the answer to this and someday when we leave this earth to go into eternity, he may answer our questions at that time, if we still have questions then. Until that time comes, we need to be faithful and trust God's unending wisdom. The primary reasons that our prayers go unanswered are unbelief and/or lack of faith. For example, the disciples of Jesus were unable to heal a boy that was suffering from demonic seizures. Matthew 17:19-20 tells us that the disciples asked Jesus privately, "Why couldn't we cast out that demon?" "You didn't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, `Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."

There could be times when a small trace of doubt will creep into our prayers for healing. If our prayers end with "If it is Your Will God," that's not good. Praying that way exposes any unconscious doubt that God can or will heal you. Honest submission to God will is always right ("Let Your Will Be Done"), but expecting nothing to happen is doubt not submission. Other possible reasons for unanswered prayer for healing might include fear, guilt, willful disobedience, being careless in our health habits, or there might still be lessons that we need to learn before God’s healing can come. Be careful in your prayer at all times. Be steadfast, strong and be sure that your heart is true to Him, because if our hearts sway even a little bit away from God, he may not honor your prayer.

There are people today that are teaching that all sickness is caused by demons. These people then proceed to cast out the demon of arthritis, diabetes, or whatever the affliction may be. Though the New Testament does record times when demons had caused sickness or disease, which can be found in (Matthew 9:32, 17:14-18, Mark 9:20-26 and Luke 13:11-16). There are also instances where there is healing with no mention of demons or evil spirits. There is no demon mentioned in Luke 5:12-13. In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he fell to the ground, face down in the dust, begging to be healed. "Lord," he said, "if you want to, you can make me well again." Jesus reached out and touched the man. "I want to," he said. "Be healed!" And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

There are also Christians that have been known to do rash things, such as rejecting all medicine and help from doctors. We must never abuse the doctrine of divine healing by having a negative attitude toward medical advances that God has allowed and even guided scientists in discovering. Divine healing should not be placed in opposition to or in competition with the medical profession. Doctors have brought help to many sufferers. Today, God still performs miracles for people that doctors have declared incurable.

If it was wrong to go to doctors, why would God reward disobedience with the miracle of healing, when we go to them? God may allow his children to find health through the means of medicine or through miraculous healing, but we must avoid relying on the skill of doctors as a substitute for seeking God’s help. We should not wait until we have tried all of the doctors before we ask God to heal us. "We Must Ask God First" and then keep asking God for healing as you visit the doctors. Through it all, know that God is the only One who heals, whether through a divine touch or through the skills He has given a doctor.

Divine healing confirms Gods power and love. Its focus is Jesus Christ and the advancement of His kingdom. Jesus wants us to be healthy and free from pain, but more than that He wants us to be like him, to think like Him, and have His desires. God created us so that we might bring glory and joy to him. Until we grasp that truth and make it a practical part of our Christian walk, we run the risk of asking God for things with wrong motives. James 4:3 say’s “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures”. There is no reason to believe that asking for healing is excluded from this statement of truth. Unless our walk with God is close to His heart and His unselfish love, we may not fully understand our own motives in asking "anything" from God.

Please pray this with me.

Father, I thank you for the fact that you still perform miracles even today. Help us Lord to better understand the extensiveness of the ways you perform these miracles, that you don’t just Divinely Heal, but you use people and situations to help us with our problems. We know that to question out of lack of understanding is acceptable Father, but I ask that you would help us Lord God, to stop questioning you out of our own selfishness. I ask your forgiveness for this selfishness and that you would instill in us a better understanding that we are to come to you first in asking for healing God, but that you want for us to seek out the many resources you have given us after we ask for your help, should we not receive a Divine Healing. Lord God, I thank you for the many blessings that you have given to all of us. I pray for your forgiveness for those that don’t recognize your blessings because they don’t know you. Put those of us that know and love you God in a position to introduce you into their lives.

In Jesus name I pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

Being Plugged In

2006-02-14T21:16:00.000-05:00

If you take any electric appliance that you own and try to use it while it's unplugged. You’ll find that it not only doesn't have the ability to do the job it was made to do, it in fact just takes up space on a countertop somewhere in your home and is rendered useless. The same holds true for the family of God. When we are not plugged in to a Church or reading the Bible on a regular basis, we are not operating as efficiently or as powerfully as you were designed to. What happens then is we become less powerful, we start listening to the world and all of the negativity in the world wears us down. We can and most likely will become more vulnerable to things going wrong in our own lives and the lives of our families. Remember, Satan is an opportunist. If you give him so much as an inch of space he'll take a mile.

If we are plugged in, we remain strong and steadfast in the things of God. When we are plugged in to our church and reading the Bible on a regular basis, our faith is strong and we are able to empower others with the word of God. Our faith and excitement in God has the ability to become contagious. What a wonderful thing that would be if we could be infectious for the LORD. So how do we walk in the power of God? First, we must pursue Him. The life of power is a life of abiding in Christ, (staying plugged into our power source). The hunger for the demonstration of power must not be separated from our passion for Him. But keep this in mind, our hunger for Him in part must be seen in our passionate pursuit of spiritual gifts.

I must passionately desire life-changing encounters with God, over and over again. I must cry out day and night for them and be specific. These magnificent life-changing encounters will often happen corporately in the Church, which causes many people that don't attend a Church to ask, “Why can’t God touch me where I am?” The answer to that is, He can. But He usually moves in ways that emphasize our need for others, rather than adding to our independence. Our heavenly Father wants us to be helping each other, praying for each other, interceding on one another’s behalf.

God does not want us praying for our own increases of blessings, favor and grace. If God would give us these things on our own aren’t we selfish enough that we’d take these things and not worry about what someone else has? This is why he wants us to come together at Church, at prayer meetings, and general times of fellowship. When we are in a corporate environment (a group of believers) we are less focused on ourselves and much more focused on the Lord. Furthermore, we stand in agreement with others in prayer and there’s a lot to be said for the power of corporate prayer.

