WHAT IS TRUTH?

When Jesus was brought before Pilate, Pilate asked him a number of questions.  An interesting interchange occurred between Pilate and Jesus.  Pilate asked him if he was a king.  Jesus answered, You say that I am a king.  I was born a king, but My Kingdom is not of this world.  I was born into this world to bear witness of the Truth.  Everyone who is of the Truth hears my voice.  Pilate’s response to this discourse was:  What is truth?  (John 18:33-40).

I saw two things in this passage of scripture that I had never seen before.

Those who are of the Truth (Jesus is the Word.  His Word is Truth.) hear His voice, the voice of the Word.

Pilate actually did not ask Jesus the question, “What is Truth?” because he wanted to know the truth.  No, he stated it as a vocalized afterthought in response to Jesus saying that He came into the world to bear witness of the truth.  Then Pilate must have shrugged his shoulders and said:  Ah, what is truth?  In other words, he was saying that no one really knows what truth is. He responded this way because he had no understanding of Who Jesus was.  He only saw Jesus as a man, one in whom he could find no fault.  He dismissed the conversation in his mind and went back out to Jesus’ accusers and told them that he found no fault in Jesus and basically asked if they wanted him to release Jesus.  Of course, we all know their response—-release Barabbas.

In John 1:14, John 14:6, and John 17:17 we read these words:

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.

Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man comes to the Father, but by me.

Sanctify them through your truth:  your word is truth.

What is Truth?

We have our answer from the scriptures.  Jesus is the Truth.  The Word is the Truth.  He is the Word.  He is the Word and the Truth.  All Truth comes from God.  He is the Source of all that is true.  He has given us His Word, which is His Truth unveiled from Genesis to Revelation.  As we are lovers of Jesus and His Word, we know (have an intimate relationship with, have revelation of) the Truth.  And that intimate relationship with the Word of Truth shall make us free (John 8:32).

CHRIST-CENTERED

I have a question to ask you today, something to ponder.

Is your life Christ-centered or is it self-centered?

Before you quickly answer that question, think a while.

Do you think about your problems and challenges?  Do you wake up in the morning thinking about that sickness that is lingering in your body?  Do you think about what you are going to do that day?  Do you fret about what is happening in your life?  Do you worry about what you are going to do in your old age?  Do you have concerns about what you are going to use for money to buy what you need?  Do you anxiously wonder how much longer you will have your job?  If your answers to these questions are yes, then you are self-centered rather than Christ-centered.

Now don’t throw a shoe at your computer and say that I don’t know what it is like to be in your shoes.  No, I don’t know what it is like to walk in your shoes.  But Jesus does.  When we are focused on Him and what He is doing for us, we tend to lose sight of our life’s challenges.  Some of the most grateful people I know are those who have the most challenges.  They are so joyful and full of hope.  Then, on the other hand, some of the most cantankerous people I know are ones who have a few challenges and drive everybody “up the wall” telling you about their many hardships.

Do people walk away from you wishing they had not asked you how you are?  Do people leave your presence remembering Who Jesus is and what He has done for them or do they leave your presence overwhelmed with you and your opinions?

This question is something to ponder, isn’t it!  Believe me, I have been taking inventory and asking the Holy Spirit to show me where I have allowed self to take over in the place of Christ.  He has definitely shown me some things.  My prayer is that I decrease and that Jesus Christ increase in me.

Why do you think the Lord is asking us that question about being Christ-centered?  I believe it is because of the times in which we are living.  We must be so focused on Jesus that nothing else matters, whether it is good, bad, or otherwise.  When we keep our minds stayed on Him, He is able to sustain us and keep us from giving up and giving in to our circumstances.  When times get tough and things are rough, there is only one source of peace; that is Jesus!  He will carry us through, even when we don’t understand why things are happening to us the way they are.  He will carry us when nothing makes sense about our lives.  He will carry us when we want to scream and give up and say that nobody cares.  He cares and He will carry us.  Remember that when nothing makes any sense, Jesus Christ is your Rock of Salvation.  Keep steady in Him.

It is so strong in my spirit that we must learn right now how to trust the Lord, regardless of how we feel or what we are seeing.  Trust is the biggest factor for every Christian right now.  Trust Him, lean on Him, rely on Him.  He is the One and only unchangeable factor in your life.  Everything else changes, but He and His Word never change.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  You can depend on Him.

