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Archive for the ‘God’s Glory’ Category

When Will We Meet Again?

Posted in Faith, God's Glory, Healing, Heaven, Jesus, Salvation, The Righteous on November 30, 2016|

“Do not let your heart be troubled; [a]believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”  John 14:1-3

I grew up knowing death as long as I can remember.  I lost my mother when I was four years old.  I have vivid memories of my mother, including her illness that eventually took her life.  My childhood was impacted by my mother’s absence.  At a young age I had to come to terms with life and death.  As I grew up I lost several relatives, including my sister who was 17 at the time of her death.  I know death all too well.

As a pastor there are times I am called to comfort those that have lost a loved one, and it is not an easy thing to do.  It is especially difficult in those moments that you prayed, had faith and hope for a loved one’s healing, only to see them eventually lose their battle to death.  Death is never easy because it always seems a life ended too soon.  We are left with the question “Why God Why?”

As I pastor people in times of a loved one’s death that question comes up.  It is difficult to answer.  At times, there is no answer nor explanation given by God.  Just recently I learned of someone’s death that we believed would be healed of cancer.  We knew God would heal and it was His will to heal.  At one point we were celebrating the news that the cancer was gone, only to learn later that it had come back spreading throughout the body.  Still you hope in miracles and you know God is able and willing to heal.  However, when the healing does not come, it is easy to question our faith.  Did we believe hard enough?  Did we doubt God?  Was it God’s will to heal?  Why did this person die?

As I pondered these questions the Holy Spirit reminded me of our faith in Jesus Christ.  The foundation of our faith is that one day we will see Jesus face to face.  That faith in Jesus exceeds all other acts of faith.  Salvation is the greatest miracle because a person that is saved is someone who was once dead and now is alive in Christ for all eternity.  Those that have put their faith in Jesus Christ have eternal life.  Death cannot hold them; when they are absent from the body, they are present with the Lord.  That is our faith.  So when a loved one dies in the Lord, they are with Him.  They experience the evidence of their faith.

Jesus told the disciples that He was going away and would prepare a place for them, for all of us.  He promised to come again but His ultimate promise was that He would receive us and we would be where He is.

We cannot fully comprehend eternity because we live in such a temporal world and are governed by time and space.  We experience life, sickness, disease, tragedies, and eventually death in this world.  Yet in heaven there is none of this and they are not governed by time and space.  So we have to rejoice when a loved one in Christ dies because they get to be where He is and stay.  They have received the full promise of God.

Still this may not bring us great comfort since we will no longer see our loved one.  We wonder “when will we meet again?”  So we mourn for our loved ones, we mourn with those that are mourning.  Soon our mourning will turn to joy.  We will meet again.

If you are reading this and you are not sure if you are going to spend eternity with Jesus then you can ask Jesus to come into your heart.  The bible says that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:9).  Jesus died and rose again so that we could be reconciled with the Father and have eternal life.  It is available to all.  You don’t have to wonder where you will spend eternity once your life is surrendered to Jesus Christ.  He has gone and is preparing a place for us.  He will come again.  For those of us still left on this earth, let us continue to occupy until Jesus’ returns.  That is what our faith is all about, seeing Jesus face to face and living with Him for all of eternity.  In the meantime let us keep healing the sick, raising the dead, expanding the Kingdom of God on the earth – be SALT and LIGHT.

For this [s]perishable must put on [t]the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this [u]perishable will have put on [v]the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15: 53-57

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A Cry for Justice

Posted in God's Glory, Peace, Prayer, Satan, Sin on December 21, 2012|

When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. Proverbs 21:15

When tragedy strikes we spend time trying to understand the events and then at some point we try to accept what has happened and hopefully move on sometime in the future. Many question where God is and why do such horrible things happen to good people especially innocent ones like children.  Somehow we have to come to accept the tragic events that take place and live with the reality of what has happened and just hope it doesn’t happen again.  We pray for the comfort of those that have lost their loved ones and pray it doesn’t happen again.  But how can we cope?  How can we move on when a senseless tragic act has taken place?

Last Friday was such an event.  In Newtown, CT an armed gunman went in killing 26 people at the school including 20 children.  He killed his mother and at the end killed himself.  Those that are involved are gone.  So who do we hold accountable?  How can justice be served?  Do we just accept what has happened and try to move on?  This community, this town, the families, even our nation will never be the same.