When we pray with others even in a small group, the anointing on that prayer is much more powerful. The reason for this I believe is because the outpouring of love for one another is so pure and powerful. We are at our best in God’s eyes when we take our thoughts off of ourselves, our situations and circumstances and focus on others. Our hearts open up to give to another and at the same time because we are focusing on someone else in need, we become more open to receive the very things we need, as we pray for someone else.

1 Timothy 2:4-8 says that 4 He wants not only us but everyone saved. You know, everyone to get to know the truth we've learned: 5 that there's one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us, Jesus, 6 who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. 7 This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth. 8 Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray--not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God. So let’s come together in prayer, let us stand in agreement for one another’s prayers and needs, and let’s put the focus on God and others instead of ourselves. Get plugged in and feel the Power!

Please pray this with me

Heavenly Father, you are awesome. Thank you Father for your grace and blessing’s that we are not worthy of receiving. Father through your word we see that you want us to tell everyone about you, to bring your message to the world. Lord God I ask you to fill our hearts with a desire to become infectious to others through the joy you give us. To give our testimonies of the wonderful works that you’ve done in our lives. Father I pray that you would put the ones that don’t know you in our paths, so that we would have an opportunity to speak into their lives the plain and simple truth about you Lord God, and so that we could introduce them to the family of God and bring them into communion with you Father. So that they would get plugged in to the greatest support system the world has ever known, the family of God.

In Jesus name I pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

By His Grace We Stand

2006-02-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

Did you ever wonder what that means? Judgment when it's not in our favor whether it's done through our courts, acquaintances or friends, is usually swift and accurate. That's not to say that society has not made it's mistakes and convicted or released someone incorrectly. Grace is simply this; we are forgiven of our infraction and given an opportunity to grow from it. It's not a judgment or an accusatory statement that gives life. It is placing the guilty above the circumstance and saying you’re going to be a great policeman even though you just stole a candy bar from the corner store.

We have the power to speak life into each others lives and unfortunately we have the power to speak death. In James 3:9-11 it states. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? One would simply answer this with of course not. We can't go to the ocean and find fresh water nor can we go to the lake and find salt water. Both of these bodies of water team with life. We can look at any body of water for the most part and find in it an abundance of life.

The greatest display of water that I personally have ever seen was Niagara Falls. The force and speed with which the water moves forward is absolutely phenomenal. I must admit it made me wonder what the source that feeds the river was. I found out that both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario feed this mighty falls. The same holds true for the ocean. If you were to close your eyes and listen to the roar of the tide coming in, you could be overwhelmed with the sense of awesome power that directs the waves to only go so far. Although Lake Erie and Lake Ontario feed Niagara Falls, I have to wonder who or what is feeding us.

For if out of our bellies flow rivers of living water, I have to ask myself is it salt water, fresh water, or are we stagnant like the Dead Sea. Where nothing comes to shore and everything floats due to the high content of salt. If we are drinking from the source of life we will intercede and live with power and hope. If not we will begin to become stagnant. We may look good on the outside but we are not exuding a fragrance that would be pleasing to our creator and savior. The best way I know to do this is through daily prayer, communion, soaking, and listening.

We can not commune with our Lord and Savior and have it be a one way street. It must be a two way conversation. We're expected to commune with our King daily and by right we should. He should be our first Love, not our second. At one time or another we have all fallen short of spending time with what I hope is our best friend. My hope is that strive to do better and extend grace to ourselves and others when we fall short.

Please join me in prayer.

Heavenly Father, you are our best friend. We want to drink from the river of life which is you. Forgive us for the times when we have fallen short with our own agendas and not followed your agenda. Give us a deep desire and hunger and thirst to drink from your well and not that of the world. Let us never be filled and always want more and more of you, so that we can be a blessing to others and you. Let us sit at your feet and be consumed like a wild fire. We ask that the spark be ignited and we become mighty torch bearers. May we return to our first love which is you and when you come back let us be as the 5 wise virgins whose lamps had enough oil in them.

In Jesus name we pray.

Amen

God Bless You All

Guest Editor: Debbie Hyde

Lottery Winners Of Life

2006-01-31T23:55:00.000-05:00

Material possessions have become so important and so valued over the course of history, that today what we have in material possessions in most cases outweighs what we have that was given to us from the King of Kings and Lord of Lord's, our father in Heaven, God. The worst part about this is that people have made their worldly possessions more important than their relationship with God. The people that do this are not necessarily always secular. There are many that are regular church attendees and they claim to have a great relationship with God. My question is, What part of "You can't take it with" you don't they understand? We can only have one master and it's either going to be God or something less.

There was a time in my life that I thought what I had in material things was the most important thing and many of us go through this phase. However at some point and I'm not sure when, I grew up and my thinking matured. Now I realize that I need to have certain things to get by. I need to have the basic essentials including a car, clothes and entertainment for my children. I don't NEED more than that. Anything beyond that goes into the WANT category which I have to be very careful with and not allow that to get out of control. My thought process has indeed changed over the past few years. Now I believe if it is God's will for me to have something, he will make it happen. Otherwise it's of my desire which again needs to be kept in check.

I can understand how easy it is for people to get caught up in material possessions, because it's all over the television, radio, newspapers. It's in your face all the time, the world screaming to you that YOU NEED TO HAVE ONE OF THESE. We hear that so often, that we end up believing it. The same thing holds true with Satan and his menacing ways. If you allow him to speak to you long enough, he'll convince you to do things that will pull you away from God. His persistence is his strongest feature and he wears people down and they give in. Do they realize they're giving in to the Devil? I highly doubt it, but if they think about it afterwards and someone explains this to them, it would be really hard not to see it. Hopefully it helps to prevent giving into future attacks.