I am talking to somebody today.  Stop blaming God for your challenges.  Stop accusing Him of not coming through for you.  Just stop!  Turn around!  Praise Him and honor Him and respect Him and trust Him!  You may not understand anything, but I can tell you that He is for you and not against you.  Trust Him with your life!  There is no one else better than He is.  Make that decision right now that you CHOOSE to trust Him, whether you feel like it or not.

JOYFULNESS OF MIND AND HEART

What is the will of God?  That we rejoice and be glad in Him.  That we purpose to have joy in our minds and in our hearts.  That we stir up the joy of our salvation.  That we serve Him with joyfulness and gladness of mind and heart for all that He has given to us.

You might say:  Well, I don’t see anything good happening in my life.  There is where most of us make our mistake—-I DON’T SEE!  What do you see?  Do you see the trouble all around you or do you see God’s Word which says that He will deliver you out of all trouble?  We must learn to see what God’s plan is for us and not what it looks like in the natural world to our physical eyes.  Then we PERSIST in standing our ground for God’s plan, regardless of what is happening or how long it seems to take to accomplish His plan.

We are living in a time where it is vital (not an option) that we CHOOSE to see God and His Word being performed in our lives and for us.  Yes, our natural eyes and ears are seeing and hearing things we never thought we would see and hear.  BUT, we must choose to hear what God is saying in His Word and to see what God is seeing.  We must put on His eyes and His ears.  It is a daily, perhaps a minute-by-minute choice for us.

Joy keeps God’s power and presence active in our lives.  Grumbling, complaining, judging, analyzing, murmuring about what is going on, brings satan’s presence to us. Yes, it is true.  We may not want to admit it but there are only two that are active in mankind’s life; it is either God Almighty or it is satan.  JOY—-GOD!   MURMURING—-SATAN!

Wow!  I don’t know about you, but I am getting in the space of joyfulness of mind and heart.

Deuteronomy 28:47   Let’s turn it around from the negative to the positive and see what we get.  I serve the Lord God with joyfulness of mind and heart in gratitude for the abundance of all with which He has blessed me.

Start today if you don’t already practice this act of joy.  Think about what God has sent your way as a blessing.  You can begin with being thankful that you are born again and on your way to heaven.  That is a reason for rejoicing.  You can continue with the fact that you are breathing and alive.  Pick up your Bible and start speaking the scriptures of blessing over yourself and your family UNTIL THEY BECOME REALITY in your life.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, as the old expression goes.  REJOICE!

WHOSE THOUGHTS ARE THOSE, PART 2

Jesus told us that out of the abundance of our heart our mouth speaks (Matt. 12:24).  Our heart is the center of our being, where our spirit is located.  If we think on something long enough, it gets in the center of our being and comes out of our mouth.  When it comes out of the center of our being, it will create what we say.

There are two sources of thoughts:  God and satan.  We choose every minute of every day whose thoughts become our focus and then we speak out what we are thinking.

Let’s use a practical example of thoughts and words in our present day.  If we listen to the news all the time, we are hearing words of doom and gloom “We are going under.  The world is in a mess financially.  People are out of work.  People’s homes are being foreclosed.”  “The Nile virus is spreading.  Cancer and heart disease are becoming widespread.  Get your flu shots now to avoid drastic consequences.”  Etc. Etc. Etc.  However, if we look at and speak what God’s Word says about our financial situations, we see in His Word that He takes care of us.  Are we not of more value than the birds of the air or the lilies of the field?  He says that He sent His word and healed us.  He says that Jesus bore our sicknesses and diseases.  One set of thoughts comes from satan.  The other set comes from God.

There is a tug of war for your thought life.  There is a constant barrage of thoughts bombarding your mind 24/7.  Negative thoughts must be offset by God’s Word.  It is almost like we are having to become walking Bibles, with the word coming out at every squeeze of pressure.  The water of the word comes out of our life sponges rather than the mildew of the world’s ideas.

Whose thoughts are those?  You are the determining factor of whose thoughts you ponder.

WHOSE THOUGHTS ARE THOSE, PART 1

Thoughts dwelt on produce words.  Words spoken produce actions.  Actions determine the course of our lives.

God knows very well how He set up this earth and mankind to dwell on it.  Our enemy satan also knows the set-up.  It is very simple.  It was established in Genesis.  God spoke and God saw.  Man, whom God has created, speaks and he sees.  We are created in the image or likeness of God.  He speaks and things are created.

