Who Are You in Love With?

Dearest Saints, I received this caption from a dear Brother in the Lord several years ago and I still remember strongly of what it says. It puts into perspective what is really important in life. Are we putting too much emphasis on our worldly cares, accumulating possessions that we won't be able to take with us? Are we investing so much in our present life that we are forfeiting much of our eternal inheritance? We do this by our lack of acknowledgement of Him each day, not putting Him first each day, not being rich towards Him by our lack of fellowship with Him during the day or taking His Word lightly. Is it caring about what we should be inheriting in this world by the cares and concerns that take our minds off of God? I never get tired of reading this story that should speak volumes and cause us to question our motives. I would like to acknowledge and give thanks to Oyerinde Thomas Agunloye who sent this by email to my address several years ago. When we are about to step from this temporal world into eternity, I hope, pray and believe we will have no regrets whom we loved the most. There was a rich king, who once had four wives. He loved his fourth wife the most and adorned her with riches and all the pleasures of the world. He also loved his third wife and was always showing her off to his subjects and everyone but, he always feared that one day she would leave him. His second wife was kind and considerate and his trusted confidant, the king equally gave her some measure of attention. Wife number one was devoted and loyal and loved the king very much, more than the others. Unfortunately he paid no attention to her. One day the king fell ill and knew his time was up. He began to think of his life and feared being alone when he dies, so one day he asked his fourth wife: “I have loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and cared for you. Now that I am dying, I know you will follow me and keep me company”. No way! The fourth wife replied I love you but not that much! And walked away without another word. The sad king then turned to his third wife: “I have loved you all my life, now that I am dying, will you follow me and keep me company?” “ No! never screamed the king’s wife. Life is good! When you die, I will re-marry and start where you left off”. The king summing up his fading breath then asked the second wife.” I have always turned to you for help and you have always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?” “I am sorry, I cant help you out this time!” At most, I can help with your funeral”. Then a voice called out to the king in his sadness: “I will stay with you and follow no matter where you go.” The king looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny and undernourished. Greatly grieved, the king said: “you! Why? I don’t deserve you, I should have taken better care of you when I had the chance.” In truth, we all have four wives in our lives. Our fourth wife is our BODY. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it will leave us when we die. Our third wife is our POSSESSIONS, STATUS, QUALIFICATIONS OR WEALTH. When we die, it will all go to others. Our second wife is our FAMILY, FRIENDS OR LOVED ONES. No matter how much they have been there for us, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave. And our first wife is our SOUL, often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of life. However, our soul is the only being that will follow us wherever we go. Think about this! Ask yourself where is your SOUL following you to? What are you feeding your soul with? Are you so much in love with your looks, your car, your job, your bank account, all at the expense of the owner of your life. Feed your SOUL today with the bread of life, JESUS and put your SOUL on the pathway to heaven. Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia? You may go to my link below to observe. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/ www.helpingcopewithhope.blogspot.com What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)