Every time I receive a blessing from the Lord, I always feel like I just hit the lottery. I'm the richest guy in the world at that moment and as long as I continue to keep my heart and mind on those things that I've been blessed with, I'll continue to feel that awesome feeling of being a winner of Gods lottery. Just recently I recalled something I said in 1991 when I got married to the most beautiful person in the world to me, my wife Rosalie. I told anyone that would listen at the time, that I felt like I had just hit the lottery. It was a feeling that no material possession could ever even come close to. As a lifelong car lover I'll give a cool example from that perspective. I have driven some of the most exotic cars ever made and cars are right up there near the top of the material things we'd love to have.

You couldn't give me one hundred Lamborghini's in exchange for my wife. She has always been and continues to be a blessing in my life. To be able to say that after 14 years is awesome. That's not to say that neither of us has let our attention go everywhere else but on each other at times over the years, but when we put our focus back on God which is always going to take effort because of the world we live in, we always come back to being grounded and seeing each other as we should. After we got married it took us 5 years to have our two wonderful children. We could have been blessed with a boy or a girl or identical twins, but God did more. He gave us the "dream team" a boy and a girl, Linda and AJ (Adam Jr).

They have been the biggest blessing in both of our lives. They bring us so much joy, that I could never imagine being without them. I hate to even go away for an overnight without them. No earthly possession will ever bring me that kind of joy. What material thing can you buy that can make you feel like the most important person in the world on a day when the world has beaten you up? What earthly possession can we have that will improve our relationship with God? The answer is nothing, no earthly possession can do any of that for us. The best things we have in life are the things that didn’t cost any money at all. Relationships with family, friends and others are the most important things we can have. We need to value those things and keep them in the right perspective. Relationships require work yes, but the benefits are so great that what little work is required of you can seem really insignificant. When Jesus came, he was all about relationships, not religion. He didn’t surround himself with people that were really important that had political power. He surrounded himself with fishermen, tax collectors and sinners.

Luke 5:27-32 (New Living Translation)
Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew)
27 As Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax-collection booth. "Come, be my disciple!" Jesus said to him. 28 So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. 29 Soon Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi's fellow tax collectors and other guests were there. 30 But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus' disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with such scum?" 31 Jesus answered them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor--sick people do. 32 I have come to call sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend my time with those who think they are already good enough."

The best relationships we can have don’t come from seeking out others in prestigious positions that we might somehow benefit from. That’s not a relationship at all, the best relationships come from people having a mutual respect for one another, and when both parties benefit from the friendship/relationship. Relationships where time is invested always produces fruit in some way. If you have or find a relationship that works like that, you too might feel like you hit “The Lottery of Life”

I invite you to pray this with me

Father I thank you for the friendships and relationships that I have had and still have. Thank you also for the relationships that didn’t work out that I learned lessons from and that made me grow. The lessons learned from these relationships made it possible for me to be the person I am today and to have the productive, open, relationships that can last a lifetime. Dear God, you know exactly what we need in this world and you provide it faithfully all of the time. We just fail to see it often times. Father I pray for the wisdom and discernment for myself and all people, that they would learn from past relationships that may have caused pain in their lives. That they would learn valuable lessons from them and go on to be in successful productive relationships that make them feel like they just hit the Jackpot in the Life.

I ask this in Jesus Precious Name

Amen

God Bless You All.

“The Sharpshooter”

Taking Things For Granted

2006-01-24T22:37:00.000-05:00

I think it's a fair statement that most everyone has either been taken for granted or has taken someone else for granted. We have all done this at some point, maybe not intentionally but it happens. The person being taken for granted really ends up feeling bad and the person that took them for granted at some point will feel bad, so it's an absolute lose/lose situation. The fact that a majority of the time we don't behave this way intentionally doesn't usually seem to be of any help for either person. We need to guard against this so that this doesn't happen.

Taking people and things for granted isn’t something that just started happening. It's one of those behaviors that we learn by watching and has been passed down from generation to generation that we need to break here and now in Jesus name. If we don't break this cycle, we will pass this behavior on to future generations and we just can’t allow this to happen. "The only way to better tomorrow is to fix today". If we continue to live as though this behavior is acceptable, not only will we be judged for it but the future generations will be judged for it. I don't believe that any of us want to impose that on our children or their children. 2 Samuel 22:21-23 says that (GOD made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him. When I cleaned up my act, he gave me a fresh start. Indeed, I've kept alert to God's ways; I haven't taken God for granted. Every day I review the ways he works, I try not to miss a trick.)

This is a hard lesson to learn, mostly because we don't want to face the possibility that we have done this. I have an especially hard time with this particular issue when it's brought to my attention that I have taken something or someone for granted. It hurts me beyond belief to hear this. What hurts even more is hearing that we did this to someone and how it made them feel. We need to be very sensitive to others when they tell us that we've done this, because often times we aren't aware of it and the natural response is to try and deny we did it or explain it away. Let's try something new and take a different approach to this by accepting our mistakes, acknowledging we have done wrong, asking for the person's forgiveness and doing better next time. It's not an easy thing to do, but do we want to live easy or live righteously?

We all have good intentions and we mean to do well, but as the saying goes, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." It will only be by good actions and right thinking that we will finish this race called life with victory. John 14:6 tells us that (Jesus said, "I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me.) In order for us to enter into heaven, we need to be living as Matthew 7:12 tells us to in The Golden Rule (Do for others what you would like them to do for you. This is a summary of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.) I know that I don't want to be taken advantage of, and I don't like how it feels when I am. I also can't think of anyone else that likes that feeling either. So if we keep this in mind, it will act as a constant reminder and a deterrent from taking advantage of anyone or anything else.