What aches in the hearts of these families and each of us is a cry for justice.  We want justice for every life that was lost and every one that was terrorized by these events.  It gives us no comfort in knowing the gunman is dead.  He will never have to face the grief of the families or feel the shame of what he has done.  The families need justice, we cry for justice.

God is a lover of justice.  He is just.  He does not look the other way, or ignore our plights.  We must cry out to God for justice.  We must ask God to restore and repay to these families, community, and others everything that they lost.  We cannot be satisfied with simply accepting what has happened and move on.  Deep down we want justice; we will never be satisfied until justice is served.

That has been my cry to God this past week for justice.  I know God will comfort those families and I will hold them in prayer.  But I want to see justice given to them.  I want the enemy of this earth to pay back everything that was stolen from Newtown including the innocence that was lost last Friday.

I trust God knows what justice is and what justice looks like.  I really don’t know but God does so I ask for justice.  God please give us justice.

Even though this act was committed by one man, we know that the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour.  Jesus described the devil as one that kills, steals and destroys.  Satan is the father of evil and he has shown that nothing is sacred including our children.  Evil visited Newtown last Friday disguised in the form of a lone gunman, but evil none the less murdered those children and adults last Friday.  So we ask God for justice to put an end to the tactics and role of the enemy.  That evil not have the final say in these peoples’ lives but that in the end justice and love will prevail.  We will not bow down to fear and evil but we celebrate the love, unity and peace that are within us and from God.

So God please give us justice – vengeance belongs to you.

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Remembering 9/11

Posted in God's Glory, Grace, Love, The Righteous on September 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
2 When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
3 Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In spite of this I shall be confident.  Psalm 27:1-3

Today we remember September 11, 2001 and the terror attacks that happened in the USA, and those who lost their lives.  In New York City the Twin Towers were destroyed by two passenger planes, the Pentagon was hit by a passenger plane and another plane headed for DC crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers decided to stop the terrorists themselves.  In all about 2,976 people lost their lives that day.  It is a day that will be remembered as the day that started our war on terror against Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda.  They attacked us in the name of their god, but in the end it was our God that saved us and defended us.

As we reflect on the last ten years, I am struck by the protection, mercy and grace that God has continued to show to the USA.  We have not had a major terrorist attack on our land and we should give glory and honor to God.  Darkness cannot prevail where there is light; in the USA our light continues to shine because our light resides in God.

I have no doubt that God’s hand of protection has always been on us.  Even on September 11, 2001, God was with us.  So many people, who could have died, did not.  Today we remembered those that died but there are also thousands of stories of those that survived.

We have proven our resolve to our enemies; we have shown that evil cannot prevail.  If God be for us who can be against us?  If these terror attacks were supposed to demonstrate the god of Al Qaeda; then our resolve and salvation demonstrates the love, mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who will forever reign in heaven and on earth.

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Performing Signs and Wonders

Posted in God's Glory, Healing, Knowing God, The Father, The Holy Spirit on May 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

26“I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel;
For He is the living God and enduring forever,
And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed,
And His dominion will be forever.
27“He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders, In heaven and on earth,
Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” Daniel 6:26-27

“I believe in miracles with every atom of my being… because I believe in God – but Kathryn Kuhlman has nothing to do with the healing of sick bodies.  I have no healing power. It’s the power of God that does the healing. The only part I have in it is making Jesus real to the hearts of men and women. Any results there might be in this life of mine, is not Kathryn Kuhlman. It’s the Holy Spirit; IT’S WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES THROUGH A YIELDED VESSEL.” – Kathryn Kuhlman.

I found this quote by Kathryn Kuhlman, who was a great faith healer and evangelist in the 1940s through 1970s, and pondered this for quite some time.  Miracles, signs and wonders are to point people to our God.  They are not meant to elevate men or cause others to glorify and worship us.  Miracles are a testimony to the power and glory of God.  We see this in the book of Daniel.

King Darius threw Daniel into the lions’ den because Daniel did not stop praying to God.  King Darius hoped that God would save Daniel because it was the king’s injunction that got Daniel thrown in the lions’ den.  When King Darius saw the next day that Daniel had not been harmed and eaten by the lions’ he was grateful and gave glory to God.  It was God’s provision that caused King Darius to make the above confession about God.  See that is the purpose of miracles, signs and wonders.

Kathryn Kuhlman understood this too.  She knew that healing had nothing to do with her ability or power but that it was all God and she was just a vessel.  Daniel understood this too.  He acted as a vessel for God to cause the kings of Babylon to bow to Him; to confess that God was above all and that His kingdom would endure forever.

