Church guide

Where do we fight life’s battles? We fight them in our minds. We consider this question and that question and we decide which answer we think is right. My question is do we ask for guidance from God or from His Word? These days seem to be more perilous with every passing hour and we must be very protective of our own mind. We must have God’s thoughts in our mind. We must know, not just be aware of, but KNOW that Jesus said He gave us His peace and we must allow His peace to rule our thinking. We must remember that God knows the end from the beginning and that nothing happens that God does not know about IN ADVANCE! Let us not fret. Let us trust God with all our heart today and every day.

In these uncertain days we can take comfort in God’s promises. Psalm 57:1-2 (KJV) 1. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. 2. I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.

Do you need peace of mind for living in these days? Go to the Lord and trust in Him with all your heart. Isaiah 26: 3-4 Amplified. You [the Lord] will guard him and keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on you, and hopes confidently in You. So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages].

The foundation of our lives consists in what we believe and who do we trust. God Almighty is a faith God. By faith, He spoke the worlds into existence. By the power of that spoken word, they remain. We must understand that faith in the Everlasting God is our foundation and that what we say in the storms of life must be what God says - not what we see! When we see disaster on the horizon, let us lift up our eyes to Heaven and ask God for help, revelation, courage, and power to stand in victory. The Word of God, revealed to us, is our foundation. Speaking that word will see us through any storm. It is urgent that we hide the Word of God in our heart so that in a storm that is what will come out. Anything else will lead to defeat and destruction.

There is a song that we sing that says these are the days of Elijah. What were the days of Elijah? Days in Israel when they were serving other gods. The people knew who God Almighty was, but they served “other gods”. In America today it seems that people are serving “other gods” such as selfishness, pleasure, riches, and fame, etc. They acknowledge God, but they do not know Him nor do they serve Him. The same call goes out today that was the call when Jesus walked this earth: Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! May we each examine ourselves before God to make sure that He IS God in our lives.

Jesus gave the example of the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built his house on the sand. It appears that today many people and nations that at one time had their “house” on the rock which represents Jesus, have now moved their house to the sand. The wise man had to dig deep in order to get his foundation on the rock therefore when the winds of adversity blew that rock did not move. On the other hand when the wind blows so does the sand. Jesus said that stormy winds would come, but those whose house was on the rock would be safe. Where is the foundation of your house?

We have all heard this old saying”sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me”. Nothing could farther from the truth! Words are powerful. God created the worlds and all that is in them with WORDS! Our words are filled with faith or fear. They are filled with love or hate. They are filled with discouragement or hope. If our words are continually filled with fear, hate, discouragement, defeat, dissatisfaction, etc. that is what our lives will continue to have. Your life cannot be filled with faith if your words are full of fear, etc. Let us listen to our words and change them if needed! This is the time that we must walk by faith and not by sight!

Have you ever lost your electricity and tried to burn an oil lamp? Sometimes when you light it there is a nice glow showing through the glass chimney. But other times it doesn’t want to light and when it does light, the chimney gets so smoked up you cannot see the glow. What to do? You clean the chimney, but... if you do not trim the wick the same thing will happen again when you try to light the lamp. Let us learn from the “lamp”. We too must trim our wick...change our thoughts and clean up our lives. Why? The world judges us by what they see us do and hear us say. May each of us be determined not to let anything in our lives hide the light of the world which is Jesus who lives in us.

Have you ever lost your electricity and tried to burn an oil lamp? Sometimes when you light it there is a nice glow showing through the glass chimney. But other times it doesn’t want to light and when it does light, the chimney gets so smoked up you cannot see the glow. What to do? You clean the chimney, but... if you do not trim the wick the same thing will happen again when you try to light the lamp. Let us learn from the “lamp”. We too must trim our wick...change our thoughts and clean up our lives. Why? The world judges us by what they see us do and hear us say. May each of us be determined not to let anything in our lives hide the light of the world which is Jesus who lives in us.