To go a step further with this, we take for granted that there is going to be a tomorrow. The fact is this, we are not guaranteed a tomorrow. We all need to assess where we are at in our walks with God. Are our souls in a condition that we can feel comfortable if Jesus were to return tomorrow? We should be living life like he could appear tomorrow, because he very well could. Would you be ready if he came back tomorrow? I wish I could say with absolute certainty that I'm all set, but truth be told, I don't know if any of us could say that. Each day needs to be a new effort at bettering ourselves. We should do a self exam each day to make sure we’re in good standing. If God should choose to take us tonight in our sleep have we made right any wrongs in our lives? Have we forgiven others as we should? Have we lived as we wanted to, or as Jesus instructed? Have we loved as much as we could have? Have we given grace where we should have with no conditions? Have we kept our hearts and souls in the best condition possible? God Help us.

I'm going to be paying much closer attention to my spiritual well being. One of the things we can all do to improve ourselves, is to take advantage of the opportunity's we have on a daily basis to do great things. God has given us an intellect unlike any other living thing on the earth. We need to use it for the betterment of ourselves and others. We need to give grace when someone wrong's us. We need to love unconditionally. We need to help those that cannot help themselves. How much harder is it to offer help than to criticize? Wouldn't it be better for our spiritual well being if we didn't let others steal our joy under any circumstances? It's not theirs to take so don't let them. Protect your joy and peace with all that you are. In doing this we will improve ourselves, and the changes in us will absolutely cause a stir in the world around us. Let us all be the light that pierces the darkness in the lives of others.

Please pray this with me.

Dear Lord, I ask for your forgiveness for the times when I've taken advantage of something I shouldn't have. Whether it was intentional or not it was still wrong. Father I ask you to help me to be a better person in every way. I want to be an opportunist for you God. Please help me to take full advantage of every opportunity that is presented to me, to share your love with others and to avoid the things that are not of you Father. I pray that you would speak to each of us today in the way that only you can. Tell us where we need to improve and show us the area's you want us to grow in. As you lead us to the river of eternal life, may we drink of that water abundantly and gain from it the clarity in our vision to see from your perspective how we look to you, so that that we would see the beauty and light in ourselves when we do your will and also how dark we can become when we do things that you do not will for us to do.

In Jesus name I pray

Amen

God Bless You All

“The Sharpshooter”

In God's Eyes We're All VIP's

2006-01-17T15:38:00.000-05:00

In the business and professional world there is a term used for those that either consider themselves to be ELITE or someone other then themselves gave them this distinction. V.I.P (Very Important Person) this title is normally given when great sums of money are being spent. V.I.P's get superior treatment and pampering no matter where they go or what they do. It's usually way over the top treatment that most of us would never get to experience and if we did it would be like trying to speak a foreign language, it just wouldn't fit.

Businesses that recognize V.I.P's are typically Airlines, Hotel's, Restaurant's, Limousine companies, Travel Agencies. Once you've gained V.I.P status, you receive the red carpet treatment from start to finish. In my line of work, I handle V.I.P's all day long, in all parts of the world, not directly most of the time because they're too important to speak to an average guy like me. These are the people that call and get company owners or managers on the phone to jump through hoops for them. I normally end up speaking with their administrative assistants.

Just recently I got an opportunity to experience what VIP status was all about for a day. Without getting into specifics, I'll just say that it's a marvelous thing to try. It is nice to see how the other side lives. But a lot of these people are alone traveling on business or staying at a hotel and I'd imagine that it can become a fairly lonely existence. The pampering and high end treatment no doubt helps one to deal with the loneliness but at some point in the V.I.P's day they must end up alone.

So that's the V.I.P life in a nutshell. I explained it from my perspective to get us to this point. Many a V.I.P does simply carry around a card that say's they’re a VIP. Those V.I.P's that carry Jesus with them in their hearts are obviously never alone because they have the King of Kings to commune with and here is my point. We are all V.I.P in God's Eyes. He doesn't care how much money we make, or how much we spend. You cannot buy God's love, it s a FREE gift that is given to all of us equally. In heaven there is no distinction between (actor) George Burns & a person that bagged groceries all his life. No distinction in God's eyes at all. He loves them both the same, why? Because there is no money or earthly possessions in Heaven, and those are the things that on earth determine who has what status.

Jesus would be the only V.I.P in Heaven if there were any, but because he is so generous and loving, he would put all of us before himself as he did when he was sacrificed on the cross for our sins. So whether it's a homeless person or Bill Gates, God will treat both the same. That's just a tiny example of how awesome God is to us. He doesn't have a ranking system based on what family you were born into or what status you achieved in this life. He only looks at the heart. God's value system is all about the heart.

Do we love God? Do we love others as ourselves? Do we share God's love with others? Do we help the less fortunate? When we do things are we serving God or our own desires first? These are the things he will look at to judge how we did in this life. We are all V.I.P's in his eyes, because each one of us has a signature talent or spiritual gift that is unlike that of any other person. We each have something to offer the world that someone else can't offer the exact same way. Our talents and spiritual gifts are as unique as our finger prints, no two are alike. Are we using our talents and spiritual gifts to the best of our abilities, or are we hoping that someone else will step up and answer the call so that we don't have to.

Since we are all V.I.P's in the eyes of our Heavenly Father, don't we owe it to him to step up and do everything in our power to change the world around us for the good, to always help those in need and to bring the lost back to him? It seems the least we could do for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Treat everyone you encounter as a V.I.P whether they treat you the same in return or not. Give of yourself like your giving directly to God, because ultimately you are.

