Should Christians Celebrate halloween?

Should a Christian Celebrate halloween??

First off I want to thank you for taking the time to read my blog! You ROCK! Second, I want to make the point that I make it my goal with everything that is within me to only speak the Word of God on not only this matter but every aspect of my life. God has never once asked me for my opinion. We all have our own opinions. We all have theories and ideas, but there is an absolute Truth. God’s Word is the Truth.

God has been ministering to me SO much lately on trusting in His Word above all else. God’s Word is the absolute Truth. As Christians we must be careful to not adapt agnosticism into our Christianity. What I mean by that is we have to be on guard to ensure that we’re not giving God attributes that He doesn’t have, or taking from attributes that He does have. We must be sure not to take from His Word, OR to put words in His mouth.

Looking at the Word:
Romans 3:4 Let God be True, but every man a liar.
Romans 11:34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through Your Truth. Your Word is Truth.

So many times I’ve been discussing the Word of God, truth, beliefs, etc., with people and I hear people say things like, “Well, I believe…. In MY opinion…. I don’t think God would…. This is what I think…. Well, I don’t see anything wrong with….” Our thoughts and ideas MUST be based on sound doctrine from the Word of God, not ideas and opinions. As I mentioned above, we must be careful not to adapt agnosticism into our Christianity. We’re not to take ideas and aspects of the God of the bible, and put our own spin on it and call it Christianity. If we’re to be Christians we’re to believe the bible as absolute Truth. How can one believe in the God of the bible if they don’t believe in the bible that tells about the God of the bible? If the bible is incorrect in one point, how can we trust any of it? We must accept it ALL as divine inspiration, or not bear the name of Christianity. The world is FULL of Christians who have no clue what God is like. They are Christians because their great, great granddad was a preacher and they went to church when they were a kid and they “tip their hat to the man upstairs.” Do we worship the God of the bible or do we worship a rough version of the God of the bible.
Christianity: God created man in His image.
Agnosticism: Man creates a god in their image.

Should we follow what WE believe? Should we “follow our heart?”
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

How can we trust our heart??? The bible makes it clear that our heart cannot be trusted!
We are to bring our hearts inline with the Word. Don’t follow your heart, follow the Word.

Psalms 119:105 Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path

God’s Word should be our ONLY guide.

2 Timothy 3:15-17 And that from a child you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Why are Christians accused of judging when we quote the Word of God? Read the book of 1 Corinthians. The whole book Paul is “judging” the Corinthian church! If I’m riding with you in your car and you’re driving 85 and I see the speed limit sign says 35 and I tell you, “Hey, you might want to slow down, you’re breaking the law.” Would your response be, “You can’t judge me!!!?” I doubt it. What we do as Christians is point to God’s Word. We’re not perfect, but if we had to be perfect to preach, how does 2 Timothy 3:15-17 make any sense?

Ephesians 4: 11-15 And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we hereafter be no more children tossed back and forth, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the Truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
Psamls 119:89 Forever, Oh Lord, Your Word is settled in Heaven.

Why would God establish a “5-fold” ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to minister the Word which is profitable for DOCTRINE, REPROOF, CORRECTION, and INSTRUCTION in righteousness, if we’re not to… preach the Word?

I can’t make it clear enough that it is NOT called judging if we preach the Word. When a pastor preaches against fornication on Sunday morning do we say that he’s judging…. or that he’s preaching the Word?

I have a hard time hearing a Christian tell me what they ‘think’ or ‘believe’ if they haven’t read their bible in 412,982 days, know what I mean? I “try” to read my bible every day…. I also “try” to eat every day. Ha! We HAVE to feast on God’s Word every day.

I’m all the time reading God’s Word and getting new light on the things of God. I’ll be reading and come to the realization that I’ve been way off on a point of doctrine or something and be like, “Oh goodness, I was WAY off!” And I mold myself after the teachings of God’s Word. We have to be willing to admit that we’re wrong. We can’t be too open-minded that we’re deceived, but we can’t be too closed-minded and set in our ways and opinions that we can’t come in line with God’s Word.

Jesus was the most closed-minded man to ever walk the earth!
John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. NO man comes unto the Father but by Me.
John 10:7 Then, Jesus said unto them, “Truly, truly I say unto you, I am THE Door of the sheep.”
John 10:9 “I am THE Door. By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved…”

It’s true that Jesus sat and ate with sinners, but I have trouble picturing Him dressing as a vampire or wolfman and spooking people as a witness and will of the Father. And, no, that’s NOT my opinion. We’ll get into what God’s Word says about that. Sheesh, this looks like it might be a long blog!

