“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and he went out not knowing where he went. 9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles (tents) with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10. For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
Abraham is a pivotal person in scripture. His story begins in Genesis 12, where he is called to go from Haran, and his kindred, to a land that “I (God) will lead you…” He was promised by God that he would be blessed and that he would be a blessing. It is interesting that after Genesis 12, the Old Testament story is centered on Abraham’s family, and from him the story continues into the New Testament, where Christ comes into the world. All of this occurred because Abraham went by faith into a land that God called him. By faith Abraham heard the call of God. Had Abraham not heard this call, all that happened could not have happened. All of God’s great people started by hearing the call of God on their lives. Some of them, like Abraham, heard and immediately heeded the call. Some, like Moses, quibbled a bit, but eventually heeded the call. What is God’s call on your life? I don’t mean are you being called into the preaching ministry. I am asking that you hear God saying to your heart what you should be doing to fulfill His purpose in your life? By faith, hear His call and move with it. By faith Abraham obeyed the call of God. The author of Hebrews tells us that he “went out not knowing where he went.” This is what going by faith means. According to Hebrews 11:1: “Faith is the substance of things hoped, the evidence of thing not seen.” To obey by faith is to step out trusting that God has use of you, whether or not you have it all figured out. A friend of mine who made such a move was a pharmacist and owned, to the best of my memory, three pharmacies. He and his lovely family were living the “American dream.” He was saved and eventually heard the call of God on his life and committed himself and his family to international missions. When I knew him in seminary, he had no idea where he and his family would go. They finished their required one year in seminary, and went to South Korea for the next thirty or so years before retiring. I hope you got my point. He was not a preacher but a pharmacist. God can use pharmacists, farmers, teachers, etc. All have to obey the call that they hear and step out by faith. What step of faith is God calling you to take today? It might be to go to another country, or it might be to just go into the neighborhood where you live. Step out on faith with what God wants for you, and with you. By faith Abraham was looking for a “country whose builder and maker is God.” For Abraham that country was Canaan in order for God’s providential call on his life to be fulfilled. I don’t know what “country” that God has for you, but it is important to find it. I know that there is a “country whose builder and maker is God,” which we can only gain by faith in Jesus – the New Jerusalem. That is the ultimate “country” to which our faith will lead. It can only be possible by faith in Jesus Christ. If you haven’t already, before you make any other move, hear God’s call to you to receive His Son by faith. This story of faith began in the heart of God and saw its genesis in the obedience of Abraham to God’s call on his life. By faith hear God’s call to you, whatever it is, and wherever it leads. Bro. Joe
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“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
In the midst of Paul’s explanation of the inclusion of the Gentiles, he wrote this verse that points out three essentials of all who believe – Jew or Gentile. He wanted Roman believers, and all believers through the ages, to be filled with “joy and peace in believing,” and to “abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” I do not think that I am taking this verse out of context to say that those who believe in Christ will receive joy and peace, and through the Holy Spirit are filled with a hope that only God can give. These three essentials of joy, peace and hope are available to you if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. I am calling upon you to claim all three of these essentials for your life, or if you are not yet a Christian, these are available to you through Christ when you receive Him. The first essential is joy. (I have written about this many times, but it bears repeating.) Joy is essential, because of the promise that Jesus gave in John 15:11: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” When Christ comes into our lives by faith, His joy is guarenteed. It is a lasting joy that gets us through all of the troubles of life. I have realized this through three serious illnesses over the last twenty five years. In spite of life’s trials we have His joy. Claim this joy today, because it is yours, or can be yours. The second essential is peace. (Again, I have written about this many times, but it, too, bears repeating.) All who receive Christ by faith, have the peace that He has promised. Jesus promised this essential in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation (trouble): but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” In spite of the troubles of this world we can have peace of heart and mind. This is a promise of Jesus that will enable us to withstand all of the trouble, disappointments and ailments that we may have to encounter in our lives. Jesus wants His people to be at peace. As we face all that life might bring, the promise of Jesus that He has overcome the world remains true. I can give personal testimony about Christ’s peace in my own life, and I have seen that peace in many of the saints that I have ministered to over the years. If Jesus promised His joy and peace, they are yours to claim and you need to go to Him in prayer now and claim these for yourself if you have not. The third essential is hope. (I have written about this many times too. Just saying) When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives when we are saved, He fills us with the hope that only He can give. In fact, the Holy Spirit helps us to “abound in hope.” To abound in something means that we have plenty of it; therefore we have plenty of hope in Christ. If you feel hopeless, you need to claim Christ’s hope, for He has given you a lot of it. Like with joy and peace, we have hope in Christ in spite of what we might be facing in our lives. In all things that we face in life, Christ is at work getting us out, or through, whatever it is we face. Put your trust in Christ, and He will bring you through. Give all of your burdens to Him. As the old hymn reminds us: “Jesus will carry you through." Joy, peace and hope are yours in Christ. He promised them so you can have them – period. Do it! Bro. Joe ”Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.”