Matthew 25:35-40 say's
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

I invite you to pray this with me

Heavenly Father, I thank you Lord for counting us worthy to be called sons, daughters and friends. Thank you Lord for looking upon each of us with equal importance, for in your eyes we are all unique and each one of us is a Very Important Person to you God. My prayer this day God, is that we would all treat each other the way you treat us, with unconditional love, and without looking for what's in it for us. Lord God you do so much for us that we could never in a million lifetimes pay you back if we had to, but all you ask for is our love and obedience. For that we are very thankful Lord God. May we go out into the world and serve you the way you deserve to be served. You provide for us in ways that sometimes we can't even imagine. May we have the desire within us to serve you God, with the same love and compassion that you give to us. You are the Most Important of all

I ask this in Jesus Name

Amen

God Bless You All

The Sharpshooter"

Love Thy Neighbor

2006-01-10T15:10:00.000-05:00

FACT: Many Christian's have a hard time believing that God can make the impossible possible.

FACT: Many Christian's don’t believe in miracles unless they have witnessed one.
FACT: Many Christian's would prefer to stay comfortable in their complacency instead of pushing themselves to challenge their thinking, grow their faith, and as a result experience great things.

Over the past year I have seen so much of this that at times I actually had to stop myself from looking at it as it was hindering my spiritual growth, because it’s depressing to watch. It’s really true that the people you choose to surround yourself with will have a huge influence on your life. Of course there are positives and negatives to this. If you surround yourself with people that want to ride others coat tails, or just keep things as they are because they are afraid of change, lazy or deceived. You will surely be the same way in a relatively short time, and once you’re in that way of life, it is very hard to change it. People become oppressed and often times don’t have the faith, belief or motivation to change their situations.

I have gone out of my way over the past few years to surround myself with the best people I could find. I stay away from the negativity as much as possible, it’s not productive and it’s a horrible way to exist. The people I have surrounded myself with all have things in common with me with regard to God. We all want to see more of him and less of this world. We all want his will to be done “On earth as it is in Heaven.” We want to see his miracles and blessings upon all nations in great abundance. Lastly, we all want to see revival hit our church, the country and the world.

So now having illustrated two different types of people, (those that want more of God and those that are fine with the status quo) how do we coexist and not step on one another’s toes? How do those that want to move ahead do so, while they are among people that want to stay where they’re at spiritually? The answer will sound simple but as long as we’re human it probably will never be easy. The answer is the same for those that want to experience everything that God has for us, and for those that simply go to church because they feel obligated to.

God may not be a respecter of persons, but we need to be. We need to love and respect each individual as we want to be loved and respected. If something in the spirit moves you and it doesn’t move anyone else, does that make you better? Absolutely not! It just makes you different. If something in the spirit moves somebody else and you don’t agree with it does that make you right? Absolutely not! In many ways today, we don’t honor different. We don’t always respect different and we need to. Those that want to keep church the same and never change need to honor and respect those that want to go after more of God at any cost. At the same time those that want to move ahead have to respect the positions and reasons that the others don’t want different. After all it is all about God and not about us right?

Even people from the same church worship God differently than I will. No two of us are alike. For instance, some people are more comfortable than others in a public setting and can pray and worship with such freedom that they care not if they are alone or in front of the world, they are giving praise and that’s all that matters. The person that prefers to remain quiet and pray in their own way is doing it right too and we need to be careful that we don’t start picking out trivial differences and making big issues of them. God hears all of our prayers and praise. The key here is to give God praise and thanks, it’s not how but how much.

God takes us where we're at. If we are bold, he loves bold. If we are quiet and are private in our worship, he loves that just as much. The bottom line is he loves us all equally and so we should follow his example and love everyone regardless of whether they love us back. That's not to be confused with like. You don't have to like everyone you encounter and you probably won't, but you do have to love them, Wouldn't Jesus?

Simple principles are all it takes. Matthew 7:1-5 (The Message Bible) offers us “A Simple Guide for Behavior”
1 “Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, and criticize their faults--unless, of course, you want the same treatment.
2 That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. 3 It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. 4 Do you have the nerve to say, "Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt 5 It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

I invite you to pray this with me

Dear God, I ask for your forgiveness Lord for ever judging anybody else for how they chose to give you praise. Lord, help me to see the errors in the things I do. I ask for your help Father in forgiving those that have come against me or people that I know. Lord God, we just want to worship you and give you praise, and we have to realize, respect and appreciate that all Christians will do that a little differently. You love us all not based on how well we pray. You care simply that we do pray, that we do worship you and give you all the glory. Thank you for you graces Lord God. I ask now Lord that you would bring peace and unity to those that don’t have peace in their lives. May they come to know you more and more!

I ask this in Jesus name

Amen
God Bless You All

"The Sharpshooter"

The Holy Spirit In Us

2006-01-04T07:07:00.000-05:00

When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we are "Born Again" it is at that time that we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift that is given to us freely by God. His purposes for sending the Holy Spirit to us are to better our prayer life, allow him to work through us to heal, pray, and minister to those in need. Through the Holy Spirit God will perform his miracles, we are merely the vehicles he uses in the physical. The Holy Spirit is not a gift to us that is meant to be kept to ourselves. Like any other gift bestowed upon us by God, if we don't give it away, we will lose the gift. It was never meant to be kept to ourselves.

Spiritual gifts do not depend on natural talents and aptitudes or developed skills, though God gave you those, too. A spiritual gift is something that God gives for the purpose of building up others in a life of faith. It is the experience of Christians over the years that the Spirit usually harnesses one's talents in the service of the gifts that are given. Yet sometimes, the spiritual gifts seem to work against a person's natural endowment. This is, after all, the same God who led his people out of Egypt using a stammerer named Moses, made a shepherd boy/musician named David into a renowned warrior and king, and turned rural fishermen into leaders who left a mark on the course of history. There are examples everywhere of people who don't have training, aren't highly skilled, have no particular knack, but when the time comes for them to benefit the Body, the gift is there. The Spirit takes pleasure in surprises and on turning the tables on the expected. It's wise to leave ourselves open for such action. We develop a talent, but God gives the gift it's meant to go with.

Where there's a gift, there's usually a natural ability and a developed skill that can go with it.