We’ve established that…
God’s Word is absolute Truth
Anything that contradicts God’s Word is a lie.
We’re not to form a “bible-like” god and call it Christianity
God’s Word TRUMPS our theories, opinions or ideas
We’re to speak the Truth of the Word in Love
Truth is not a concept or idea. Truth is a person, Jesus Christ

I don’t think any of us doubt that halloween is FULL of paganism. The question is, should paganism be accepted by Christians? Celebrating harvest is perfectly acceptable. God instituted the feasts for Israel to observe.

halloween:
I retrieved this information from www.halloween.com

Samhain (pronounced Sowen) was (and is) considered a very magical time, when the dead walk among the living and the veils between past, present and future may be lifted in prophecy and divination.
Samhuinn, from 31 October to 2 November was a time of no-time. Celtic society, like all early societies, was highly structured and organized, everyone knew their place. But to allow that order to be psychologically comfortable, the Celts knew that there had to be a time when order and structure were abolished, when chaos could reign. And Samhuinn, was such a time. Time was abolished for the three days of this festival and people did crazy things, men dressed as women and women as men. [This happened at Beltane too — IB] Farmers’ gates were unhinged and left in ditches, peoples’ horses were moved to different fields, and children would knock on neighbours’ doors for food and treats in a way that we still find today, in a watered-down way, in the custom of trick-or-treating on Hallowe’en.
But behind this apparent lunacy, lay a deeper meaning. The Druids knew that these three days had a special quality about them. The veil between this world and the World of the Ancestors was drawn aside on these nights, and for those who were prepared, journeys could be made in safety to the ’other side’. The Druid rites, therefore, were concerned with making contact with the spirits of the departed, who were seen as sources of guidance and inspiration rather than as sources of dread. The dark moon, the time when no moon can be seen in the sky, was the phase of the moon which ruled this time, because it represents a time in which our mortal sight needs to be obscured in order for us to see into the other worlds.
The dead are honoured and feasted, not as the dead, but as the living spirits of loved ones and of guardians who hold the root-wisdom of the tribe. With the coming of Christianity, this festival was turned into Hallowe’en (31 October), All Hallows [All Saints Day] (1 November), and All Souls Day (2 November). Here we can see most clearly the way in which Christianity built on the Pagan foundations it found rooted in these isles. Not only does the purpose of the festival match with the earlier one, but even the unusual length of the festival is the same.
The Christian Church was unable to get the people to stop celebrating this holiday, so they simply sprinkled a little holy water on it and gave it new names, as they did with other Paleopagan holidays and customs. This was a form of calendrical imperialism, co-opting Paleopagan sacred times, as they had Paleopagan sacred places (most if not all of the great cathedrals of Europe were built on top of earlier Paleopagan shrines and sacred groves). So when Fundamentalists come to your local school board and try to get Halloween removed from the public schools because “it’s a Pagan holiday,” they are perfectly correct. Of course, Valentine’s Day/Lupercalia, Easter/Eostre, and Christmas/Yule also have many Paleopagan elements associated with their dating and/or symbols, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and others have pointed out for decades. So if we decide to rid the public schools of all holidays that have Pagan aspects to them, there won’t be many left for the kids to enjoy.
I find it amusing that American teens and pre-teens seem to have instinctively expanded their seasonal celebrations to add another night before Halloween, one on which they commit various acts of harmless (or unfortunately not) vandalism, including pranks on neighbors. If we assume that All Saints Day was moved to co-opt the central day of Samhain which was associated originally with the gods and goddesses of the Celts, and All Souls Day was supposed to co-opt the worship of the Ancestors, then the modern “Cabbage Night,” “Hell Night” (boy does that push the Fundamentalists’ buttons!), or simply “Mischief Night” (which used to be April 30th — the night before May Day — in Germany — there’s that Beltane/Samhain connection again) would correspond to a celebration of the often mischievous Nature Spirits. This then nicely covers the Indo-European pattern of the “Three Kindreds” of Deities, Ancestors, and Nature Spirits.