As Christians we must be yielded vessels, allowing the Holy Spirit to do the work of bringing conviction of sin to the world and the world to Jesus.  The greatest miracle is the death and resurrection of a life – when someone who is dead in their sin is made alive in Jesus.  God said that whenever we preach the gospel signs and wonders would follow as a confirmation of His word.

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The Godly Wives

Posted in God's Glory, The Righteous on May 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

10An excellent wife, who can find?
         For her worth is far above jewels.
11The heart of her husband trusts in her,
         And he will have no lack of gain.
12She does him good and not evil
         All the days of her life.

25Strength and dignity are her clothing,
         And she smiles at the future.
26She opens her mouth in wisdom,
         And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
30Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
         But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:10-12, 25-30

We have so many TV shows about wives: Desperate Housewives; The Real Housewives of Orange County, New York, Atlanta, Miami, New Jersey, D.C., Beverly Hills; Army Wives; Basketball Wives; and now Mob wives the list goes on.  Sadly the majority of the women on these so called reality shows depict wives as being rich, spoiled, mean, vindictive, shallow, etc.  It seems the best drama comes from the fighting that occurs on these shows.  It really is pitiful how these wives are portrayed.  However, we must love it because there seems to be a new show coming each year focused on wives.  Honestly, these shows do not depict the average wife.

Proverbs 31 describes a wife of noble character.  The writer asks who can find an excellent wife.  Truly her worth is more than fine jewels.  She gives her husband no trouble.  She is not a backbiter, backstabber, deceitful, malicious, or anything contrary to nobility.

So today let’s celebrate and praise the Godly wives – the women who fear the Lord.  She is the jewel of her husband’s eye.  She is blessed and is a blessing to others.  Here are more attributes of the Godly wives:

14She is like merchant ships; she brings her food from afar.
15She rises also while it is still night and gives food to her household and portions to her maidens.
16She considers a field and buys it; from her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17She girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong.
18She senses that her gain is good; her lamp does not go out at night.
19She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle.
20She extends her hand to the poor, and she stretches out her hands to the needy. Proverbs 31

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These Signs Shall Follow

Posted in Crucified, God's Glory, Healing, Jesus, Prayer, Salvation, Satan, Sin, Teaching, The Father, The Holy Spirit, The Righteous, The Word on April 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

19So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

 20And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. Mark 16: 19-20

 3how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,

 4God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.  Hebrews 2: 3-4

Today is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter.  As Christians we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ during this time.  Usually on Easter weekend, churches have the largest attendance of the year.  So many churches preach the gospel message hoping that many will give their life to Christ.

When Jesus commissioned the disciples after His resurrection, He told them that when they went out to preach the gospel, signs and wonders would follow them.  They would be able to cast out demons, lay hands on the sick and they would be healed.  We are also told in the above scriptures that God confirms the message of salvation by both signs and wonders and various miracles.  We cannot have the gospel preached without evidence of signs, wonders and miracles.  Otherwise we are simply preaching a message with no power behind it.

We should not only anticipate a great soul harvest this weekend, but we should expect to see it all including signs, wonders and miracles.  Their purpose is to confirm the gospel message and point people to Jesus.  So we should expect to see miracles, healings take place, deliverance from demons, etc.  Of course the greatest miracle of all is when a person is saved – that person was once dead in their sin and is made alive in Christ.

So let’s invite the lost, the sick and shut in, the hopeless, the downtrodden, those bound, etc.; and expect God to show up and deliver them all.  Let our prayer be that God will confirm His covenant, made through the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by the miracles, signs and wonders that will point all men to Jesus.

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Marriage of the Lamb

Posted in God's Glory, Jesus, The Body, The Righteous on January 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

7“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”

8It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb ‘” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Revelation 19: 7-9

There are those that argue marriage is just a piece of paper having no real significance.  Marriage is actually a picture of Jesus Christ (the bridegroom) and the Church (the bride).  The church is actually those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  We know that Jesus will return for His bride and as Revelation states there will be a wedding feast.

As I think about the marriage supper of the Lamb I think of my own wedding.  Before I got married I had my father’s last name.  On my wedding day, I dressed in a beautiful white gown and wore a veil.  As I walked down the aisle I knew my life was forever going to change.  The groom and I exchanged vows and we were announced as husband and wife.  I turned to the crowd and I no longer had my father’s name but took  my husband’s name.  I was a new person, a wife and had a new name; I and my husband were now one.