· There is the gift of discernment, and the natural ability of intuition, and the skillful use of a discernment process.
· There is the gift of healing, and there are the natural healing processes and the medical skills to assist those processes.
· There is exorcism, and there are people ridding their lives of those who use lies and trickery, and the skill of making themselves truer.
· There is prophecy, and there is the ability to discover the truth and the skill to figure out how and when to share it.
· There is ecstatic spiritual experience and there are romance and desire and the skills to use them to create bonds of love with your spouse.

God created all people with these natural foreshadowing’s of supernatural gifts. They're good, and are meant to be used for all, not just the faithful. But it takes the Holy Spirit working within the believer to put the natural and the supernatural together with power to serve

Having received the Holy Spirit and being born into God's family, a very simple question needs to be answered. What is the purpose of God's wanting to indwell His children by His Spirit? Some people believe it is just to make the individual feel good. But that can hardly be the reason. Others think they are saved just to go to Heaven, but that is not the primary reason because that will come when life is ended. The only answer that fits the Bible teaching is that we are saved to serve here and now. Isaiah 43:7 conveys that we are created for God's honor and glory. To put it very simply, we were created to fulfill the purpose and plan of God now. That's why we weren't born one thousand years ago. This is our day to live for Him. Salvation is God's way of bringing us into the kind of relationship with Him so that we can fulfill the plan He has for us now.

To perform service for the Lord requires that one be qualified and empowered. It is precisely for this reason that the Holy Spirit gives "gifts." The Scripture passages which name the gifts are Romans 12:4-8, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, and Ephesians 4:7-13. From these verses we learn certain basic truths about spiritual gifts.

There are dangers lurking along the pathway of any Christian believer who is conscious that God has given him a special gift by the Holy Spirit. First of all, there is the danger of using the gift for personal gain and prestige. "Look at me; I am somebody special; God has given me this unique gift, and I am the only one for miles around who has it.'' There are some who get caught in the net of "a good feeling." As with other dimensions of our Christian life, there is the possibility of some trying to exercise their gifts entirely apart from the larger Body. They develop a "go it alone" strategy and set out to build their own little kingdom apart from the church. All must guard against these dangers.

Let us pray

Heavenly Father we thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to us so that we are able to be used as vehicles for you to work through us. Father I pray that you would always make it known to us, when we take the gifts you’ve given us for granted even for a second. Thank you for your endless mercy that provides us with forgiveness whenever we fall short of your will. As we start this New Year Lord, I ask you to change the perspective from which we see, so that we see things we do more as you see them, thus making us able to correct ourselves and one another. In seeing from your perspective, we can better protect ourselves from any & all influences of Satan.

I ask this in Jesus name

Amen

God Bless You All

"The Sharpshooter"

Promises Of God & Man

2005-12-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-20T14:55:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-14T20:35:00.000-05:00

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"

2005-12-08T08:02:00.000-05:00

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

Christ is Christmas

2005-11-30T18:38:00.000-05:00

***NOTE*** God spoke to me on 11/24/05 and told me to write this so that WE could right this.

Each year on the 25th of December, Christians celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we call it Christmas. It is also a secular holiday that was made a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1870 by President Ulysses S. Grant. The secularists are the ones who created Santa Claus and the exchanging of presents, but this secular tradition has nothing to do Jesus Christ. Christians also exchange gifts, but Jesus is always the focal point of this day. The gift giving and family time are all secondary things, a tradition that man created. Man has since made many modifications to Christmas and none of them have been good.

Where did Xmas come from? Some transliterations of Greek spell Christos (or Kristos) as Xristos. The "X" stood in for Christos. It was originally considered to be a perfectly respectful abbreviation, especially as it included a form of the cross in the shape of the "X". Despite popular belief, it was not an attempt to remove Christ’s name from Christmas. More recently however the use of "X" has been associated with irreverent commercialism, leading to the saying "Put the 'Christ' back into Xmas."

Christmas became Xmas and much of the focus went to the gift giving and other secular traditions instead of recognizing the gift God gave to us and Christmas was allowed to dissolve into a non Christian sensitive “Happy Holiday’s” and “Seasons Greetings: This has been allowed to happen for so long now that many stores and businesses will not allow their employees to use the word Christmas anymore. It’s all about not wanting to offend non Christians, but I guess it seemed ok to offend those that were Christians in the process. If there were no Christmas, these businesses would have about 30% less revenue. They don’t want to say the word Christmas yet their customers don’t go Holiday shopping, they go Christmas shopping. Unless Christians stand up and speak up, the next thing I fear we’ll see is a law abolishing Christmas. This is all because a few non Christians had the boldness that many Christians did not have. These are the same people that want God out of our government buildings and off of our currency which I wrote about recently. How far has our affection for Jesus waned, that we allow people to do this to Christianity as easily as we do.

God is not happy that this is tolerated by us. We must look like hypocrites in his eyes. We profess our love for him and our desire to be closer to him in the privacy of our churches or in our homes but in public; few Christians are speaking up defending the name of Jesus when these people come against it. Satan is always behind this; his influence on people that have no foundation with God is huge. He gets in the heads of these people and they do exactly what he asks. We all know that those who come against God will pay a price for doing that, but won’t we also pay a price for standing by idly while this was happening?

A fresh breath needs to be breathed into Christianity and more voices need to be heard to reinvigorate Christianity. We need to mount up and be suited up in God’s Armor.
Ephesians 6:14-18 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

We need to jealously guard our excitement in our spiritual walks. We need to stop letting people take cheap shots at our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I doubt that we would allow people talk about our mothers the way we allow people to talk about Jesus. He’s been more protective of us than our mothers ever could have been. We now need to protect and take back what the thief stole from us while we weren’t paying attention. Last but by no means least; we need to put Christ back into Christmas and stop being so politically correct. It’s time we become politically incorrect and do the righteous Godly thing.