There are many different ideas on the origin of halloween, none of them based in Christianity. I also want to point out that a LOUSY argument is, “What about Christmas!? Christmas has many pagan rituals and roots!! You gonna get rid of Christmas, too!?”
That’s a terrible argument. So, because of paganism in Christmas, that justifies paganism in halloween? The Truth is, Christian should boot paganism from EVERYTHING that we do. There’s not a thing wrong with honoring the birth of Christ, though the greatest possibility was He was born more likely in March or April. There’s not a thing wrong with giving gifts. The wise men brought gifts to Jesus. There’s not a thing wrong with children getting candy. What’s wrong is the pagan aspects that the church welcomes with open arms! And we wonder where revival is??

“If we get rid of the paganism then there’ll be nothing left for the kids to enjoy!” …Well, what did the kids do before halloween? Before Christmas? God pre-exists halloween. God doesn’t need to borrow a tool from satan to reach the lost! If a church wants to get together during harvest time, hand out candy and tracts and have fun and games for children, that’s all well and good. They should also teach them the WORD and the paganism in halloween and why it shouldn’t be celebrated. The birth of Christ can and should still be celebrated, but without paganism. Why, why, why does the church want to keep paganism as a part of what we do??

Ok, back to the Word to support what I’ve said.
According to 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 God has given EVERY born-again believer one calling. Some are called to be pastors, others apostles, others deacons, etc., But one thing that we’re all called to be are ambassadors for Christ. We are Christ’s representatives on earth. Jesus is His Word so we’re to live the Word to the best of our abilities by the empowerment of the grace of God. What does God’s Word teach?

Exodus 22:18 You shall not permit a witch to live.
Exodus 22:19 Whosoever lies with a beast shall surely be put to death.

Here are two verses side by side that speak on 2 sins: The sin of witchcraft and the sin of beastality. Both carry the same penalty: Death. Beastality is frowned upon to say the least, and rightly so, but witchcraft is welcomed into our homes with open arms via movies, books, pictures, decorations, charms, nick nacks and ceramics, statues, dolls, music, clothing, etc. At one point of time for the most part Christians rejected these things. But, over time, the more people who accept these things, the less it’s a sin? If the whole population accepted homosexuality as an ‘alternative lifestyle’ would that make it any less of a sin in God’s eyes?? Majority doesn’t decide what is right in God’s eyes.

“But everyone does it!”
That does not make it right!
How many times were the children of Israel caught up in abominations that God directly warned them against? Sometime the whole congregation would be entangled in idol worship and witchcraft. Would God accept it? No. Instead, Israel would be brought into bondage to another nation. He gave them fair warning:
Deut 18:9-14 When you are come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord. Because of these abominations the Lord your God does drive them out from before you. You shall be perfect with the Lord your God. For these nations which you shall possess listened unto observers of times, and unto diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.

Acts 19:18-20 And many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men. And they counted the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.

When revival broke out in the early church all the new converts got rid of all paganism and witchcraft from their homes.

“It’s just a movie. It’s not real!”
Should the fact that it’s only a movie/book/collector’s item/etc. make it ok?
2 Thes 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil
1 Cor 10:14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.

“It’s all fun and games! Everybody does it!”
Proverbs 11:21 Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished, but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.
Proverbs 16:2-6 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits. Commit your works unto the Lord and your thoughts shall be established. The Lord has made all things for Himself. Yes, even the wicked for the day of evil. Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. By mercy and Truth iniquity is purged. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
According to God’s Word, majority doesn’t rule, God’s Word does. According to God’s Word, no matter how many people come together and agree on a certain thing, it can’t overrule God’s Word.

There was a time when homosexuality was unheard of. I mean, you know, in more recent years. It’s been around for centuries, but you know what I mean. Now that there are millions of homosexuals, do we need to take white out to God’s Word and “update” it with the times? No. God’s Word is forever settled. If homosexuality was a sin before, it’s a sin now.

“But we don’t live under the old covenant.”
That is 100% Truth, BUT, the New Testament teaches against witchcraft and homosexuality. We are to NEVER go by our feelings. Just because something feels right doesn’t make it right. If I have feelings for another woman, does that mean that I should leave my wife? Of coarse not. It means I need to pray and bind the temptation of the enemy, not justify that my heart and feelings are being honest with me. (I don’t have feelings for another woman, just being hypothetical). My feelings and thoughts don’t override the Truth of God’s Word.
The Word doesn’t always make us feel comfortable. Was Isaiah comfortable when God made a sign and wonder out of him by making him preach naked and barefoot for 3 years? Was Hosea comfortable when God told him to marry a prostitute? Was Paul comfortable when God showed him all the things that he must suffer for His Name? It’s not about being comfortable. We’re to conform to God’s Word be being transformed by having a renewed mind (Romans 12:2). How do we have a renewed mind? By reading and soaking in God’s Word (Ephesians 5:26).