The printed text comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus used the illustration of one man building his house on sand, and the other building his house on a rock. When the storm came, the house on rock stood firm. Our text reminds us that Jesus called the people to build their lives on what he taught and not on what the world teaches. That is good advice for us. I want to share with you some of the rocks that we need build our lives on. We need to build our lives on the rock of the strength of Jesus. This always starts with Jesus. If we leave Him out, we can’t build on rock, and will always build on sand. Paul wrote in Philippians 3:23 what we need to build our lives on: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” We can’t live effectively if we depend on our own strength. This means to build our lives on faith in Him, and depending on Him to be with us in every aspect of our lives. That reminds me of Deuteronomy 33:27: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…” Build your life on the rock of Jesus, and call upon His strength to help you and guide you. We need to build our lives on the rock of gospel truth. When you build your life on the strength of Jesus, He calls you live by gospel truth. When Paul wrote the church at Rome, he reminded them of what he built his life on: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.” Paul wouldn’t just preach it to them, he practiced what he preached. Build your life on gospel truth. This will give you the power to live the saved life. You build your life on what you believe. The rock of the gospel truth begins with a faith relationship with Jesus. We need to build our lives on the rock of the presence of Christ in our lives. When you receive Christ by faith, He does not leave you alone. He is with you every step of the way. When Jesus prepared His disciples for His departure, He gave them assurance of His presence through the Holy Spirit. He told them this in John 16:7: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for it I go not away, the Comforter (Holy Spirit) will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you…” Jesus does not leave us alone, the Holy Spirit is with us in every detail of our lives. We need to build our lives upon the presence of Christ in our lives through the Holy Spirit. You are building your life on something. Do not build it on sand when the rock of Jesus Christ, his gospel (good news) and His Spirit are all available to you. You can receive all of this by asking Jesus Christ to come into your life today, or you can rejoice that you have done this, and will be more aware of the rocks that you have built upon. Bro. Joe Genesis 6:8-9: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 9. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”
Hebrews 11:7: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house (family); by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” The verses preceding our Genesis text tell of the wickedness of the world. There was only one man who “found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord.” (I am assuming his wife, his sons and their wives were fine too, but we are told only of Noah. He will be the focus of what I will write about.) Noah is described as just, or righteous, perfect, or blameless. And we are told that he “walked with God.” My imagination went to work, and I wondered how we could describe the life of a person who walked with God? We could say that Noah walked confidently. I picture Noah as a man who was serenely confident in God. We are told in Hebrews 11:7 that he was a man of faith. This is where the focus of our confidence should be, not in our own abilities. There is nothing wrong with being self-confident, but if we are to find favor in the eyes of the Lord ours should be confidence borne of faith in Him. I know that in my life I have taken steps that were not based on faith, and I made a big mess. When I have trusted God, I have seen what He could do. Noah had faith in God, even in an age of extreme wickedness. We need to put our faith in Christ, and place our confidence in the leadership of the Holy Spirit. In this walk of faith, we will find favor with God . We could say that Noah walked carefully. When a man fears God, he will watch his step. Psalm 37:23 is reminiscent of Noah: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He delights in his way.” Noah did not march to the beat of the drums of the world; rather, he walked to God’s drum beat. Noah walked close to God. We cannot serve the Lord as we should if we hold Him off at a distance. We could say that Noah walked in lockstep with God. He did this in spite of the wickedness of the people around him. We should watch our steps, for there are many footfalls in our way. We need to be prayerful and careful, heeding the word of God. Think of this for your own life. We could say that Noah walked compliantly. Noah did not try to please people. He pleased God. We are told that he built an ark, looking for a flood. It had never rained, but he built the ark anyway, knowing what God could and would do. Noah was compliant with the word of God that he had. How compliant are we with all of the resources that we have from the written word that we have from Him? I wrote above that Noah walked in lockstep with God. We could learn a lesson from Noah and get in step with God and be obedient with what he wants from us. Based on the three points that I have made above, could it be said that you walk with God? It’s worth thinking about!!! Think about it. Bro. Joe (Pardon the "C" words. it's called alliteration. lol) “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6. But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, that that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