Let us pray:

Dear God: I pray that you would be with us all during this time as we work to improve ourselves and bring the importance of this day back to you Jesus. May we all walk in the light of your love and may that light beam from each of us into the hearts and souls of other believers and non believers alike, so that they might have a divine encounter with you Father. I pray that you would breathe a fresh breath into the souls of all Christians God, so that they would remember and reclaim the power and authority that they may have forgotten they had. Lord God, we need for you to once again send your holy fire down onto us so that we get fired up anew, so that we can break the strongholds that are in place and reclaim what’s been taken from us. Father I ask for your forgiveness for allowing others to make us stumble when we should have been standing on the rock of your salvation.

I ask this in Jesus name Amen

God Bless You All

Adam

"How Many Say I"

2005-11-23T06:48:00.000-05:00

One of the many awesome things that God does is speak to us. It is so incredible to us that we don't believe it sometimes, thinking that it is our imagination. We say how could God possibly speak to me? This thinking is especially true of new Christians, but God is God and who are we to tell him what he can and cannot do. The fact is, he created us to hear his voice and the devil tries to tell us that the things inside that we hear are coming from our own imagination. Some say that God doesn’t speak to us because they think he is too busy. Also they don't feel worthy of God to talk with them. Well, in ourselves we are not worthy for him to have anything to do with us. But because of his son dying for our sins, we are made worthy to have an open communication with him.

Yes, the God that made heaven and earth as well as everything in it speaks to us, and he speaks to us individually at any time if we’ll give him the time and listen. So it’s not that God is too busy for us, but sadly enough we are too busy for him. There are times when if we don't give him the time during the day, he wakes us up in the middle of the night when there are no distractions to have a conversation with us. I speak from personal experience when I say that he loves to talk to us and often, so that he can communicate how he loves us and wants to uplift us. Once we've prepared our hearts to listen through prayer, we're more likely to hear the voice of God. Does he speak to us through an audible voice? Some claim He does, but usually that's not the case. We may not actually "hear" the voice of God, but He speaks to us in many ways. Here are some of them: God speaks through His Word. God speaks through our thoughts, God speaks through conversations with others, and God speaks through circumstances.

That said, When he calls on you to do something, how will you respond to his call? Will you say "Yes God I Will" or will you do what he asks only if it's convenient for you and doesn't require much effort, or possibly do nothing at all and deny him? Those of us that know Gods voice have a responsibility to do whatever it is that he asks. He expects those that know his voice to be so committed, that all he'd have to do is give us an idea and we'd run with it. I can only imagine how much he would love it if people would be even half as committed to him as he is to us. How many will truly say I God when called upon? God help us.

Galatians 6: 7-9 say’s (7 don’t be misled. Remember that you can't ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sew! 8 Those that live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

We all could really benefit from taking our focus off of ourselves and our own wants and desires. Humans will never be perfect but there's nothing wrong with letting that be our goal. So many people today operate in what I call I/ME mode. Simply put, if there’s nothing in it for them then they have no interest in it. These same people are the first to say that “God never talks to me”. Well, yes he does talk to them but they’re not listening. There are people that I’m sure have never heard the Lords voice and aren’t familiar with it, but there are others that have heard it but don’t want to hear it because hearing it forces them to make a decision, for or against. If they acknowledge God, then they are committed to abide in him.

We cannot live our lives in a selfish way and expect to be rewarded for it. We need to be more selfless and more like Christ for no other reason than the fact that he died for OUR SINS (not his own – He never sinned). Would you give up your life for your family or friend’s if you knew they would be guaranteed a better life? Christ died on the cross so that we could have back our relationship with God that was lost back when Adam & Eve committed original sin. So many people take what Jesus did for us for granted. That’s something we just can’t afford to let happen.

We are very fortunate that our Heavenly Father is very forgiving. His grace is beyond measure. He wants so badly for us to turn to him. He also looks for us to stand in the gap and pray on the behalf of others. God said “The soul that sins will die” Ezekiel 18:20. However, he would prefer to give grace, therefore he will always look for someone to intercede on another’s behalf. Halleluiah!

So if God should happen to call on you for ANYTHING. Please for your own sake say “Yes God I Will” without even thinking for a second what might be in it for you. I pray that we’ll go from being people that think I/ME to Godly and do the will of God as soon as we’re called on.

Please pray this with me

Father: I want to thank you for allowing me the privilege to be able to speak to you and be heard, but even more for the fact that you speak to me. I ask for your forgiveness God for those times when I haven’t been paying attention to you and also for the times when I’ve heard you and not responded. For this I ask for your grace Lord God. Please help me to focus less on myself and things of this world and instill in me an unquenchable thirst for you. Lord God I realize that on my own, I am not worthy of any kind of relationship with you at all, but because your only son Jesus died on the cross for us, I am able to have fellowship with you God. I ask you to guide me in all areas of my life, so that what I am doing daily will line up with what your will is for me.

I ask this in Jesus name
Amen

God Bless You All

Adam

"Are We Humans Being Or Humans Doing?"

2005-11-17T22:57:00.000-05:00

Each one of us was born with a purpose. I think it's safe to say that not even half of the population of the world knows what their purpose in life is. That being the case, the majority of people (believers and non believers alike) spends most of their time just existing, serving no real purpose in life but living day to day content to just be.

Gods plan never intended for us to merely exist, and be satisfied to be just a human that’s being. He intended for us to do works of all levels, some great and some not so great but all serving him and serving a purpose on this earth. He wants for us to be or become "humans doing". He wants for us to be influential on the world around us. To be doing things that improve the lives of all we encounter bringing them to a better place in their lives and giving all glory to God.