We as mankind, whether born again or not, speak and create, whether good or bad.  There is a statement that is very true:  What we say is what we get.  It doesn’t happen the first time or the second time or even the third time, but there does come a time when we have dwelt on something so long and spoken it so often, that it produces in our lives exactly what we have spoken.

Thoughts and words are extremely important to God since that is how His Kingdom operates.

Consider these verses:

As a man THINKS in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7).

You will give an account of every IDLE WORD that you have spoken.  By YOUR WORDS you will be justified and by YOUR WORDS you will be condemned (Matthew 12:36,37).

Man lives by every WORD that proceeds out of the MOUTH OF THE LORD (Deuteronomy 8:3).

A gentle TONGUE with its healing power is a tree of life (Proverbs 15:4).

The MOUTH of the righteous man is a well of life…. (Proverbs 10:11).

The TONGUE of the just is as choice silver….(Proverbs 10:20).

The LIPS of the righteous feed many…. (Proverbs 10:21).

PLEASANT WORDS are as a honeycomb, sweet to the mind and healing to the body, health to the bones (Proverbs 16:24).

Death and life are in the power of the TONGUE and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof (Proverbs 18:21).

Whoso keeps his MOUTH and his TONGUE keeps himself from troubles and he keeps his life (Proverbs 21:23).

A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his MOUTH…. (Proverbs 12:14).

A man shall eat good by the fruit of his MOUTH….He that keeps his MOUTH keeps his life…. (Proverbs 13:2,3).

Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report….THINK on these things. (Philippians. 4:8).

WHAT IS YOUR REASON FOR BEING

In Him we live and move and have our being….(Acts 17:28).

Our whole reason for existing is to love and honor and praise God.  He is our dear heavenly Father.  He is the Source of all our life.  He is the very breath we breathe.  He created us to lavish His love and His gifts upon us.  We are the apple of His eye.  We are the beat of His heart.  We are His children.  He is ours and we are His.  What a way to live!

David said in the Psalms that his heart pants after God like the deer pants after the water.  Think of how thirsty that deer is when he comes to the water to drink.  Even so, we are thirsty for the water of God.  His Word is called the water of the Word.  We drink deeply of Him when we drink of His Word.

He is also our Bread of Life for which we are hungering.  He is our sustenance, our reason for living.  We eat of Him as we eat of His Word, His Bread, His manna for us.

Focus on Him.  Think about Him.  Think about His goodness.  Think about His all-encompassing love.  Think about His greatness.  Think about His mighty awesome power.  Think about His caring for you.  Even as I type this, I am overwhelmed with His never-ceasing desire for me as His child.  My heart overflows with love and joy in response to my Creator, to my Lord, to my King.  What a God we serve.

FAILURES AND SUCCESSES OF THE PAST

Do not let the failures and successes of your past determine your future.  Your future is crafted and designed in God’s powerful and mighty hands.  He already has it planned for you in the most minute detail.  What you and I have to do is yield ourselves to Him and not try to work out our own future, based on what we know.

One of the greatest deterrents to our future is our past.  There have been times when all of us have been disappointed or discouraged or angry or hurt and upset, when things did not work the way we thought they should have.  I know this comes as no great revelation to you, but it was not God who messed things up.  We were either ignorant and didn’t know enough or we were disobedient or we were impatient or we let go of our faith.  God is not the problem.  I know this is going to shock you, but so many times the devil is not our problem either.  We give him far too much credit for our mess-ups.  He really did not have to help.  We did quite well on our own.

Past mistakes are gone.  We all must “get over it” and move on.  There are things that have happened in my life in the past that so drained me of hope.  I would even quote the scripture to God that hope deferred makes the heart grow sick.  I blamed him for my failures and defeats and the lack of answered prayer.  When the dust settled and the air cleared and I was quiet before the Lord, I would see where there were doors I had left open for defeat.  And even if God did not reveal to me what happened, I have learned to be content in God’s presence and let Him do the driving of the vehicle of my life.  Since I am a fixer and a doer, that has been a learning experience for me to settle back and let the Lord do the fixing and the doing.

Let’s all remember that the past is the past.  Let’s get on with the design of our lives, having confidence in God Who is the Architect and Builder of our whole life structure.

Let us be convinced and sure of this very thing:  He Who began a good work in us will bring it to full completion in us (Phil. 1:6).  With the Apostle Paul, let us forget those things which are behind and reach forth to those things which are set before us, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling (Phil.3:14).