There are many different versions/stories/urban legends on the origin of trick-or-treating, carving a jack-o-lantern, wearing costumes, none of which are rooted in Christianity, but are rooted in paganism. I don’t have any children but there’s a good possibility that if I have a little girl someday that I’ll dress her up like a lady bug or something because that would be as cute as the dickens, BUT, I’ll refrain from all the paganism that I possibly can. All that I’m aware of.

I want to throw this in here. My heart is to follow after God. I’m not too stubborn to admit that I’m wrong. God’s Truth overrides me. SO, if anyone can make me aware of any other pagan aspect that I adhere to, please let me know. Don’t use the other pagan aspects of our daily life to justify halloween, etc. Let’s COMPLETELY rid Christianity of all paganism, ok? Don’t use paganism to justify paganism.

Thank you SO much for your time! I know it is a long blog but there was just so much ground to cover! I barely scratched the surface, too, but I’ll stop for now! Maybe part 2 will come soon! Please, feel free to comment or ask any question that you want and together we’ll go to God’s Word and see what it says!

God Bless,
Ronnie
www.thewayfamilychurch.org

Are You Flame Retardant?

Retardant: any substance capable of reducing the speed of a given reaction.

Flame retardants: materials that inhibit or resist the spread of fire.

Lev 6:13 “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.”

Geneva and I have been doing some landscaping here at our new home. As I was in the scorching heat today next to a fire burning all the dried up leaves, brush and branches the Lord began to speak to me on the subject of revival.

I had a fairly hard time getting the fire to burn. We’d done some landscape work recently but because of being so busy I hadn’t had the time to burn what I had gathered. The tree branches lay beside the burn pit for a couple of weeks. They were very dead, but we’ve had subsequent rainfall recently so the wood was rather waterlogged. And of coarse the trimming that we’d gathered today was still very fresh and really didn’t want to burn at all. I was able to get the fire started, but it would go out before I could get anything to really burn. It took quite a while but I managed to get all of it burned! Yay!

I piled up a bunch of the limbs and laid them just right. I had my lighter with me along with a plastic bag full of news papers. Normally all it would take would be one strike of a match and one newspaper to do the trick. That’s how smoothly it went a couple of weeks ago when I burned rubbish. At that time the fire burned faster than I could put wood on it! This time was different. The wind was strong here today. It took more than one strike to light the news paper. It looked like it was going to burn but next thing I knew, it was only smoldering. A tree that is full of life is very hard to burn. But a tree that is dead and dry will burn exceptionally quick! Once I finally got the fire going things went a little more smoothly. I had to work diligently to keep it burning, constantly adding newspaper to just the right spot to keep spreading the fire.

California is quite famous for its wildfires. All it takes is the tiniest little spark to burn miles and miles of forest. Just one person throwing a cigarette butt on the ground can burn down a city.

The Lord asked me this question, “Are you flame retardant?”

Revival is almost always compared to a wild fire, and that is for many good reasons.

First of all, the Holy Spirit is a fire. It’ll burn up every trace of sin in our lives… if we’re not flame retardant.

Revival wants to sweep the nation but many churches are filled with waterlogged Christians. Just as the tree must be dead in order to burn, we must be dead to sin in order to burn with the Spirit. Now, it doesn’t take us being perfect for revival to come. If we’re perfect we don’t need revival. A sinner coming to Christ isn’t revival, it’s a new birth, it’s being made alive for the very first time. A waterlogged Christian being set on Holy Ghost fire is a revival. Can someone revive themselves? No. If I faint can I get a bucket of water and pour on myself to revive myself? No. It takes someone else to do the reviving. A complacent Christian is most likely unaware that they’re in need of revival. We live in a church age that is very complacent. We’re saved, sanctified, Heaven bound and that’s all that matters. This nation, this world, is in dyer need of an awakening! Those of us who have that flame burning inside of us need to strive to spark a flame in another!