He Took My Punishment Upon Himself

Dear Saints, I was watching Joseph Prince this past week and I see myself as a visual learner in many ways. I know that the Word tells us that He took upon our sins of Whom He was sacrificed in our place (1 Pet 2:24). But just watching a short cartoon clipping He had the congregation watch had a profound impact on me. It was taking what I call "head knowledge"and becoming a powerful "revelation knowledge". It was simply a man bringing in a pure spotless sheep to the High Priest to sacrifice for his sins. When the man brought forth the sheep to the High Priest, the Priest closely examined the sheep to make sure it did not have any blemishes or spot on it in order to make the offer acceptable in order to pardon this mans sins. The cartoon continued to show that once the sheep was considered clean and acceptable to sacrifice, the blackness of sins from the man was seeing being transferred from him to the sheep and the sheep taking on this punishment in the mans place. The sheep was then slaughtered and made for a burnt offering. This is the same wonderful description of Jesus (who is considered the Lamb of God) John 1:29. We as His Children (when we accepted and invited Him to be our Lord) come before Him to confess our sins, I placed myself in this mans place and saw the stain of all my sins be transferred upon Jesus who chose to take my sins away upon Himself and was sacrificed in my place. When the sheep was burnt, it reminded me of what was mentioned about Christ when He descended to the place of the dead for 3 days and took our sins and burned them away also (Acts 2:27; 1 Cor 15:4). Just that thought from seeing that short cartoon clipping was like a wonderful deep revelation of how awesome His love and His sacrifice that is by far the greatest gift the world could never offer what He has freely given us. We have the greatest Hope when we can just come to Him and invite Him to be our Lord and Saviour. We have the greatest gift over those who simply choose not to be humble to invite Him to be their Lord and Saviour. If we don't consider this most important step, we need to understand that we can never be "good enough" to ever make it in to Heaven. Otherwise, His sacrifice for us means absolutely nothing!! Why would anyone not want to invite Him to be our Lord when He has done beyond what any man could ever do for us and this type of love could never be compared to any love this world could ever offer? Just watching that short cartoon clipping that is just over one minute long says so much more than many of the large volume of books ever published. This is an illustration that not only did all of our sins get transferred to that spotless lamb (Jesus), but His Righteousness has now been transferred from Him to us which is why He tells us that we are now the Righteousness of Christ (Rom 3:25). He who knew no sin (did no sin) became sin by being punished as though He sinned on our behalf and took my (and all the worlds punishment upon Himself (2 Cor 5:21). His awesome mercy is the punishment He took in our place and equally, His awesome Grace is that unmerited favor of giving us His Righteousness to be eternally blessed in place of the eternal punishment which we deserved by our sins. The only way we could ever be righteous is when we repent and believe what He did for you and I personally. When we repent, we do Him the most injustice by hanging on to guilt and shame when He has taken this from us when we come to Him. Why do we feel we need to punish ourselves any more when He did this in our place once and for all? His sacrifice means nothing unless we believe and receive. His sacrifice only benefits us when we receive it by faith when He takes our sins and transfers His Righteousness to us. We can only believe because it can't be done any other way. The link below is a caption of this broadcast and the cartoon clipping starts around 22 minutes into the half hour program and is only just over a minute long. But what a message in such a short time!! It makes me realize how ashamed I am when I fail to simply ask, believe and receive His total divine love and forgiveness for me and think that I need to be justified by continuing to feel guilty when I didn't have to. And when He hung on the cross, He took every one of our curses from us (Gal 3:13). But again, this does us no good unless we ask Him to remove the curses from us and believe He took them from us and receive His blessings in place for us (Eph 1:3). These curses include generational curses and the curses of our forefathers which the people had been a product of as mentioned in Lamentations 5:7. This is why that if we expect to receive anything from God, it has to be received by faith by believing it as He transfers His Righteousness to us. Otherwise, all He has ever accomplished for us only does good to those who believe which is when I believe He is able to transfer everything that He has ever accomplished for us when we believe and receive it. We literally block the blessings of God in our lives when we fail to accept His sacrifice and simply receive His awesome gifts to us. I hope you will watch this program and see how the message brings such hope and healing as it does for me. May it bless you as you 'receive it'. http://www.josephprince.org/Resources_Current_Broadcast.asp?active=resources Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia? You may go to my link below to observe. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/

LOVE ALWAYS BELIEVES THE BEST - PART 2

Dear Blessed Saints of God,

           I would like to continue with this wonderful short scripture that I believe says so much.  Right now, I have been away because I had to take compassionate leave as my wife remains in the hospital and with my contract ending soon, I sit here taking the test of believing the best, along with the fact that my wife is still unsaved.  In the natural, it would seem far for me right now to believe the best, but I know from past difficult circumstances, God had a better plan and through it, I know it turned out to be the BEST when we let Him take over.  It may not be the best as the world would understand, because most of the time they measure success in the amount of accumulated material or money you have saved up in the bank, etc.  But in the end, it is like the Apostle Paul says: I count it (all worldly ambition) as loss in order to know Him (Jesus).  To know deep within that He is SO GOOD and His ways are the best, it may not be monetarily the best, but His ways are the BEST for our eternal well being which is far greater than all the world could ever offer.  It's like the song we sing in a verse that says: "I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold, I'd rather have Him than have riches untold.  I'd rather have Jesus than houses and lands, I'd rather be lead by His nail pierced hands".