In order to affect change on our immediate surroundings we need to become God pleasers instead of people pleasers. We need to put into action everything that we believe in and have faith in that is unseen. Saying that we Love God and have faith in him is reduced to mere words unless we live our words out in life. How do we treat other people? Do we leave people and things in better condition than we find them in on a consistent basis? Do we say things that build up or things that tear down? There are people that have great intentions when they say things and they think they’re doing the right thing, but they’re not. If you speak one thing and your actions speak another there is contradiction and hypocrisy. That in itself is a form a lying and is a SIN. That will drive people away, not win them over.

If we are to go out into the world and affect change on our environments in a positive way and tell people about the freedom that comes with having a relationship with Jesus, we have to walk our talk. We have to put into action what we preach. It’s hard yes, but nothing that is good in life is ever easy. This is why so many people are content to just be without getting involved. They are humans being instead of humans doing. How big we increase the size of God’s army is totally dependant on how we present God to other people. If we let the Holy Spirit that lives in each one of us work the wait it see’s fit we can win every time, but we have to be fully yielding to the Holy Spirit’s move and stay out of the way. Bill Johnson says it best when speaking of the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit was put in us as a stream not a lake” what that means is that the Holy Spirit is supposed to flow through us like a stream to other people, so to change the world around us.

Unless we do that we are working in the natural which isn’t the wrong way as much as it is the hard way. God knows best how to use us, so it just makes sense to let him work through us to cause the changes that he wants to take place. That can only happen if we are yielding to him, and we are Humans Doing instead of Humans Being.

Heavenly Father I thank you for this word God. I thank you for showing us where we can improve and where our shortcomings may be. Lord God help us to be more sensitive to your desires and more yielding to your will. We want to impact the world around us in a positive way Father. We want to be Humans that are doing your will instead of Humans that are just being, watching the days go by without changing the atmosphere around us even a little bit. Father God you know what’s best and the best way for us to do things. I pray that you will instill in all of us, a burning desire to increase our prayer life God, to spend more time communing with you, so that we are more like you as a result, able to make positive changes in the world one person at a time.

In Jesus name I pray.
Amen

God Bless You All
Adam

In God We Trust

2005-11-10T18:55:00.000-05:00

Do we really trust in God today? I know there was a time in this country where people trusted in, and depended on God for everything. Today we have a portion of people that do trust in God for everything. They're lives wouldn't be complete without him in it. However today there are groups of people that want any reference to God removed from society. They want prayer removed from our schools. They want the Ten Commandments removed from our courts and government buildings. Lastly they want the motto "In God We Trust" removed from our currency.

The people that want this don't want it removed because they don't believe God exists as much as they want these references to God removed because of the lifestyles they lead; they don't want constant reminders of God to be around them as they live life THEIR WAY. Having a constant reminder that God is with us, makes these people very uncomfortable and to that I say AMEN. It should make them uncomfortable. These people seem to have forgotten that you can't hide from God; he knows all and sees all. Furthermore if they take God out of their lives, they are setting themselves up for failure because they will be depending on man and not God, which no good can come from. The dependency America had on God from Civil war time’s right up until the 1950's was huge. An example of this is found in a letter that was sent to the Secretary of the Treasury in 1861 by Rev. M.R. Watkinson.

In his letter he wrote “One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins. You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW. This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters. To you first I address a subject that must be agitated."

As a result, Secretary Chase instructed James Pollock, Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, to prepare a motto.
He wrote "Dear Sir: No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins. You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition."

The phrase "In God We Trust" does not appear in the Bible. Nevertheless Biblical passages such as 1Timothy: 4-10 ("Trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe") and 2 Corinthians 1:9 ("Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.") are cited as scriptural inspiration. And just as the pleas of Rev. Watkinson and the National Reform Association had led to the inclusion of "In God We Trust" on coinage, similar religious sentiments were used to justify the mottos addition to the nation's paper currency. Evidence of this comes from an examination of the Congressional Record. On June 7, 1955 for instance, Congressman Bennett of Florida rose in support of H.R 619, a bill "Providing for the inscription of 'In God We Trust' on all United States Currency and Coins." Bennett declared:

"I sincerely hope that the Senate will give its prompt approval to this proposal. In these days when imperialistic and materialistic communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, we should continuously look for ways to strengthen the foundations of our freedom. At the base of our freedom is our faith in God and the desire of Americans to live by His will and His guidance. As long as this country trusts in God, it will prevail. To serve as a constant reminder of this truth, it is highly desirable that our currency and coins should bear these inspiring words 'In God We Trust."

The number of people in this country that actually have morals has declined over the last forty years and there doesn't appear to be a turn around of any kind in the near future. The number of people that want God out of the picture are far less than the number of Christians in this country. The problem is that we Christians are not making nearly as much noise about this issue and the people that want God removed from everything though fewer in number are showing the boldness that we should be showing. There are not enough Christian people that will speak up and stand for what's right. It's sad to say, but unless we start mounting up and go to battle over this issue, the loud few can win this thing, then what will we do? I personally know many Christians and non Christians alike that want to win this battle, but they're afraid to speak up, they don't want to step on toes.

With our Father God watching our backs, what have we got to be worried about. We should have no fear, no trepidation, no trembling, and no worries because we're fighting for God, we have a very strong message. It's the people that don't want prayer in Schools, God on our money, and the Ten Commandments removed from all government buildings that should be trembling with fear.

Father God, help us to grow in our boldness. Help us to overcome the obstacles that Satan has put in our way to discourage us and instill fear in us for standing up for what's right. You did not give us a spirit of fear God, you gave a us a spirit of sound mind and understanding. Lord God I pray that you would fill us all with the Holy Spirit and give us the strength and right words to say to turn hearts and change minds. Lord we want to not only win this battle, but we want to win the souls of our opposition back for you God. Protect us in our coming and our going as we do your will. To you goes all the glory God.

I pray this in Jesus mighty name.

Amen

May God Bless You All

Adam