Yes, You Can...

Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday!   I love you!  I appreciate that you allow me to invade your Inbox every week with the latest sermon notes and the things the Lord has revealed to me about His Word!  I'm praying for you always. What am I praying?  So glad you asked!  I'm praying that you will be filled with the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Christ.  Praying that you will fulfill God's PERFECT purpose for your life.  Praying that you always hear and follow the Voice of God, and never the voice of the enemy.  I pray that God guides you in every meeting, activity, and conversation you have.  I'm praying that you are ALWAYS in the right place, at the right time, with the right information and the right understanding.  I believe God is and has Blessed you spiritually, emotionally, physically, and financially, and I expect to see the manifestation in your life!

Dr. Bill Winston continued the series, "Christ in You" with the subtitle, "I can do all things through Christ!".  I'd like to share a bit of the what we call the increase message.  It's the Word before the offering.  1 John 5:3 says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."(KJV).  The Amplified Version of this same scripture says, "For the [true] love of God is this: that we do His commands [keep His ordinances and are mindful of His precepts and teaching]. And these orders of His are not irksome (burdensome, oppressive, or grievous)."  Don't miss this!  What God tells you to do is NOT burdensome, or oppressive!  He NEVER asks you to do anything that you cannot do!  He's even nice enough to give you strength to do it!  Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."(KJV).

Why should I follow the commands or Word of God?  Can't I do it my way?  My way seems to be working!  Great questions!  First, either God is Lord of All, or he's not Lord at all!  You decide if he's really Lord in your life.  If He is your Lord then obedience becomes easy!  John 14:21 says, "Those who really love me are the ones who not only know my commands but also obey them. My Father will love such people, and I will love them. I will make myself known to them.”(Easy-to-Read Version).  Dr. Winston always reminds us of the Platter's hit, "The Great Pretender".  You youngsters will need to Google it!  Don't be a pretender!  At least be true to yourself!  1 John 2:4 says, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."(KJV).  OUCH!  The Living Bible version of this same scripture says, "Someone may say, “I am a Christian; I am on my way to heaven; I belong to Christ.” But if he doesn’t do what Christ tells him to, he is a liar."  These scriptures come against the popular notion and excuse that, "God knows my heart, I'm a good person".  Yes, He knows your heart alright!

Where are we going with this?  So happy you asked!  God has wonderful things in store for those that love and obey Him.  Deuteronomy 28:11-12 says, "God will LAVISH you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that God promised your ancestors that he would give you. God will throw open the doors of his SKY VAULTS and pour rain on your land ON SCHEDULE and bless the WORK you take in hand. You will LEND to many nations but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan."(Message).  Recently, my daughter, Christina asked about Exodus 4:24-26. Read it when you get a chance.  You may be surprised to know that God was going to kill Moses.  Kill Moses?  Yes, Moses failed to do something God commanded him to do and God was going to kill him.  His wife saved his life, by circumcising their son.  I thought about this again today, because a friend at church mentioned it.  The Word is filled with awesome stories like this.  Jesus paid the price for us, and we have a much better covenant than Moses...BUT Obedience is always in order.

Love and prayers, Cynthia