How do we come about this revival?

There are those who are complacent Christians. Then there are those of us who have a heart burning for Jesus. As we let our lights shine before men we’ll cause sparks to ignite in others. Revival doesn’t come from us, but it comes through us. When we get people into the presence of the Father, He’ll revive them! We can’t stand in the way of the cross where people only see us, but we must step aside and point the way to the Reviver. As we feast daily on the Word of God and drink of the Spirit we’ll begin to grow. That fire in us will start to burn bigger and stronger. Eventually it’ll catch other souls on fire! It isn’t God’s will for any Christian to lack having a burning heart. After all, His heart burns for us!

Revival isn’t 3 consecutive days of church. Revival isn’t having a special guest speaker. Revival isn’t being extremely emotional. Revival is simply… being revived; being awakened in our spirits.

What will revival do for us?

It will burn up the sin that is in our lives by refining our hearts.

It will cause our lights to shine brighter.

It will create an outrageous hunger for God’s Word.

It will create an outrageous burden for the lost.

It will cause us to be outrageously emotional about our salvation!

It will literally set our souls on fire for Jesus!

David prayed, “Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation.”

Some feel that it’s inappropriate to “shout” or “leap” or display any type of emotion or such like at church. Here’s my question: If you win 10 million dollars will you shout? Will you dance? Will you turn a cartwheel or two? How much greater is salvation than winning 10 million dollars? Now, people may display their affection for Jesus in many different ways, but there should be a display! There should be emotion! When I was burning my fire today I felt something! It was hot! The smoke got in my eyes a couple of times and made me teary eyed. Ha! I got very close to the flame and I guarantee if I would have touched it, it if it would have touched me, golly, I would have shouted somethin’ fierce!

What is the joy of His salvation? Christians should be happy! The Blood of Jesus has washed our sins away! We were destined for hell without any hope, but Christ became our hope! He paid our sin debt! We should be ever grateful!

There is a large number of Christians who have been saved for many, many years, yet they can’t quote you one scripture, they can’t tell you one thing about the heart of God, they don’t know how to witness, their bibles collect dust and they don’t even truly know what it means to be a Christian. These people need revived! We were all in that place at one time or another, and if we haven’t, there’s a possibility that we will be! We must never be satisfied! We are more than satisfied with our salvation, but we should never reach the point where we know enough about God, or where we feel we know all that the bible teaches. We should always seek to know the heart of God greater and greater. Jesus longs to communicate with us on a daily basis!

If you’re struggling with an addiction, if you’re struggling with a sin in your life, get in His presence! Get in the Word daily and talk to God and let Him talk to you. If you continue to struggle, continue in the Word. Don’t loose courage! The more Word you get inside of you the more sin will be turned to ashes! Never be content in your walk with God! There are people on your job that need to know Jesus personally. We are surrounded with sinners. They need a Savior! We must be about the family business! We can talk about revival, teach about revival, preach about revival, write books about revival, and even blog about revival, but actions speak much louder than words!

Seek God on a daily basis by reading His Word and through prayer. It’ll stir you up, I guarantee it! Spend time in daily worship! We can never take too much time to tell God just how much He means to us!

Don’t be a flame retardant Christian! Be willing to burn for Him!

“Father, I pray that revival would burn across this nation! I pray that it would start with me! Revive my soul, Lord Jesus! Let it burn up every trace of sin in my life! Set me on fire for You! I want to burn for You! I pray that I burn so fervently that people yell, “Stop, drop and roll!” Amen, Lord! This world is in need of an awakening! Awaken us for Your glory! Let us ignite sparks in people’s lives so they’ll burn for you! In Jesus’ Name! Amen!”

God Is Faithful

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”

This verse is from Revelation 19. There are only 3 chapters left in the bible after this chapter. This refers to Christ’s return after the 7 year tribulation and it refers to Jesus as Faithful and True. His Name is The Word of God. He is crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

What I love about this is that in the last book of the bible, after all is said and done, Jesus is called Faithful and True. He is Faithful! He is FAITHFUL! God cannot and will not let us down. His Word will always stand true. We can take Him at His Word! If He said it He is faithful to stand true to it!