          When we come to know our Lord as SO GOOD, I don't want you to take this by meaning allowing the term "Good" to be mediocrity.  In other words, on a scale from (Poor; Fair; Good; Very Good to Excellent) and we sing that song about God being SO GOOD, we need to see His GOODNESS as absolutely EXCELLENCE in every way.  If it helps more, maybe we need to say that He is EXCELLENT; AWESOME, etc.  We need to get this settled no matter what is happening in our lives.  I know many people are going through rough and very trying times that is most difficult.  As difficult as it is, we need to ask God to give us this revelation so that our true knowledge of Him is knowing He is EXCELLENT in every way.  We need to believe that when things are going bad for us (as the world would see it as most unfavorable), we NEED to BELIEVE that whatever we are going through, it is for our eternal best.  We need to know deep within that if we are going through trials, we need to believe that God is working something better for our eternal benefit.  Or perhaps, He is trying to get us to examine ourselves to see if there is any area of our lives that we need to deal with.  Many times, people who do go through great trials often times unknowingly & knowingly go against the counsel of His Word.  For instance, when God says that life and death are in the power of the tongue and we will eat the fruit thereof whether it be life or death (Prov 18:21), many people often don't live the life He wants to give us simply because we don't take the counsel of His Word serious enough.  If we do go through trials, we need to believe Gods very best for us for all eternity because He may be causing us to dig our heels in to withstand the storms of life we live through and become bold, determined and courageous which He often tells us to be.  By going through any circumstance, we need to be bold and courageous that NO MATTER WHAT, we are going to receive the BEST for ALL ETERNITY because we know He is EXCELLENT in all His Ways.

  

          Even at this present moment, when unfavorable situations come my way, I make a bold determination that "By His Grace, I refuse to ever doubt Your very best for me".  This is where we become more stronger and resilient to be able to become stronger and stronger in the Lord.  Whenever we see a desperate need for our family members, others or ourselves, we need to be more determined than ever to believe Gods Best for your finances, for your future, for your family and believe that when we can connect the truth of knowing His absolute Goodness and Excellencies, we will believe the best eternal inheritance He has prepared for us.  When you compare how the world would see as "Good" and favorable, it may be that a family has just won the lottery.  Many people will become jealous of this family who won the biggest prize ever.  But in reality, many of the family members who won multi-million dollar jackpot from a lottery have had their lives turned for the worse.  Therefore, we cannot judge our circumstances to determine Gods Absolute Goodness or not.  It is essential to make our minds up, which is what causes our relationship in God to become stronger than ever, and be ever so determined to always Believe the very best for you and the very best for one another simply because we Know in our heart the Truth that GOD truly is EXCELLENT in all His Ways.  In the end, when we have chosen to give all of our concerns and all of our situations to the Lord and be purposeful to live to give Him glory, we are going to see that His ways were in fact the best for our eternal glory (Rom 8:18).

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

LOVE ALWAYS BELIEVES The BEST

Dear Blessed Saints of the Most High

         In various versions of the title in 1 Cor 13:7, it mentions 'Believes all things' in the KJV.  Other versions of the Bible will add "believes the best for every person".  In any case, whatever version of the Bible we read, when God says believing, we do know that He means only believing for the best outcome regardless because we need to see Him who is the One who can take any situation from our lives and is willing and able to make our lives far better and more highly valuable to be a blessing to others and serve His glorious purposes then we could ever expect.  The major obstacle from allowing this to take place is when we doubt, speak negatively by grumbling or complaining that leads to unbelief.  Jesus was not able to do the work He came to do in His hometown because of unbelief (Matt 13:58).

          When I reflect on this specific passage about love (believing the best), I believe there are a number of things we can learn from this simple passage.  First, when God tells us to believe the best for others, we need to first come in agreement with God for Him to do that work in our lives and others lives, because it is first His Goodness working in our lives that does bring out the best.  This is what allows Gods best to be real from our lives when we come in agreement with Him to believe His best for our lives and the lives of others.   We receive the best from God when we believe the best from Him for us.  I often think that many people don't see the best about ourselves and of others because they don't believe that anything good can come out of our lives.  We fail to see the potential God can do in our lives and the lives of others simply because we doubt and harbour unbelief for God to do His wonderful work in our lives and the lives of others.  That is why complaining and murmuring before God is an abomination because we actually criticize God Himself when we should know that He is sovereign over all.  He demonstrates His displeasure when the Israelites grumbled against God and Moses and God caused the land to swallow up a good majority of the Israelites (Num 16:30) because Korah and His clans provoked the Lord by grumbling and complaining.  

          God wants us to connect our hearts with Him and come into full agreement for His Goodness to be revealed by believing by faith because we NEED to believe He is Good.  When we don't believe the best, it comes down to not believing that He truly is Good, otherwise we would believe.  We need to BELIEVE His absolute Goodness and stop perceiving who God is just because of what is taking place in our lives and in the lives of many.  James 5:17 tells us: "The prayer of the Righteous availeth much".  The question is, how are we righteous in order for our prayers to be powerful?  We become righteous when we have fully surrendered to God and we believe He is who He says He is.  Abraham was declared Righteous (Rom 4:3) simply because He believed the best from God in the first place.  Maybe if we were to see the best of ourselves and see the best from others, I believe we need to connect to the heart of God much more and believe the best by starting out believing His best for each of us simply because we choose to believe He is absolutely GOOD and EXCELLENT in all His Glory.  