The same thing happens to us when we join Jesus Christ.  The day will come when He will come for His bride and there will be a great wedding feast.  The bride and groom will finally meet.  On that day we will take His name.  We will be presented as belonging to Jesus.  He will be ours and we will be His forever more.  Nothing separating us, not even death.  I look forward to that day.  Don’t you?  Aren’t you glad your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?  “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

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One Year Later

Posted in God's Glory, Healing, Prayer, Prophesy, The Righteous on January 12, 2011| 2 Comments »

4Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,
 They will raise up the former devastations;
 And they will repair the ruined cities,
 The desolations of many generations.
5Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks,
 And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers.
6But you will be called the priests of the LORD;
 You will be spoken of as ministers of our God
 You will eat the wealth of nations,
 And in their riches you will boast.
7Instead of your shame you will have a double portion,
 And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion
 Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land,
 Everlasting joy will be theirs.  Isaiah 61:4-7

It was one year ago a terrible earthquake hit Haiti.  Today there are still many places that are lying in ruin.  Many are frustrated with the rebuilding process that is taking so long.  The news reports that still about one million Haitians are still living in tents.  Billions of dollars in aid have been pledged but many wonder where the money is.  Not much has been said in the media about Haiti for the last several months.  Many of us in the world have gone on with our lives not thinking much about Haiti or the tragedy that still exists today.  But the pain, tragedy, and memory of one year ago still resonate with the people of Haiti and their families.

This past year shows that man will not rebuild Haiti.  No amount of money can rebuild this nation, only God can.  There is great comfort in the above scriptures because it is a promise from God that I believe is a promise for Haiti.  There are Haitians that fear God and have been calling on His name.  God has heard Haiti’s cry and He will rebuild this nation.  Isaiah 61:4-7 is God’s promise to Haiti.

God will be glorified in all that has happened in Haiti.  The nations will know it was only God that brought this nation back from ruin.  Haitians will testify all that God has done for them.  So don’t lose hope Haiti because the people have forgotten you.  God has not forgotten.  He will rebuild, He will restore, and everlasting Joy will be yours.

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New Year and New Decade

Posted in God's Glory on January 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  2 Corinthians 5:17

It is a New Year and a New Decade.  I love the beginning of the year because the year holds such promise and expectation.  Many of us make resolutions for the New Year only to find that most of the resolutions we make do not come to pass.

However, I am determined to make a new resolution and see that the Lord makes it come to pass.  My New Year resolution is to write.  The Lord is always speaking something to me or showing me something new in His word.  I also have very vivid dreams but have been lazy in not writing them down.  So my plan is to write more.

Last night I asked the Lord how I can step into my destiny and He told me “to write it down.”  So intend to write more and watch what the Lord will do.  So I encourage you to step into your destiny and resolve to do whatever you need to do to fulfill your God given destiny.

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Pray for Them!

Posted in God's Glory, government, Salvation on November 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »

“But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever;
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
“All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
But He does according to His will in the host of heaven
And among the inhabitants of earth;
And no one can ward off His hand
Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’

“At that time my reason returned to me And my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out; so I was reestablished in my sovereignty, and surpassing greatness was added to me.

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.”  Daniel 4:34-37

Now that the election is over what do we do?  We pray for our leaders.  Even if we do not agree or like our leaders we are responsible for praying for them.  We should not just pray for those we like but pray for all of our leaders from our local leaders to our national leaders.  We can have influence over our leaders through prayer because God has authority over all of them.

Daniel was known as a praying man.  Even King Nebuchadnezzar knew about Daniel’s God and sought Daniel’s wisdom and influence.  Daniel went on to influence other kings.  Daniel did not just sit back and complain about the kings but he committed everything to prayer and God’s hands.  When we commit ourselves to praying for other God will actually knit our hearts together and give us wisdom and insight.

Our government needs our wisdom and prayers.  God is the one with all the answers and when we seek God’s face and stand in the gap for our nations God will intervene and bring about change for the better.

Look at what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar, he was the wicked king in the world but when he lost his kingdom and everything he finally called on Daniel’s God – the Most High.  When King Nebuchadnezzar called out to God all that he lost was restored to him and he gave all glory and honor to God.  One of the reasons that King Nebuchadnezzar came to know God was through Daniel; Daniel stood in the gap and we must do the same for our leaders whether we like them or not.  We must pray because prayer changes everything – including the salvation of a wicked king.

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