THE WINDS OF CHANGE

This is Election Year 2008....and it seems the most prominent word in all the campaigns, presidential and otherwise, is "CHANGE". It will take drastic change to bring our beloved America back to her founational roots. And that change cannot be man-made!! Only a return to the God of our Founding Fathers can precipitate the change that is needed.

Consider the following:

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them,
I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew
and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was
founded on the rock.

"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not
do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the
sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds
blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

[Matthew 7:24-27 (NKJV)]

Have you ever heard them, the winds of change? Rustling through your spirit like a freight train, or throwing you off guard like a hard knock, they are felt not only in our bodies but also in our minds and spirits.

Sometimes the wind has a very warming effect upon us. Have you ever walked against the wind on a summer’s eve? It is both exhilarating and warms a person up quickly. Fall brings breezes that remove leaves from the trees assisting them for a time of dormancy. Fall winds are pleasurable and paint a colorful picture.

Then there are winds that have a chilling effect. We find ourselves buttoning up coats and putting on hats, but still the winter’s wind brings with it a biting feeling and a numbness that is almost painful. It is a blessing when the signs of spring emerge and gentle breezes begin to blow. The spring winds are so fresh and invigorating. The warming sun is bright, but the winds of the changing season make the temperatures just right.

Winds at the perfect time, and at the perfect velocity, make nature even more beautiful to behold. These winds are "winds of change" that usher out one season allowing nature to prepare for the next. They happen regularly, and often they go unnoticed as we scurry around with our busy lives.

There is yet another kind of wind. Whether it comes from the north, south, east, or west, there is a sudden change of conditions. The winds become perilous and perhaps even life threatening. These are the winds that make up the tropical storms, hurricanes, tornados, and typhoons. They are powerful forces to be reckoned with, and many times we have little warning to prepare for them. At other times, we simply do not heed the warning signs.

Sudden changes are often stormy times in our lives. The lid gets blown off our box of dreams, our marriage collapses, our friendships are blown away, our ministries swirl out of control, or our jobs go right out the window. Perhaps illness threatens our lives, or situations try to pull apart our families. These are just a few of the effects of "the winds of change."

I have felt the "winds of change" recently. We will all be exposed to them at some time along life’s journey. We may not have the time to protect ourselves as we feel we should, but if we will take a lesson from the wise man in Matthew 7:24-25, we will perhaps suffer anguish and pain—but our lives in Jesus will remain intact. You see the wise man built his house from the foundation upon The Rock. Though the winds came, he remained because his foundation was well built.

What are you building on today? Are you constructing your life upon dreams, talents, other’s promises, friendships, children, your health, your church, or your spouse? Each of these things has a place in our lives, but they cannot be the foundation for our life or we will be totally blown away by the "winds of change." The word "change" means "a new challenge" and if we are to grow into the image of Christ, it will be through the avenue of change.

Every time you survive the ferocious winds of change, you need to go and measure yourself. You will find that you have grown a little bit taller in the things of God. You will look a little bit more like Jesus. The winds of change are not something that we look forward to, but they are priceless though painful times in the life of the believer.

Maybe today is a good day to check your foundation. Some of you may find that a bit of repair work is needed. Others may have to build on higher ground. Do what you can now—because when the "winds of change" begin to blow, you will find yourself holding on for dear life. If you are holding on to The Master, He will take you to a place of safety and eventually will speak to the winds with His mighty voice saying, "Peace be still."

The "winds of change" may come and go, but if you build wisely on the firm foundation of Jesus you will remain!

WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING?

"Your words are what sustain me. They bring me great joy and are
my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty.
(Jeremiah 15:16 NLT)

"i will write down these things as a testimony of what the Lord
will do. I will entrust it to my disciples, who will pass it down
to future generations.
(Isaiah 8:16 NLT)

"For I have stayed in God's paths; I have followed his ways and
not turned aside. I have not departed from his commands but
have treasured his word in my heart.
(Job 23:11-12 NLT)


Our bodies originated in the soil of Eden. It should not surprise us that they are sustained by food that grows from the soil. Every source of food ultimately finds its nourishment in the soil, and that nourishment sustains our bodies.