          When He tells us to believe the best, we need to first believe to see His best work on our behalf and behalf of the others.  We need to put a STOP by simply forsaking what is happening in our lives and the lives of others because of what we see and connect with God to believe the best and believe by faith.  That is why we need to live by faith and not by what we see (2 Cor 5:7).  God can do anything at anytime, but He doesn't work that way.  He wants us to do our part by connecting our heart to His and believe by faith.  Faith in His Goodness is what moves Him in the first place because He is a relational God and by having that relationship with us, is enriched when we believe the best from His Goodness.  I realize in a much more powerful way more and more that bad circumstances occur to many lives because they expect that outcome for themselves in the first place.  For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he (Prov 23:7), and what he believes does come to pass.  Don't kid yourself, when it comes down to it, if we think we could ever be critical of God, there is always going to be something God is going to point out in our lives when we fail to live the best of our lives and fail to receive the abundant life from ourselves and others because of any part of our lives we have failed to do or believe.  We will never be able to question God and think that He can never justify His actions or our outcome when it may be unfavorable.  To ever think that we could question God and get away with that is utterly foolish.  God tells us time again that He is pleased when we believe Him, believe who He says He is, believe what He says and believe that He can do all He tells us He can do and has done.  No wonder He is not pleased when we don't have faith (Heb 11:6a).  When we consider our loved ones and those we fellowship closely with, how would you like it if they did not believe you or someone you love doubts who you are or what you say, even though you have done so much for them?  It's the same way with God.  How can we not believe His best when He has done incredibly more for us than we could imagine.  Our lives are sustained by every breath we breathe because of His Goodness towards us.  We couldn't live any longer if He did not sustain our lives in any given moment in time.  If/when we do have great faith in Him, it fulfills the greatest commandment of love by believing the best from Him for our lives, the best from Him for the lives of others.  We have to also put a STOP of seeing ourselves of who we are by what we do, or what we have failed at and believe the best by what God can make of us.  He knows how to make the best of us, but we often hinder His power to work mightily because we doubt the measure of His love for us which is that horrible deterrent that literally hinders His Spirit from doing that much needed work in our lives that we need so desperately.  

 

          Finally, when we understand that we need to believe the best from God, for Him to work His best for ourselves and for others, we need to "want and desire" for this to happen.  For this desire to become more real, we need to see that everything He suffered, gave up His Throne Room above Heaven to come down to earth and suffer to the extent of willing being punished on our behalf to Redeem each of us who would simply be willing, He did this for each of us personally.  When we fail to see the best of others, we need to understand that this is not the will of God, but is a devastating choice of their own to turn away from God and see their desperation by being blind to their choice to live apart from the will of God.  When we see how blind the sinners are, we should always "want" to see the best for them and not see who they may be at this point in time, but who they were meant to be by being a blessed Child of God.  When we do, we will be able to believe the best for others, even though we often don't see it for ourselves.  Let's connect our heart to God and fulfill part of this wonderful "Law of Love" by believing the Best from God for our lives, believing Gods best for the lives of others and always having that hopeful expectation of this to come to pass.  I believe we will see greater results of fulfilling this greatest commandment to become a greater reality in our lives when we truly believe His very best for our lives and the lives of others because we believe He is GOOD!

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it endures everything (1 Cor 13:7) Amplified Version

LET's LEAVE A LASTING LEGACY

Dear Blessed Saints,         

          When I think of the life I live here, we are going to have to face the fact that we will not be here forever to do the things we cherish to do and accomplish in this life.  When I die, I don't ever want the work I did for the Lord just to be a thing of the past and just go to Heaven, but I want so much to leave a legacy so that many peoples lives can continue to be positively influenced that pleases the Lord from the life I lived on earth.  We should love to do the work God has called us to do out of our love for Him.  Therefore, wouldn't it make sense that the work we should be doing now would not only have an impact during this present time, but for all remaining generations to come even when we are not here?  I want to leave that kind of positive legacy.  When we think about many of the men and women of God who lived their lives as God fearing and God honoring, they continue to make a powerful and positive impact on many generations throughout the centuries.  Authors and other prominent people who have lived their lives to honor our Lord, continue to make a positive impact on our lives centuries after they passed away.  It would be amazing if we would all leave that legacy and have that continual positive impact on generations to come.  Just because we are no longer present doesn't mean that God cannot use the lives we lived to leave a legacy to bring continual eternal benefits to others.  The work we do now can have a lasting positive impression if we would simply ask God for His help and believe He wants to do this through us as His faithful Representatives.  