In Genesis 5:24, we have a mysterious account of a man who was taken to heaven before he died: “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” This is, indeed, a rare occurrence. I can’t imagine what Enoch’s family thought when he was suddenly not there. We are not given anything of what the effect of his translation was upon those who knew him. We next come upon Enoch in Hebrews 11:5-6. These verses tell us why Enoch pleased God: It was because of the faith that he had in God. We do not read about faith in the Old Testament, but we see it in action as accounted in the faith chapter of Hebrews 11. We are not told a lot about Enoch’s life in Genesis or Hebrews, but we know that he pleased God because he was a man of faith. We can discern from this that Enoch trusted God in all of the days of the 365 years that he lived on this earth. We need to ask ourselves if we are trusting God in all of the days of our lives. Do we trust God in all of our decisions? Do we trust God to bless us in our lives? Do we trust His loving care as we meet all of the things that occur in our lives? Like Enoch, we need to be people of faith. Of course, I’m not telling you that if you live by faith you will be taken up to heaven before you die, but I can tell you that if you live by faith, you will please God. I can use my “holy imagination” (lol) to discern what kind of life Enoch lived because of his faith, and what living by faith can mean in our lives: I think that living by faith meant that Enoch obeyed God. We have no account of the content of Enoch’s life, but we do know that we cannot please God if we do not obey Him in faith. The Bible is filled with examples of men who lived by faith and obeyed God as a result. The greatest example, of course, is our Lord, Jesus Christ. He obeyed the Father in all things while He lived on earth. His prayer in Gethsemane illustrates His obedience: “Not my will, but your will be done.” We need to ask if we are living in obedience to God or we going our own way? I think that living by faith meant that Enoch’s life was a witness to those who knew him. We can’t read about Enoch with thinking positive thoughts about him. His life witnesses to us. We should ask ourselves if our lives witness to others. I have become more aware of this in my life, in the latter days of my life. When people think of me, has my life, my attitude, my demeanor witnessed to them, not about me, but have they seen beyond me to Christ who lives in me? Let Enoch witness to you today and make you think about your own faith, obedience and witness. Bro. Joe
Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus what it meant to be “born again.” The fact is that the work of the Spirit cannot be explained, it just must be accepted. We cannot always explain what God is doing when we allow the Spirit to lead us. We can just see what He has done. However, there are times when we are not aware of what He has done. Anytime we serve God something is going to happen. Any time we share the word of God with someone, or as in my case, preach the word of God to someone, something happens, and we do not always know what the Spirit has used us to accomplish for the kingdom. That is not always true, but it probably happens that way more often than not. “Whichever way the wind blows” it is accomplishing something for God. I think that this is true partially because if we knew all that God has accomplished through our feeble efforts, we might want to take the credit for ourselves. This is always a danger for those who serve God. Our egos are such that we want to think that surely our great talents, and our great biblical knowledge, had something to do with the success. And we can be assured that God used our talents and our knowledge to accomplish something for Him, but without His Spirit nothing would have been accomplished. Whenever you serve the Lord in some way, even if it is just to minister to some lonely person in your community, God is at work in what you do. You might never know how much good you did, but God will know and that will be enough. After all, our service is in God’s hands, and He will do with it what needs to be done. The above being true, we need to see ourselves as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ being used of the Spirit of God to serve Him and to serve our fellowman. The Holy Spirit is a fact in our lives. Jesus promised that He would send His Spirit to all who believe in Him. If you have Christ in your heart, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you, leading you and empowering you for service. In Acts 1:8 Jesus gave His disciples a task that they could not possibly do on their own, i.e., He told them to go to the whole world, beginning where they were and reaching to the “uttermost part of the earth.” How could they do this? Jesus told them: “After that the power of the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.” Their mission, and ours, is accomplished under the power of the Holy Spirit – period. Understand that God uses our Spiritual gifts and our talents to get the task done, but the success of all that we do depends on the power of the Holy Spirit. This should be source of great comfort and relief to us. It seems to us sometimes that we are losing the battle, and that the devil has finally won the hearts and minds of men. This is not true, for the “wind” of the Holy Spirit is still blowing across our nation and our world. Things are being accomplished for the kingdom that we might or might not see, but rest assured, “whichever way the wind is blowing,” it is blowing in favor of the kingdom of God. Jesus died on the cross, arose from the grave, ascended to the Father, and is interceding for us for this to be true. It is up to us to believe it and keep on keeping on whether we feel “successful” or not. Always remember, God did not call us to be successful, but He did call us to be faithful. So be faithful “whichever way the wind blows.” Bro. Joe “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hear us. 15. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we ask of Him.”