Likewise, our souls were created by the breath of God in Eden; it should not surprise us that the Word of God, which is inspired, or "God breathed," sustains our souls. If we plan to eat food each day to keep our body alive, shouldn't we also plan to feast on God's Word each day to sustain our soul?

HOW WELL DO WE UNDERSTAND GOD'S WORD?

"But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds so they will understand them, and I will write them on their hearts so they will obey them. I will be their God, and they will be my people!" Hebrews 8:10 NLT

"Above all, you must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves or because they wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God." 2 Peter 1:20-21 NLT

How remarkable that the God of the universe would actually want to communicate with us! We are creatures of a material, physical world to which we relate through our five senses. God is a spiritual being. We in our physical state cannot see Him, hear Him, or touch Him, so how can He communicate with us? Through the Bible.

Over several centures, God inspired a select number of people to write down what He felt we needed to know about Him and How he expects us to live. These writings have been collected into this book, called the Holy Bible. In a miraculous way, the Bible speaks to each of us. Its truths apply across generations, across cultures, across all life experience.

When it comes to reading the Bible, most of us read just enough to get by. Read God's Word daily so you can thoroughly understand all God wants you to know.

GOD'S PURPOSE

There are many discernment ministry websites available in Cyberland. One of my favorites is that of Anton Bosch. From a recent post, I share the following:

"What does the Bible reveal about God’s ultimate purpose in his dealings with mankind? What is the theme that runs from Genesis through Revelation and that transcends both testaments?

Some may say it is Jesus Christ. That is true – the whole of Scripture reveals Him. He appears on every page and Jesus Himself said that the Scriptures speak of Him. (John 5:39). But what is God trying to achieve through Jesus? What is that ultimate purpose?

Many say that God’s ultimate purpose is to save man and that the Bible is the account of God’s great plan of salvation. Some even refer to it all as “redemptive history” – the account of God working out His plan of salvation for man. This view is very popular, but is it true?

Personally, I have a problem with that idea. Yes, we read about God’s attempts to save man, in spite of himself, from the very first pages. But what has His dealings with Israel to do with that purpose? If His purpose is to save man, then why did He not go straight to the nations, rather than spend two thousand years dealing with Israel first? And what did the two thousand years between Adam and Abraham have to do with that purpose?

The problem is that if God’s ultimate and highest purpose is to save man, then God is man-centered and not God-centered. This makes man an idol to God and that surely cannot be. Yes, we like to think that it all revolves around us and that everything that God does is about us, our salvation and our ultimate happiness. But that kind of thinking takes us straight back to the garden where Satan tempted Eve to think about things from her perspective, rather than God’s.

Others will say that the church – the bride of Christ – is God’s highest purpose. For them everything revolves around the church and the church is the ultimate end of all of God’s dealings with mankind. But that is also not true since it once-again makes us, the members of the church, the focal point and makes Old Testament saints inferior since they are not part of the church.

Unfortunately, modern Christianity has become so man-centered so that the Lord and His purposes hardly figure in any of our thinking. It has all become about us and what God can and does for us. We have forgotten that the highest of all beings is God Himself. He is greater than you and me and He is greater than the church. God himself said that we should not have any other gods before or next to Him (Exodus 20:3). To many their salvation, the church or themselves have become things they worship and that has become the end of all things.

But God is the end and center of all things. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:33-36).

Read the entire article at
http://www.antonbosch.org

FOR OF HIM AND THROUGH HIM AND TO HIM ARE ALL THINGS, TO WHOM BE GLORY FOREVER. AMEN!

HOW DOES GOD LEAD?

"My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish." (John 10:27-28 NLT)

As our Good Shepherd, Jesus promises that we can hear and know His voice. This does not, however, have to be some mysterious, mystical process. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that God speaks to you quite often. I would venture to say He has spoken to you lately and may be speaking to you right now in some way.

God speaks to us through His Word. God will never lead us contrary to His written Word. It is our litmus test, our bedrock, our absolute.