Recently Genevaand I moved away from everything and everyone we’ve ever known. I had begun to feel a stirring in my spirit that God was about to do something different; that a change was coming. My band played a Sunday Night Soak worship and adoration service at The Way Family Church in Greeneville, TNon May 23^rd. It was so amazing! The anointing was flowing and everything just felt right. The Lord laid it upon Pastor Ken’s heart to invite me to be The Way’s worship leader. That was the farthest thing from my mind. After all, I was comfortable where I was. I had been at my home church for 17 years and was on staff as worship leader. I guess I could say that my spirit was being pulled to Greeneville, but my flesh was just fine to be where I was! Ha! We began to pray and seek the Lord for His will. If He was leading us to Greeneville than there was NO way I would stay where I was, but if it wasn’t for me to go to Greeneville, than there was no way I could do it. We began to pray and seek the Father’s heart about it. Me and Geneva, pastor Ken, and our pastors all prayed. It was such a heavy burden on me. I would wake up praying about it and go to sleep praying about it. I was feeling in my spirit that it was the Father’s will, but I needed that confirmation! Just as Peter walked on water, it didn’t matter how impossible the move looked, if Jesus said, “Come,” I was going to step out of the boat on faith and we were moving! Well, we got our confirmation, because God is Faithful! He’ll never leave us hanging!

One thing that is promised to every believer is persecution, but God is Faithful! We go through trials, we go through sickness, we go through attacks of the enemy, we go through life, and God is proven to be Faithful EVERY time! What kind of God would He be if He weren’t Faithful!? I’m SO glad that our God, THE God, is Faithful and True! His Word NEVER fails!

I think about the children of Israelin the wilderness. Because of their unbelief God led them through the wilderness for 40 years. They had not doctors, no grocery stores, no clothing stores, no food, no nothing! All they had was God. If he didn’t feed them they wouldn’t be fed! If He didn’t cloth them they wouldn’t be clothed. He took them out there to where He was their only option; to where they had nowhere else to turn! They had to trust in Him! He fed them with manna and quail. He led them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He caused water to flow from a rock for crying out loud! He was their only source! Sometimes when things are just going anyway but right, we have to realize that it might just be God leading us into a wilderness to where we’ll learn to trust in Him. That’s where He shows His faithfulness. We can’t trust in our money, or our jobs, or our abilities. He is our supply! If we loose our job does that take God by surprise? If our child suddenly becomes deathly sick does that take God by surprise? We have to remember that He holds time in His hands! He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. He is where our trust should be. “Lord, I have no clue what You’re doing or where this is going, but I trust in You!”

Have you ever read in God’s Word where He wasn’t faithful? After leading Israelinto the wilderness did He not supply their every need? Was He not faithful to Daniel in the lion’s den? Was He not faithful to Paul? Was He not faithful to Peter? Was He not faithful to Lazarus?

He promised a seed unto Abraham. It took 25 years for a child to be born. He proved Faithful to Job after a year of the worst trial imaginable.

What about the case of Lazarus? The dude was dead! Dead for four days. Even when it seems He isn’t Faithful; even when it seems He isn’t True to His Word; even when it seems like He’s just too late, He is ALWAYS Faithful and always right on time. If all we had to trust in was our abilities and if all we had to lead us was our hearts and if all we had security in was this world we would be so miserable! Thank God for His faithfulness!

We’ve received the earnest of the promise! We’ve received the seal of the Spirit! Jesus WILL be Faithful to return to get us! After all, we’re the pearl of great price! He sold everything He had to buy this ‘field!’

In Romans 8:24and 25 Paul says,

“For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Christ will not leave us unredeemed! He will return for His church, because He isn’t slack concerning His promise! By faith we wait for the One who is Faithful and True!

“Father, I think You that You are Faithful! How great is Your Faithfulness! It is higher than the mountains! Thank You, Lord, for proving Yourself Faithful in our lives! I pray that we can all learn to trust in you. Where else could we go? Where else could we turn? If not for You we would be hopeless! You are our hope! Nothing else matters when we have You! You’ll take care of Your own! Thank you! Thank You! Thank you for being True to Your Word! In Jesus’ Name! Amen!”

The Word of God

In Psalm 119:105 David says, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

Often times we as Christians are in need of direction. We seem to be walking blindly. With so much talk of 'destiny' it can sometimes be confusing to try to figure out just what it is that God truly wants for us. The thing is, we never really reach our destiny on this side of eternity. Heaven is our destination. But often times we find ourselves wondering just which way to go. We all have a calling, but how many of us know exactly without a doubt what our calling is? And how many of us that do know our calling are walking fully in it?