We spent the last two articles on what prayer is, now we will deal with what prayer is not. Please do not look at this as if I am against prayer. (I am fer it, not agin it.) I pray all of the time. I just want to share some thoughts with you to clarify the purpose of prayer – at least from my perspective. First, prayer is not a “gimme project.” That is, that we do not pray to only get something from God. In the Lord’s Model prayer, Jesus held the “gimme” to fourth on the list: “Give us this day our daily bread.” God answers all of our prayers according to His will. (Note: “if we ask anything according to His will.”) Why would we want anything that was not God’s will for our lives? God always answers: yes, wait and no. A “no” answer is not a non – answer. What it means is that God has something better. In His omniscience, God knows what is best for us. Lest you think that I think that God never says “yes.” Indeed, He does, when we ask according to His will, and what we prayed for was what He thought was best for us. WHEN YOU PRAY IN FAITH, YOUR PRAYER WILL BE ANSWERED. AND YOU CAN TRUST THAT HIS ANSWER WILL BE HIS BEST FOR YOU. The main thing that you will get is the time of fellowship that you will have with God. Second, prayer is not a means of manipulation. We do not pray to decide God’s will for someone else, nor do we pray to get our way. When we pray for someone else, we pray that they will do God’s will for themselves. That is not always what we want. My mama prayed for me as I grew up. I disappointed her many times, but ultimately her prayer was answered when I went into the profession that God wanted me to pursue, i.e., Christian ministry. She made it plain to me that she was happy about my decision, but that she wanted it to be my decision. She said that she did not want me to be a “mama-called” preacher. My dear mom went out of her way to make dead-certain sure that was my decision before she praised God and was happy for me. I think basically what mama prayed for was that I would give up my tom-foolery and finally do something positive with my life. Anyway, I hope you get the point. When you pray for your children, or anyone else, petition God to help them do what God knows what is best for them. Third, prayer is not a means of getting attention, or making an impression on other people. This can be a temptation to those of us who pray aloud in church, etc. I always try to make sure when I pray publicly, that I do not act like a Pharisee, or get into “preacher-mode” and that I will just sincerely petition God. We need to remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and all other hypocrites, then, now and for all time: “And when you pray, you should not be as the hypocrites are: for they love standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men….” Jesus said more about this, but what I have cited from Matthew 6:5, serves to prove my point about prayer. I try to remember Matthew 6:5 when someone introduces and calls on me to pray as “rrrrrreverend doctor Joe Beauchamp.” I think you get my drift – so to speak. Agree or disagree, these are three big things that I believe that prayer is not. Bro. Joe “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10. Be kindly affectioned to one another in brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; 11. Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12. Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instantly in prayer.”
In yesterday’s article, we saw that Paul was calling for changes in the Roman Christian’s lives that would call for faithful prayer. He called them to love sincerely, put others first, hate evil and cling to what is good. Today we will look at other changes that Paul was calling on them to make. We surmised that Paul knew that to make these changes they would have to be instant, or faithful, in prayer. Evidently, Paul heard that Roman Christians needed to be more “fervent in spirit.” In order to do this they were not to be “slothful in business.” The NIV translates this passage: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor.” We must pray faithfully if we are to be fervent in our service to the lord. Evidently, the Roman Christians were lacking in zeal in their service to the Lord. This is a prevailing problem in our Christian service today. Too often, we go about our service for the Lord in a “business as usual” attitude. I recall standing with the chairman of deacons in the vestibule of a church that I was visiting before the worship service. As the hour for the service approached he said, “let’s go on in and get this over with.” I thought to myself that he would get a lot out of the worship service. Psalm 100:2 tells us to “serve the Lord with gladness.” To me, that is what it means to be “fervent in spirit” in our service to the Lord. We should just be glad that He lets us serve Him. Christian service calls out the best in us, and we need to keep that in mind in whatever service it is that God has called us to. Believe me, this calls for faithful prayer if we are to have a “fervent spirit.” Paul called on them to “rejoice in hope.” I understand that we are to serve the Lord joyfully in spite of the situation we might encounter. I imagine that the Roman Christians came against a lot of resistance to their Christian witness. We need to remember that we are called on to serve the Lord in the world as it is. Sometimes the world will resist our best efforts to present a Christian witness. We are increasingly seeing this resistance today. We have to remember that our hope is not in the world situation, but in the Lord. This surely calls upon us to faithfully pray. It is prayer that keeps us rejoicing in the hope of the Lord. We can joyfully serve the Lord today with the realization that it is He who gives us our hope no matter what others might think about us. Closely allied with rejoicing in hope was the command to be “patient in tribulation (trouble).” The Greek word for “patient” here does not mean to just wait, but to endure while we are waiting. We simply cannot let our troubles get us down. I will admit that there are times when I feel like “what’s the use.” But that is not an act of faith. It is at those times that I just have to go to the Lord in prayer and get recharged. I imagine you know what I mean if you have ever been in any kind of Christian service. If we are not patient in our troubles we will give up. Whatever troubles you are dealing with today, go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to help you to be patient in them. I hope and pray that these two articles have helped you to understand the importance of being “instant in prayer” in your Christian life and in your Christian service. Bro. Joe “Let love be without dissimulation, abhor what is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10. Be kindly affectioned to one another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another. 11. Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. 12. Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.”
