Self Control Vs. The Rant

How long has it been since you got angry in traffic?  Maybe you ranted all the way home at that smaller, slower car in front of you in traffic, that leaves a huge space between themselves and the car in front of them, and traffic is heavy, you're in a hurry, and you're yelling basically at nobody, "Come on!  GO!"

God told me this morning that I am running out of time.  I am running out of time to save souls.  The day is drawing nearer my God to thee folks!  And the time of reckoning between my self control and my rant has finally come.

The ranting is over.  The sin is over.  The pain is over.  The past is in the past, dead and buried FOREVER with Christ Jesus who went to the depths of hell to set the captives free and rose triumphantly from the dead, forever raised to sit at the right hand of the Father, and His return is drawing near! There is no more mourning, just happiness and a fervor for ministry to others who are just like I was, ranting at traffic, or to anyone who will listen to you rant, as I used to.  I could never get my eyes off of myself, or out of the rear view, but praise God, today was the day God finally set this captive free!

No more, "well this and that, and so and so, and on and on and on and on."  My self control vs. my rant was constantly getting me into trouble, getting in my way and now I recognize the tool of the devil to stop the train of victories in my life, usually with that big hole near the bottom of my face!  I have finally found an answer to help me, and if any of you have the same problem, don't despair like I did.  Just imagine Jesus in control, behind the wheel, and just let go and let God.  The only one you are not helping by ranting, or saying things that you don't mean or rambling on and on about stuff that is basically meaningless is yourself.  God wants to use you, not lose you!

I have just had a major breakthrough that my recovery has already occurred.  I have been recovered, reclaimed, restored, re-confirmed, re-established, re-cleansed, rejuvenated, refreshed, rebuilt and every "RE" that is in the book!  When God salvages you from the bottom of the ocean, you just kinda know it?  No other recovery is really necessary.

My self control problem was that hole in the center of my face, and God gave me the answer to stop the trigger of my emotions speaking out first, and a vision of Christ next to me with His finger over my mouth and asking me, "What do you think I might say?"  Letting the spirit speak through us is how we reach others!  We live the life He would have lived!   Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths!"  OH MY GOODNESS THE LORDS GRACE IS BEING POURED OUT!  DO YOU NOT FEEL IT????

The Lord hasn't stopped conversing with me since the study I attended last night.  We were studying  Nehemiah, who went to the King with a down cast face, which as a cupbearer was punishable by death in those days.  A cupbearer was responsible for tastimg the food and wine before the King and Queen to assure it's safety, i.e., that they wouldn't be poisoned, and a few other things were involved, but Nehemiah had a down cast face and after several years of service, a friendship had been established.  When the King inquired of the sadness he saw in Nehemiah he told the King that he wanted to go to the burial place of his fathers, and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.  (Nehemiah 2:5)  The King let him go!  He was with the Queen and they asked Nehemiah for a time frame, and the King also provided all the necessary lumber, and materials that he would need to accomplish the job which was completed in just 52 days!  (Nehemiah 6:15).

Curiously, in Nehemiah 6:3, he is asked to come down from his work on the wall.  He sent messengers to those who had asked him to retreat from his work saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?"  This verse tells me that I am running out of time to do the job that God sent me to do, which is to tell you that God loves us all very much, so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on Calvary's Cross to save us from our sins so that we should not perish but have everlasting life!  (John 3:16).  The work is started, He is rebuilding me in a quick way, building on my past studies, and telling me new information all the time.

What  is really eerie?  After the wall was completed in just 52 days, Israel's enemies were stunned!  "When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence, for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God."  (Nehemiah 6:16).

That is an interesting verse, because immediately after the rapture, the Holy Spirit will be removed from the earth with the Bride of Christ, the Church, and immediately, God will cause a great delusion to come upon the earth, but some who have been enemies to us, who knew we were Christians, (think of the Christians being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa?) what will they think when all the Christians disappear?  They will be afraid, they will lose their self confidence and they will know that our God has saved us and that Jesus is very real!  Oooohhhhh just gives ya goosebumps doesn't it???