We should always turn to God's Word. Through the 17 years that I've been serving Jesus, He hasn't failed me yet. In His Word we can find every bit of the guidance that we need. I believe sometimes we forget just how powerful His Word is. In the book of Amos it says the Lord shall "Roar from Zion." We hear it preached all the time that when God speaks it's always in a still, small voice. It's true that often times He'll speak to us that way. But I believe there are instances in our life when we need the Lion of Judah to roar!

Psalm 29:3-5, 7, 8 declares, "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thunders: the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; yes, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh."

And Psalm 33:4 simply states, "For the Word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth."

In Revelation it speaks of Jesus and says that He has a sharp sword coming out of His mouth. His Word is powerful. Including, but not only the written Word that we have as the bible. He still speaks to our hearts. Jesus said that His sheep know His voice and that they'll not follow a stranger. When we learn His voice when He calls to us; when we learn to listen to what He has to say, we'll have a better understanding on the 'plan' that He has for us. Keep in mind that He'll NEVER speak anything to us that is contrary to what the bible contains.

Anytime we're in need of guidance. Anytime we're 'stuck' in a situation we should always turn to the Word. When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the garden He asked them who they were looking for. They said, "Jesus," and when He said, "I am He," they all fell backwards. I'm telling you God's Word is powerful! When we have His Word in our mouth we can speak life into our situation! His Word will lead us in a plain path. His Word will never, never, never fail! Jesus said that Heaven and earth would pass away but His Word would never pass away. We have to remember that it was His Word that spoke EVERYTHING into existence. And it was His own voice that confirmed His creation when He said, "It is good."

If you're wanting to know how to live a better Christian life, get in God's Word.

If you're wanting to find direction for your life, get in God's Word.

If you're wanting to be an effective witness for Jesus, get in God's Word.

You'll experience spiritual growth. A year from now you'll realize that the things that used to bother you and worry you a year ago don't seem to have an effect on you any more. You'll have a whole new slew of devils to fight :-)

Jesus is the Word of God. He is also the Bread of Heaven. As we read God's Word we are feeding on Heavenly Bread. We are partaking in spiritual communion with Jesus Himself. It is true that He is still more than able to speak to us with an audible voice, and He does, but if we're waiting on Him to part the Heavens and speak in His Almighty Voice and cause an earthquake just to speak into our situation... while our bibles are on the shelf collecting dust, we may be waiting a while.

He has given us His Word. We shouldn't take it lightly. We must cherish it. It's Jesus' personal love letter to His bride-to-be! It's the very expression of His nature. It reveals His heart.

The bible is the only book that can bring life! Think about it. There are bibles small enough that you could fit into your pocket. But the God that the bible teaches us about created the universe just by opening His mouth! And this book that can fit into our pocket contains more knowledge than we could ever know on this side! This God that this little bitty book talks about has brought deliverance to drug addicts. It's set the sinner free! It's bound up broken hearts and set free those that are bruised (emotionally scarred.)

The God of this book has caused husbands to stop beating their wives and kids. The God of this book has given people strength to stand for Jesus when their life was at stake. The God of this book has converted sinful hearts. ...The God of this bible changed my life. I'll never be the same.

Once you experience God through His Word you will never be the same. To those who have never experienced God it's all foolishness. It just doesn't make sense. David said, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord IS good!" He basically said, "If you give Him a shot you'll see just how amazing He is!"

When the crowd turned from Jesus He asked Peter if he would leave Him, too. Peter said, "Where would I go? You have the Words of eternal life." (paraphrased)

Others said, "Never has a man spake like this Man." His Word was with power.

Read God's Word daily. Before you open it pray and ask God to reveal His heart to you. Pray for guidance and He'll direct you through His Word.

"Father, I pray for those who are seeking to know you more. I pray for those who are seeking to know you for the first time. Guide their hearts through Your Word. Let the light of Your Word shine before them so that they'll know the way to go. I pray for those that are facing a crossroads in their life. Maybe their facing a difficult decision. I pray that you would direct their steps. Lead them to Christians who can help them grow in You. And, Father, stir up our hearts that we'll burn for You! In Jesus' Name!"

God bless you all! Thank you for reading the first post of my blog! I hope you enjoyed it :-) Feel free to leave a comment or two!