How are we going to keep standing in today’s world? We know we must stand, but it seems that “life” attacks us from every side. There is a verse of scripture in Isaiah 59 that says that when the devil comes in like a flood, God will raise a standard against him. God’s standard is Jesus. May we stand against the wiles of life and the devil in the name of Jesus. God’s banner over us is Jesus and His love for us. As we stand up in the power of God and the name of Jesus, we will find that the attack of the devil will be turned away. We must remember when we are attacked, that the power of Almighty God and the Name of Jesus will turn the worst of attacks away. Stand up!! Wear your armor!! Use your weapons!! Victory is yours!!

Planting seeds! Is there an art to it or do you just throw them out on the ground and hope for the best? We know that if we are to have pretty flowers or a garden that produces a good crop of vegetables, we must prepare the ground. The same is true with us spiritually. If we expect a crop of love, joy, peace, etc, we must prepare our hearts to receive God’s Word and act on it. Many people hear God’s Word and agree that it is right, but do not do what He says. We must prepare our heart, mind, and soul to receive if we are going to have production. Let us prepare to hear and do things God’s way today.

May we look unto God who is our shelter and our deliverer when calamity comes our way and there seems to be no answer. Psalm 57:1-3 KJV Be merciful unto me, O God: be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

Let us give praise to God because He is our God. He is full of mercy kindness, love, and blessings! Psalm 67:5-7 KJV Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

What are you eating these days? It seems that everyone is concerned with food, natural food. It is a good thing that we eat correctly, but it is a much better thing if we eat spiritual food. Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Where do we find these words? The words of God are written in the Bible. In these days we need to know what God has said to us and know that these words are personal - said personally to you. When we receive them as our personal words, we will be able to stand and shine in the storms of life.

Jesus said that you are the light of the world! He also said you are the salt of the earth! Therefore we need to be light and be salt. What does that mean? We are to let the light of the good news of hope in Jesus shine in our lives so others may see Jesus in us. What does salt do? It is supposed to season food in order to make it pleasant to the taste. Too much salt will ruin the food! We are not to be “salty” but we are to “season” our world with the goodness of God. If you will be light and be salt as Jesus commanded, you will see the results of the good news of the gospel in your life.

Where is your treasure? Is it on the earth or is it in heaven? Treasures on the earth can disappear over night. When we lay up treasure in heaven it is eternal. Where our treasure is that is where our eyes and thoughts will be. Jesus said that when we are focused on the things of eternal value, our eyes are full of light, but when we are focused on the natural things of this world the light in our eyes is very dim. If the light of God in us is dim, we will stumble and probably fall as we travel the path of life. Victorious living comes as we have our focus on eternal things so that God’s light may shine on our path.

What were the days of Elijah? They were days when not very many people worshiped God even though they knew that was what they were supposed to do. Elijah called them together and said to them, “If God be God, then follow Him. If Baal ( a god of the world) be god then follow him.” When Elijah said these words the people did not say a word. There was no commitment! Elijah prayed a short prayer and God answered with fire which licked up the water, the rocks, and the sacrifice. The fear of God fell on the people and they said “The Lord He is God”. May we make that commitment to God today and make sure that in our hearts: Our Lord is God!

When we consider all the disturbing things that seem to keep happening on a daily basis, despair tries to take over our thoughts. We must not let that happen. NOW is the time for us to arise and shine because the light of Jesus lives in us. We must STAND UP for what we believe and we must believe what the Bible says. We must be convinced that Jesus is our peace, our safety, our strength, our Redeemer, our life, our provider, our hope! We must KNOW that HE is ALL we need. Then we must stand on what we believe without compromise or fear. THESE ARE THE DAYS OF ELIJAH!

Let us remember that even when we do foolish things, God does not forsake us. He is always there when we repent and return to Him. Psalm 73:22-26 KJV So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou has holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

Does your mind get tired? Tired of hearing things - mostly bad. What can we do to give our minds a rest? We must get to someplace quiet and then we have to begin the restoration process. Our Good Shepherd will help us with this if we will cooperate with Him. When restoring a piece of furniture, the old finish has to be stripped off before the new finish can be applied. It is the same with us. Our old thoughts, must be removed, so that the new thoughts can be applied. What old thoughts? All thoughts that do not line up with what God said, must go. This is a process, but when you have completed it, you will be like a diamond in the kingdom of God!