So look up - We are going home very soon!  God is whispering things in my ear, and I no longer have time to mess around with studies that will remove me from my appointed rounds.  I cannot leave the wallbuilding until the wall is up and all those that can be saved are saved!  I am meant to do ministry, not recovery, for God has already recovered me!

It just hit me this morning, but I am moving on in my passion for Christ and His message to the church!  "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."  (Revelation 2:7)

Jesus is our King.  He has already equipped us with the necessary tools, and gifts of the spirit to complete our task and we are all running out of time to complete the tasks He has given us for Jesus is near, even at the door!  Please, church, get on your feet!  Don't give in, don't give up, and keep looking up, for our redemption draweth nigh!

God Bless you all today as you go about your daily tasks and don't lose your self control because of traffic, or something someone said that hurt your feelings, or made you feel bad.  Just let it flow off of your back like water off of a duck! Go and serve your King!  And "May the King Live Forever!"  (Nehemiah 2:3).  We will Reign with Jesus forever - get ready church, cause he's getting ready to call us HOME!  (Revelation 4:1).  Jesus has delivered me from my rant, and now my King is in full control!

I am no longer caught up in myself!

Obedience to God & The Blessings That Follow

Sometimes, when we are so lost in our jaded hearts, filled with confusion, desperation, etc., we do things we never thought we would do.  This happened to me a few years ago.

I have now removed all of the walls between me and the Lord by coming into full obedience removing all of those sins and asking His forgiveness.  Now He is "transforming me, by the renewing of my mind," and the endless comfort I can feel coming from Heaven itself is amazing to me.

Do you have something in your life that is doggin you?  Some sin you can't seem to stop?  Do what I did.  Dump it, no matter what it is, because God has something better for you!  I promise He does!  His timing is always perfect, so be patient, for the provision has already been made for you I promise!  God's words, His promises, are solid, never ending, and they are from everlasting to everlasting!

So pick yourself up off the floor and get that one thing out of your life that is putting the wall up between you and God.  Start then to pray that God will bless you with what He wants for you!  Whether that is healing, or surviving, etc., stop the sin.  Get it out of your life, once and for all so that He can begin to work a miracle, giving you hope and strengthening you with his own hand.  

"He will lead you to the promise land, He'll lead you home!"  Michael W.Smith.

Don't give up!  God's got plans!  The valley your in, the mountain your climbing, don't let it blind you to what God's promises are!  You are a child of the king!  He loves us all, and wants the best for us!

Be obedient, and what seems too big, too overwhelming, will disappear.  God wants to love you.  Please let Him?  What you're searching for is right in front of you!  Reach out to God!  Get back to your scripture's, ask God to forgive you, stop feeling sorry for yourself, help someone else who's in trouble!  Get your eyes off of yourself, and put them on Jesus, or you will sink like a stone just like Peter did!

Be still and know that He is God!

Avoiding Strife

"The beginning of strife is like releasing water; Therefore stop contention before a quarrel starts."  (Proverbs 17:14)

Have you ever had anyone complain at you and annoy you to the point that you wanted to answer with an angry response?  Well if you do, be prepared, because that's the beginning of sometimes a very pointless argument that just harms whoever you are arguing with as well as yourself!

Suggestion?  Say something funny to diffuse the situation, or just don't say anything, keep it zipped!  If it's your spouse, you may want to just take them in your arms and say something like, "I'm sorry your upset, what did I do?  If I did something to upset you, I apologize."  Even if you did nothing wrong, it will open the discussion that is a mature conversation and therefore saves you from making the situation worse!