Finally, with the Prophet Isaiah we say that we do not remember the former things; neither do we consider the things of old.  Rather, we behold the Lord God doing a new thing in our lives.  It is springing forth; we perceive it and know it and give heed to the new work.  God is even making a way in the wilderness of our lives and producing the healing waters of His rivers of life in our deserts (Isaiah 43:18,19).

Today is the new day that the Lord has made for us.  We will rejoice in this new day and be glad in it.

We are in Christ.  All things have become new.  We are new creations.  We have put on the new man and have come by a new and living way in Christ Jesus, singing a new song because our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life and He has made all things new (1 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians. 3:10; Hebrews 10:20; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 14:3)

STRONG IN THE LORD

Below are scriptures that I have personalized for you to confess over yourself when you feel weak in your life and need strength, the strength which only God can provide.

Ephesians 6:10, Amplified Bible

I am strong in the Lord.  I am empowered through my union with Him.  I draw my strength from Him, that strength which His boundless might provides.

Philippians 2:13, Amplified Bible

It is not in my own strength, for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in me, energizing and creating in me the power and the desire both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.

Philippians 4:13, Amplified Bible

I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient with Christ’s sufficiency].

Psalm 84:7, Amplified Bible

I go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]….

Isaiah 45:24

Surely I shall say:   in the Lord I have righteousness and strength.

Isaiah 40:29,31, Amplified Bible

When I am fainting and weary, the Lord gives power to me.  When I have no might, He increases strength, causing it to multiply and making it to abound.  I hope in the Lord.  He changes and renews my strength and power.  I run and do not grow weary; I walk and don’t faint or become tired.  When I am weak, He tells me to say that I am strong, and I am strong!

Our physical, mental, and emotional strength comes from the Lord.  It is He Who gives us what we need when we need it.  Let the weak say that he is strong and draw his strength from the Lord.  There is no God like our God.  Lean on Him.  Rely on Him.  Draw your strength from Him.

OVERCOMER THROUGH JESUS CHRIST

Today we are taking two scriptures in the Amplified Bible to make our confession:  Revelation 12:11 and 1 John 4:4.

I have overcome, conquered the devil, satan, who is the seducer, the deceiver of all humanity, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony, my witness to the Truth of God’s Word.  I have overcome, conquered deception by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of God.

I am a child of God; I am of God; I am His child; I belong to Him and have already defeated and overcome the agents of antichrist, because He Who lives in me (God Almighty through His Holy Spirit) is greater, mightier than he who is in the world (satan, the devil, the seducer, the deceiver).

Yes, I am God’s child.

I am of God.

I belong to Him.

Because I belong to Him I HAVE ALREADY defeated and overcome the agents of antichrist.  Why?  Greater, mightier is He Who is in me (Jesus Christ) than he who is in the world (the devil).

How do I overcome the devil, the agents of antichrist?  By the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and by the word of my testimony, my witness to the truth of God’s Word about the blood of Jesus.

What a joy to know that through the blood of Jesus Christ and the Truth of the Word of God we overcome deception and seduction.  We overcome our enemy, the devil.

Jesus told me in John 16:33 that He has overcome the world for me.  He has deprived it of its power to harm me and has conquered it for me.

I rejoice today!  I am mighty through Jesus Christ.

I praise God!  I am an overcomer through Jesus Christ!

THE RAINBOW

The Lord gave me this poem two years ago when my father graduated to heaven.  I share it here for those of you who have recently been separated temporarily from your loved ones until that day when you join them.

A Tribute To My Dad On His Homegoing

My time on earth is ended and my work on earth is done.

I have lifted my eyes up higher and am now gazing upon the Son.

He is the rainbow in the distance that I have been looking for.

And now I know His beauty that is brighter than the noonday sun.

The rainbow is His promise of days of peace and rest.

I have come to the end of the rainbow and found my place of rest.

There’s treasure that is stored there; it’s only the best.

My days on earth are ended but my life has just begun.

Come join with me and enter into the fun.

Joy, peace, love—-I have found them all now.

I have found the end of the rainbow and at His feet I now bow.

He is a treasure beyond measure.

His love is of more value than any gold in the pot at the end of the rainbow.

I know it now.  He is a wonder to behold!

I see His beauty now.

The splendor of His glory is the model for the rainbow.

So the next rainbow you see, think of me as I am gazing upon the beauty of the rainbow around God’s throne.