I felt led to write today about what prayer does in our lives. I did not have a particular scripture text in mind, I just knew that I was to write on the difference that prayer makes in our lives. In searching my mind for a title, and my Bible for a text, I came up with what you see. Both the title and text are familiar to those of you who spend time in Bible reading, but both tell us things that will take us beyond what is familiar in our lives. Let me explain: Paul gave the Roman Christians a list of changes that needed to be take place in their lives. Toward the end of list he wrote: “Be instant (faithful) in prayer." It is only by prayer that we can make the changes that need to be made in our lives. The changes listed here are changes that we need to make and cultivate through prayer. It is only by faithful prayer that we can love sincerely, and love each other like brothers and sisters. In verse 9, Paul wrote: “Let love be sincere.” Pretended love is not real love, and we need to pray that we have real love. Furthermore, in verse 10 he wrote: “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another.” We need to love one another as brothers and sisters, and learn to put other people first. I know myself, and I think I know human nature well enough, to know that we can only do these things by remaining faithful in prayer. We can change our selfishness by taking it to the Lord in prayer. Would you agree with me that we need to pray for God to make these changes in our lives and in our churches? It is only by faithful prayer that we can “abhor that which is evil and cling to that which is good.” The text tells us to hate evil. We have a tendency to think that we have this whipped on our own, because we are not doing obviously evil things. We need to remember that Satan is good at hiding evil and making it look good. We need to hate what evil of any kind does to our lives. It is only by faithful prayer that we can overcome obvious and subtle evil. But we are also to “Cling to (hold onto) that which is good.” We can’t cling to what is good without the help of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We must cling to Him in faithful prayer. Clinging to what is good is not a self-help project. Identifying what is good is not a self-help project. Always keep in mind that Satan comes as an “angel of light” and convinces us that evil is good and that good is evil. He is doing a good job with that in the world today. Pray faithfully that you will hate what is evil and cling to what is good. Let Jesus make these changes in your life through faithful prayer. (Continued) Bro. Joe “Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay your vows unto the most High. 15. And call unto me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
Psalm 50 is about God’s transcendence and His sovereignty. Through Asaph, the psalmist, God reminds the people that their daily sacrifices are for their renewal, not His. Here is what He revealed to them in verses 9-12: “I will take no bullock of your house, nor the goats of your folds. 10. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 11. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beast of the forest are mine. 12. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.” Basically, God is reminding His people that He doesn’t need our help in running the universe, but we need Him to run our lives. Verses 14 tells us what He requires of us: Verse 14a: “Offer unto God thanksgiving…” The first thing that God wants of us is for us to be thankful for Him and all that He has done, is doing, and will do, for us. We should be thankful that in His sovereign majesty He loves us, values us and works for the best for us. The Jews of Asaph’s day, were obviously not thankful for all that God had done for them. Of all the people of the earth, God had chosen them to be His people, but they were acting like they were independent of Him. God is calling for their thanksgiving sacrifices to come from the heart. From our perspective, we should be thankful for the story of salvation in the Old and New Testaments, and we should be thankful that the God of the universe offered His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. There is a lot more that could be written here, but I pray that you get the idea. Verse 14b: “Pay your vows to the most high…” The payment of vows was involved with the thanksgiving offering. Again, this should come from the heart. From the New Testament perspective our “vows” are made with our lives. We pay our vows from a changed heart and life. Just giving money will not suffice. This was Paul’s opinion in Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.” God wants you and me….” He wants our hearts and wants to be control of our lives through the Holy Spirit. The greatest gift that we can give God is our lives. Verse 15: “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” This is an obvious call to prayer. God still says “call upon me in the day of trouble.” We need to take life’s burdens to God and ask His help in bearing them. He promises “I will deliver you.” Depend upon God’s help. Do you really believe that God is able to deliver you from whatever troubles you are experiencing? Open up your heart and life to Him in thanksgiving and praise. God says that when we do this, we will glorify Him. It is from our hearts that we glorify God, not just from what we do or say. Thank God that He is available not as a source of help, but as the source of help. Bro. Joe |
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