It might be that your husband/wife had a rough day and doesn't mean to take it out on you, but you must avoid strife at all costs, because it is sinful!  The bible says "Be angry, and sin not." (Ephesians 4:26).  Let us love one another as Christ first loved us!  He's already taken every sin, past, present, and future onto himself for us.  He felt every drunk alcoholic, every panic attack, every tear, every bit of anger, out of an entire world of people who had lived, who were living and who would live in the future!  He took all of our sin upon himself.  When I think of how that must have felt, I get a panic attack myself and wind up in tears!

We need to learn, especially us married couples, how to respond to strife when it comes towards us.  Recognize the emotion as a trick of the devil to cause you to fight with your spouse!   This is a sin, and you must avoid it at all costs, because it can cause permanent damage to a relationship if you don't recognize it for what it truly is. An attack from the very depths of hell.  Satan wants to destroy your marriage, your friendship, your job situation, on and on....just see it for what it truly is and do not let it happen!

Let us love, be happy, and not let strife enter any area of our lives because it puts up walls between us and the Lord. 

Answer your wife's griping with a hug to try to make her feel loved and appreciated.  Tell her the house looks nice, and that she is beautiful, even if she has flour in her hair from fixing dinner!  Don't gripe back if you had a bad day too!  You can fix both of your bad days with your response, or you can make it worse with your response!  But if you do get angry, don't go to bed until you've apologized!

You ladies, do the same.  If your husband comes home in a rotten mood and starts to growl at everyone, walk over to him give him a hug and tell him how much you love him and appreciate what he has to put up with at work every day to provide for your family and ask if there's anything you can do to make it better.  Rub his back and shoulders, give him a kiss, hold him in your arms, show your love and appreciation and I mean, I don't care how bad your day was?  If you respond to an angry word with love, it changes everything for "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger."  (Proverbs 15:1).

You choose?  It's up to you!   Just remember?  The person with the strife is crying out for love.  Answer strife with love.  It changes everything!

God Bless America's Son

In 1750 George Washington took a thousand mile journey along with a guide, to deliver a message to the French and Indian at the fork of the three rivers, now known as current day Pittsburgh, but known at the time as "Ft. Duquesne," to vacate the Fort.   He nearly drowned in a river getting there to deliver the message!

When General Braddock, an arrogant British General came along two years later with his men to fight them, Dinwiddie sent Washington along as a "guide," because he had made the journey and knew the way.  He was not a member of the militia at that time because there had been an uproar in England and the British Regulars were angry that the Militia Members in the US Colonies were making rank faster, with more pay etc., and when they tried to demote Washington, he was so insulted that he quit!

On the way to Ft. Duquesne, he fell ill and the surgeon traveling with Braddock and his men made Washington stay behind 3 days.  When he was finally able to travel and reached the site of the battle, not only was Braddock mortally wounded, 977 British Regulars were dead along with 63 British Officers.  

He got out of the covered wagon he had been riding in and got on a horse, two pillows under him, and when the Indian chief they were fighting saw him, hiding in the woods of the fort and the trees, he told his men, "this man doesn't fight like the others.  He fights like an Indian, aim your arms at him and let your aim be true."  They shot two horses out from under him before it was over, but he saved many when he rode into the battle to cry "retreat!"

He had bullet holes in his hat, shirt and pant legs that were torn, and it was a miracle he survived the onslaught of all of the weapons aimed at Him.  I believe He had some help from above. 

A few years later in 1755, after the British had successfully ended the French Indian war, Washington, being a land surveyor, was sent to survey the land (he laid out the city of Alexandria, VA, bet you didn't know that.  I didn't!),  to divide it among the American Militia Men who fought the battle so they could have homesteads.  

The Indian Chief who had called for his men to aim at Washington heard somehow that he was headed his direction, and though he was old and close to death, he made his men carry him into Washington's path where he bestowed a prophecy upon him.  "This man shall not die in battle, for a greater power protects him."  Then, the most amazing thing he said...gives me goosebumps....the Indian Chief proclaimed that "one day, he will be known as the leader of a great Empire."