God speaks to us through circumstances. Those circumstances can include failure. Jonah certainly heard God through his mistake. God may even speak to us through tragedy or hardship. C. S. Lewis wrote that, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is His megaphone to arouse a deaf world."

God speaks to us through His peace. When we live in God's will, we enjoy His peace. Do you need God to make a crucial call in your life? Then listen for His peace.

And once we have heard God's voice, what should we do? We must follow. Jesus calls, we respond. He whispers, we move. We follow-and then we keep on listening.

GOD REVEALED

God revealed himself mightily to the prophet Elijah, sending fire to burn the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. But later, as Elijah moped on the mountain, the Lord taught him an important lesson. There was a wind, an earthquake, and a fire—but the Lord was not in any of these. Then came a still, small voice. That was how God chose to speak to His prophet. The same is true today. We long for fire from heaven to silence the skeptics once and for all, but God doesn't usually work that way. Long ago He revealed Himself as a helpless baby sleeping in a dirty feed trough, and today He speaks quietly to ordinary people like you and me—if only we are still enough to listen.

Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, "Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, 'Yes, Lord, your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came and called as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel replied, "Yes, your servant is listening."
1 Samuel 3:8-10 NLT

That is the sentiment expressed by Emily May Grimes in the words of the hymn, "Speak, Lord, in the Stillness."

Speak, Lord, in the stillness, while I wait on Thee;

hushed my heart to listen in expectancy.

Speak, O blessed Master, in this quiet hour,

let me see Thy face, Lord, feel Thy touch of power.

IT IS TIME

I was very dismayed when, recently, a family member of mine said to me with great resignation that Obama will take the presidency. These words came from someone who in the past has been a great prayer warrior. What is happening was my question? Why are we Christians settling and not issuing a battle cry and falling to our knees and taking our country back? We allow ourselves to be stripped of the right to pray at school functions and in school, we have the 10 commandments removed from government places and are told we cannot pray in school; all the while providing public prayer places for Muslims. What in the world is going on and why are we being apathetic? Why aren't we praying? Our God is a mighty God who is waiting patiently for us to raise our voices to heaven to stop the tide of the anti-Christ actions in our world today.

Now we find we have a charismatic candidate for president who does not respect our flag and refuses to wear one on his lapel except when it becomes politically expedient and whose own wife and pastor that he loves, profess to have strong anti-white feelings, and we sit back and say 'it is a given, we can do nothing.' There has never been a time in 2000 years that we can do nothing, never a time that we must sit back and allow the evil in men's and women's hearts to take over our world. We should be very afraid because our apathy is leading us to perdition.

It is time for all Christian Americans to raise the battle cry and take our nation back. Maybe McCain on his own cannot defeat Obama, but our God can and He will if we take to our knees in prayer and raise a mighty cry to the heavens to 'Save us O Lord.' We have the power to change the course of this election and to keep a man as suspect as Barak Obama from leading our country to who knows where with his message of 'change' - a change which I fear will be away from our Christian ideals and away from Christ, and further away from one nation under God, to one nation under Allah. We pray not!!

God parted the Red Sea, Jesus raised himself from the dead, and we can bring our country back to its Christian roots and stop the move to the rise of Muslims in our country. We can stop our country from being 'under Allah', but we must begin to pray, to pray as if our country and our lives depended on it, because they do. We can stop all these atrocities against God's commands that have taken root in our country. We can do it through something as simple as sincere
prayer, a call to God to deliver us, to forgive us our sins of apathy and to protect us from the evil that is upon us.

Okay, prayer warriors, here is your challenge, start those prayer chains. Get the spiritual power working on our behalf and stop Barak Obama the proper way, by calling on our God to save us from the deception that charismatic preaching is using to lead us on the wrong path. Stop those who would take God out of our country and our government. Raise up good men to lead us and protect us.

George Bush is being buffeted because he has fought a holy war against the evils that attack us and we should not be surprised, because a prophet is not honored in his own country. But we should not rest on our laurels and allow ourselves to be taken further off the path of Christianity, and to have God removed from our presence in our schools, courts, government and businesses. Invite God into the fray. Ask that His power rest upon us and give us the victory. Ask him to raise up a mighty army to defend us and to protect our country as he did in days of old. Let us be victorious beginning NOW. The battle is His but we must call on Him without ceasing, and unite our voices and hearts in prayer and fasting.

'Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.'

I Thessalonians 5:16-18

2008 - YEAR OF CHANGE?

When minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual politically-correct generalities, but what they heard instead was a stirring prayer, passionately calling our country to repentance and righteousness.
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In six short weeks, the Central Christian Church had logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of the prayer from India, Africa, and Korea. Commentator Paul Harvey aired the prayer on "The Rest of the Story" on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired!!

THE PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe on those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn children and called it a choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, The Living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

What awesome insight !!!! With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called a Christian nation that fears the Lord!

Really.....it's up to us! Elections are coming up. GET TO KNOW THE CANDIDATES.....MAKE YOUR OPINIONS KNOWN.

What's In Store For Today's Christian?

As we look around at the rate of spiritual and moral decay of our nation, we should take courage in knowing that we, as Christian Believers, are in the same place as the early Israelites when they were wandering in the wilderness. We are walking entirely by faith, depending totally on our Lord God to guide us through this barren land.

Wouldn't you like to know now what is in store for you a year from now? God leads us a day a time, a step at a time. No need to worry about distant events. The Welsh hymn writer, William Williams, compared the Christian life to the Israelite's trek through the wilderness. We may not know the route by which God is leading us, but we humbly count on His guidance. As a college student, Williams prepared for a career in medicine. But one Sunday morning he heard a man preaching in a Welsh churchyard. Williams responded in faith, and his life was radically changed. For forty-three years he preached and sang throughout Wales. "He sang Wales into piety," said one writer. He was the poet laureate of the Welsh revival. Soon, all of Wales was singing their way to the coal mines and soccer matches. And their favorite hymn was this marching song by one of their own: "Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah.…Songs of praises I will ever give to Thee."

The Lord will guide you continually,

watering your life when you are dry

and keeping you healthy, too.
Isaiah 58:11 NLT

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,

Pilgrim through this barren land;

I am weak, but Thou art mighty;

Hold me with Thy powerful hand;

Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more,

Feed me till I want no more.
William Williams

“TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE….”

Most of us are familiar with the above quote taken from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but how many of us know this verse: “And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou can not then be false to any man.” Unless we can be true to ourselves first, we cannot be true to others.

To thine own self be true…..how profound. How many of us have a hard time being true to ourselves? Those of us that gave our life to another at the cost of losing who we are in the process will have a hard time being true to ourselves. Allowing someone else to define who we are, we lose our ability to discover and grow inwardly. We no longer are able to discern a truth from a lie. For many of us, we have accepted lies for so long, that finding out what is true takes time and divine guidance.

Truth….truth is a word that brings out such negative reactions to many of us. You see truth is really an action word. You cannot accept truth without change. Accepting truth about ourselves is difficult, especially to those of us who have been abused, whether it be physically, mentally or emotionally. But truth does set one free if we will allow it to; it is a crucial part of healing. It gives us the freedom to be who we are. We are able to come to terms with our weakness (without condemnation) and appreciate our strength. Truth gives strength; it naturally builds healthy boundaries. Truth is open; it is honest even at the risk of being vulnerable again. Truth is light and brings forth life. When we walk in truth, we walk in light and when we walk in light we live a healthy life.

Truth is also love. The greatest act of love towards another is living a life that is truthful. For those of us who find it difficult to love ourselves, we will find it will come more easily when we walk in truth about who we are. If we walk in truth, we walk in perfect love, and if we walk in perfect love, then we do not walk in fear because perfect love casts out fear. Because we have been honest with ourselves, we are able to love ourselves with all of our imperfections, knowing that we are in “process” and therefore need not have others' approval. This is freedom indeed.The second part of this verse is a natural occurrence if we hold true to the first part of the verse. So, when in doubt as to our motives of not being truthful with someone….look inside, are we being less than truthful to ourselves?

GOD’S WORD IS TRUTH….

AND IF WE KNOW HIM,

AND HIS SPIRIT DWELLS IN US,

WE HAVE ALL TRUTH!