PERECT

Happy Sunday!

I knew a woman who would become depressed around the Christmas Holiday if there was no snow!  She lived in an area of the country where snow was not common in December.  Movies, books, and traditions had convinced her that a perfect Christmas had to have certain specific details!  Now that I've lived in numerous states with varied climates, I wish I could have encouraged her to move to a place like Minnesota, Indiana, or Iowa where snow at Christmas is almost guaranteed! 

The story of the birth of Jesus Christ was perfect, even though the circumstances were not!  Don't miss this!  The ruler decided to tax the people, and it required Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem!  Traveling so close to her delivery date couldn't have been easy, and they were traveling on foot or by donkey.  Then they arrived and the Inn was full!  No Internet or phones to call ahead and get a reservation!  Then the baby arrived and Mary used what was available!  She swaddled her baby in strips of cloth and place him in a manger! (Luke 2).  

How was this perfect?  I'm so glad you asked!  The Prophet Micah gave this prophecy hundreds of years before Jesus was born, "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come FROM you on my behalf."(Micah 5:2 NLT).  God used Caesar Augustus to get them to Bethlehem at the perfect time to fulfil the prophecy.  God himself prophesied to Satan in Genesis about Jesus Christ, "From now on you and the woman will be enemies, as will your offspring and hers. You will strike his heel, but HE will crush your head.” (Genesis 3:15 TLB).  1 John 3:8 says, "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For THIS PURPOSE, the Son of God was manifested, that he might DESTROY the works of the devil."(KJV). 

Jesus came to save us and to destroy the works of the Devil!  Jesus came to give us a Hope and a Future! (Jeremiah 29:11).  He came to fix the mess that Adam got us into, and He's still interested in, "Seeking and Saving the lost!"(Luke 19:10).  Psalm 138:8 says, "The Lord will PERFECT that which concerns me; Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, endure forever—forsake not the works of Your own hands."(AMPC).  

Merry Christmas!

Love and prayers, Cynthia

Good VS Evil

 Happy Sunday!

"The wicked become angry when they see this. They grind their teeth in anger, but then they disappear. They will NEVER get what they want most."(Psalm 112:10 Easy-to-Read Version).

What is making the wicked people angry?  Good question.  I'm so glad you asked. Reading the entire 112 Psalm will explain why the wicked are so angry.  Psalm 112 describes a Godly, God-fearing, God-respecting person and the wonderful life God provides for him.  Verse 1 says, "Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who fears the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence and worships Him with obedience], Who delights greatly in His commandments."(Amplified). 

Why would the wicked hate the good?  Well, the Apostle James described it like this, "What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn’t it because there is a whole army of EVIL desires within you? You want what you don’t have, so you kill to get it. You long for what others have, and can’t afford it, so you start a fight to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask you don’t get it because your whole aim is wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure."(James 4:1-3 Living Bible).

Psalm 37:4 says, "Do what the Lord wants, and he will give you your heart’s desire."(CEV).  You and I are probably more familiar with the King James Version of this scripture, "Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart".  We never have to worry about the wicked, we just want to live our lives in a way that makes it clear that we are not the wicked ones.  Jesus said, "A good tree does not produce bad fruit. And a bad tree does not produce good fruit.  Every tree is known by the kind of fruit it produces. You won’t find figs on thorny weeds. And you can’t pick grapes from thorn bushes! GOOD people have good things saved in their hearts. That’s why they say good things. But those who are EVIL have hearts full of evil, and that’s why they say things that are evil. What people say with their mouths comes from what fills their hearts."(Luke 6:43-45 Easy-to-Read Version).

"If you want a happy, good life, keep control of your tongue, and guard your lips from telling lies."(1 Peter 3:10 Living Bible).

Love and prayers, Cynthia

In Earth, as it is in Heaven

Happy Sunday!

When did God create you?  When did God create everything, you would need for life and godliness?  I know what you are thinking!  Cynthia, why are you asking these silly questions?  But are they really that silly?  Do you realize that some people are approaching God as if he created them and failed to consider that they would need food, clothing, shelter, college tuition, and transportation!  People are praying and asking God to do things for them that he has already done since the foundation of the world!   The great evangelist, T.L. Osborn once said, "Much prayer time is wasted by people asking God for two things that He will NEVER do:  1) To do what He has already done.  2) To do what He has told them to do."   Don't be that person!  Work through these questions for yourself.  Get your personal theology straight!

God created us to dominate in the earth realm!  Our ancestor, Adam messed up, but God always had a plan!  He is never reactive, but always proactive.  He's even called Jehovah Jireh, which means God sees ahead of time and provides!  Even in Genesis, there are prophetic promises of the good ending he planned for mankind.  God created everything you will ever need long, long ago.  Hebrews 4:3 says, "For only we who believe God can enter into his place of REST. He has said, “I have sworn in my anger that those who don’t believe me will never get in,” even though he has been ready and waiting for them since the world began."(Living Bible).    Did you see that?  Faith is necessary to see the resources and provision of God!  Dr. Bill Winston said, "Faith for the Promise, is in the Promise.  Faith goes into the Eternal realm and gets what we need!"  It's like a heavenly bank account.  Everything you will ever need is there.  But just like an earthly bank account, there are procedures and guidelines in place in order to make a withdrawal.  Don't get mad at God because your transaction was denied due to insufficient Faith.

God wants you to do exploits!  Daniel 11:32(b) says, "but the people that do KNOW their God shall be strong and do exploits."(KJV).  He gets no Glory when we do small things that require no Faith.  He created you to reign as a king and a priest on earth.  Revelation 5:10 says, "You made them to be a kingdom and to be priests for our God.  And they will rule on the earth.”(Easy-to-Read Version).  I know the old church focused on Heaven.  Heaven is great, I've got lots of loved ones there.  But heaven is not the ultimate goal.  God wants us to bring heaven to earth.  OK, so you think I made that up?  Read it for yourself.  You can probably quote it from memory.  Matthew 6:9-13 says, "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in EARTH, AS IT IS in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."(KJV).  Don't miss this!  God wants the earth to look like heaven!  It might be helpful if we knew what heaven really looked like, right?  Revelation 21 says, there's no death, no crying, no darkness, no fear, no poverty, no sickness, no hunger, and no thirst.  Makes perfect sense that Jesus would say, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."(Luke 4:18-19, KJV).  He came to set things right.  We are his ambassadors and agents in the earth; sent to continue the work he began!

Love and prayers, Cynthia