George Washington made a covenant with God to protect him and his men as they ran for their lives in one of the first devastating battles of the Revolution.  The fight for New York City.  They had lost many men, and they were trying to escape, but the British fleet was already in motion trying to surround them and force the American Colonists to surrender.  However, that wasn't what God planned, and many men were still trying to escape in the night, but they were facing head wind.  Suddenly, the winds shifted in their favor and they were able to move more quickly towards safety.  But as day was about to break, there were still many men who needed to escape and another miracle was needed.  Just in time, a providential pea soup fog came into the harbor out of nowhere, protecting the Continental Army as they made their escape.  They floated right next to the British Flotilla, but the fog was so thick, you could barely see your hand in front of your face.  Washington was the last to leave shore and get in a boat and flat away right under their noses!  If not for the tail winds and the fog, the Revolutionary War would have ended before it had begun!

If you haven't read "The Covenant," by Timothy Ballard or "The Real George Washington," by Jay Parry, I suggest you find a copy of both and read up.  This country has a Covenant with God, and we have broken it.  It is time to get back to God, get on our knees and pray for this country before those who want again, to do us harm, are allowed to tear us and this Country apart.

We all have a little of Washington in us.  It is for us that he fought, it is for us that he served.  We owe him and the Founding Father's a debt we cannot repay unless we mobilize against the evil that is about to come upon us.

The Club of Rome has a map of 10 different sections that will be the "New World Order," and it is time to prepare our minds, our hearts, our bodies and gird ourselves with the Word of God and above all, our faith, the kind of faith Washington had, or this country will fall.

Pray with diligence that these despots are not allowed to take our country away from US!  WE THE PEOPLE!  Above all, ask God for Grace.  We are going to need it! 

God Bless the United States and her first son, 

George Washington!

Texting for Jesus!

Okay, so how many times a day do you text? 5? (Whoa, you need an unlimited plan! lol), 10, 20, 30, endless?  Well what if we used all these gadgets and gizmos we have with all this new technology to reach others for Christ? (Just whatever you do, don't text while driving or walking down a busy street. You might get hurt?).

Like you teenagers?  When your at the end of your "textathon" maybe you could invite your friend to Wed. night youth group? Then in that final text say, "God bless, CYA tomorrow! (add a smiley face!)

And you workers out there, I don't care what business you are in, you carry a cell phone!  Be uplifting and encouraging.  Maybe your texting a co-worker who is going through a divorce they really don't want.  Tell them you'll pray that he/she changes their mind and stops the proceedings.  Then commit in your own heart to pray for both of them!  Sign off all your texts with, "Take care, God Bless.  See ya tomorrow.

And what about you housewives out running errands texting your 16 yr old at home to make sure everything is okay, and to make sure that you don't need to make a stop at the store on the way home??  End your text with "You're such a great kid.  I thank God for you in my prayers every morning and every night.  Thank you for being so responsible and for helping out at home.  Love u!"

What we say to others, whether in person, on the phone, or through a text message, has meaning!  It just dawned on me that we have all these wonderful gadgets and gizmos, but how often do we use them to bless one another or those who don't know Jesus?  Shame on us! If you feel weird about it, just ask God to give you the right words and He will!  Remember, you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength, so don't shrink from the opportunity, grasp it with zeal!

If we are going to make it thru what is to come, we need to be on our knees and telling everyone we know!  If I had just reached out to my neighbor, a nice guy whose tree fell thru our fence one windy night and did most of the clean up together with his wife?  If I had just reached out to them...maybe he wouldn't have hung himself in his garage!

Belief in action can happen in texting too!  Show others, especially those you really care about, the love of Christ by texting what He might have texted!  Again, even thru these gadgets and gizmos that God gave man the intelligence to create means that God has a far reaching hand in our lives even when we aren't paying attention!

So text or phone a friend to check up on them, and love and accept people just the way they are!  Love others and help those who need it!  It isn't hard, you just have to TRY!  Upside?  God will bless your efforts even if they are not fruitful!

So will you run away from my challenge or will you text for Christ?