A Lively Hope!
You Are Not Reading This By Chance – It Is THE WILL of GOD for You!
Penned by Brother Jimmy Molands
Inspired by The HOLY SPIRIT
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: (1Peter 1:6)
We are to “Count it all joy,” says James (James 1:2) when we find ourselves in divers temptations. When he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life, which THE LORD hath promised to them that love HIM (James 1:12b).
What a promise! What a rejoicing we should have! GOD has promised to give us a “Crown of life.” Or may I say so bluntly, a life worth living. A life of righteousness, of glory, and of liberty and honor. The trial of our faith is not to gain more faith as some are led to believe, but to purify what is already there. You don’t purify something if there isn’t anything to purify. GOD purifies us much the same way you purify gold. He heats it up to bring to the surface what we trust in other than CHRIST. Then HE scoops away these other faiths, so that only one faith remains. The same process as you would do to silver and gold. Why are we to “Count it all joy?” In the end, we will receive a “Crown of life” for our patience.
It really helps to know what THE LORD is doing. Many fall prey to thinking HE is judging them when they find themselves in all kinds of adversity, some even believe it is punishment for some evil or sin when the trials come upon them. The trials clear out what we want to hold on to other than CHRIST.
There isn’t any security in our job, our bank account, our friends, our family, our wife, or our husband. In the end, these will all fail, but GOD’s Love will Never Fail. Which is the reason for the trial of our faith to begin with, to purge out the old “faiths” and leave the one where we trust only THE LORD. Once we learn (or have completed) that THE LORD can be counted on no matter what, this is the end of faith.
Rejoice… Rejoice and again I say, Rejoice!
We are to rejoice for the package is on its way. It has been promised and verified by GOD’s UPS, as we wait patiently for it to be delivered. A promise that cannot be nullified, lost, or repented of, because it is backed by The WORD of GOD. GOD has Promised to give us life, and life abundantly to those who Love HIM.
Again, I say, rejoice…
Amen
I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Philippians 4:11
Penned by Minister Charles Spurgeon
Inspired by The HOLY SPIRIT
These words show us that contentment is not a natural human inclination. Covetousness, discontentment, and complaining are as natural to man as weeds are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth. Similarly, we do not need to teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education. But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plough and sow. If we want flowers, we must plant and care for a garden. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of Heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated. It will not grow in us by nature. It is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then, we must be especially careful and watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace that GOD has sown in us.
Paul said, “I have learned…to be content.” This statement implies that he did not know how to be content at one time. It cost him some pains to arrive at the mystery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned the lesson, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained it, and could say, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,” he was an old gray-headed man, on the borders of the grave – a poor prisoner shut up in Nero’s dungeon in Rome. We might well be willing to endure Paul’s infirmities and share the cold dungeon with him, if we, too, might by any means attain his good position. Do not indulge the notion that you can be contented with learning or learn without discipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally but a science to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience.
Brother and sister, hush that grumbling, natural though it be, and continue to be diligent pupil in the College of Contentment.
GOD Is Still In Control!
Penned by Pastor Bobbi Cloyd
Inspired by THE HOLY SPIRIT
As we begin this New Year, let’s continue to remind ourselves of what we know to be true. GOD is always in control.
GOD is OMNIPOTENT – All-Powerful. The earth is THE LORD’s and fullness thereof. Everything in the world GOD made. Nothing made GOD, if it exists, GOD made it. GOD is All Powerful, and there is no one or nothing in this world that is greater than HIM.
GOD is OMNISCIENT – GOD knows all things. There is nothing that HE does not know. GOD is never taken by surprise. HE wrote the book of life, and HE knows the entire story from the beginning to the end. David asked in the Psalms 139, where could he go that GOD was not there? Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of THE LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Hebrews 4:13 tells us that there is no one or anything that GOD does not see.
GOD is OMNIPRESENT – GOD is everywhere at all times. Again, Psalms 139:7-10, emphasizes that GOD is everywhere at all times. GOD asked Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23:23-24, “AM I a GOD at hand, saith THE LORD, and not a GOD afar off? (24) Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith THE LORD. Do not I fill Heaven and earth saith, THE LORD.”
When we understand that GOD is ALL POWERFUL, ALL KNOWING, and ALL PRESENT, and there is no other GOD besides THE FATHER of JESUS, let us rest assured that GOD is in total control – always will be and always has been.
Quit listening to the news, turn the television off, turn off the radio, and quit listening to all of these people telling you that someone or something is greater than our GOD – because if you are a child of GOD, then you know that there is nothing or no one greater than THE TRUE LIVING GOD or HIS SON JESUS THE CHRIST and GOD is always in control. Amen