          I don't know about you, but I would love to leave a legacy like that!  To know that our God can touch and influence many lives from the example of our lives to permeate the lives in order to continue to give them hope, strength, perseverance that develops the character that will alter their destiny for the better.  On the other hand, it is a dreadful thought that many self centered and self seeking individuals, leaders who have become dictators or cult leaders who have long died are also having a severe negative impact on many individuals today.  Sadly, I believe there are far too many Christians could have left a greater impact on more lives all because they lost their desire to persevere in the things of what pleases the Lord.  I believe our lives have a far greater impact on many other people whether we realize it or not.  Before I became a Christian, in one particular instance, I said some unkind words and people were shocked.  It made me realize even at that time, that we are being watched.  People who live an ungodly lifestyle negatively affects many peoples lives, even after they have died long ago.  Sadly, many people do not see the significance of the negative impact and influence they may leave that may have a negative effect on thousands, or maybe even millions.  Notice in Exod 20:5 that an earthly father who is wicked negatively affects his descendants to the third and fourth generation, even though this father may have passed away long ago.  However, the father who loves the Lord will pass this blessing on to the thousand generations, even though we know definitely that he has long passed away, his godly influence will be lasting for many generations (Exod 20:6).

          We all have that ability to leave a wonderful legacy that can powerfully influence the lives of many others presently and for generations to come when we allow God to help us by asking Him.  We simply need to confess this to our Father and ask Him to help us be the people of honor and integrity that will leave a positive impact that will last for generations to come.  True humility is a vital key to leave a lasting positive legacy.  Because God tells us that Humility comes before honor (Prov 15:33; 22:4).  When we choose to complain, then we need to realize we have a serious problem with pride.  God tells us that without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5).  So, that being the case, we need to humbly confess this and ask His Spirit to help us live the that will leave a lasting positive legacy, otherwise, we will not be able to do that.  Those of you who go through many trials, you have an awesome opportunity to leave a powerful positive legacy that teaches many people to never give up, to continue to be hopeful and persevere that will develop character, which eventually directs our destiny.  When we refuse to give up, people are not going to remember us just from the trials we faced, but they are going to see us as a People who refused to give up and still live to give God the glory that will have a major impact on their lives.  That's the positive impact we are going to have on peoples lives when we refuse to give up our hope in Him and persevere because we believe and honor His Word.  We need to come to that place and ask God to help us and believe He will help us to be His excellent representatives to leave a lasting positive legacy. 

          Don't ever think that you are not able to leave a positive destiny because that is only listening to the lies of the enemy whose task is to rob many Christians from having a positive influence on many peoples lives simply because we failed to ask God and believe He can use us.  I don't want you to look at your past, but be like Paul when he says forget what lies behind and to "Press On" (Phil 3:13).  I use these quotations to put emphasis on it.  Look at King David and the fact that he not only committed adultery, but also murder.  Yet, God established His Kingdom under Davids throne.  And yet, David is known to be a man of God who continues  this day to leave a lasting legacy.  Therefore, what makes you so special to believe God can't use you when He could restore and use David like He did after the initial crime he committed?  Let's ask God and believe Him so we can leave a wonderful lasting legacy from the lives we live now that will positively influence all future generations.  Lets start now and share this message so we can leave a legacy to benefit many souls in need.   

The reward of humility and reverent worshipful fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life (Prov 22:4).

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

LIVING AMAZED - PART 2

Dear Blessed Saints,

          I like to talk about how God is amazing because there is nothing fiction or some form of fantasizing, but is based on absolute truth.  When I am around people who only talk about either sports, weather or any other worldly topic you can imagine, and yet, when I get around Christians who talk about the Lord, I find it amazing that I never get tired talking about Him and the wisdom of His eternal life-giving Word.  Sometimes, I find it important to add these adjectives in sentences to bring greater emphasis to what we need to say.  Especially when we talk about the Lord.  This is why I also like the Amplified Version where it often expounds in great detail of the amazing God we serve.  

          In Prov 30:18-19, it mentions about three things that are too wonderful for me: The way of an eagle in the air, the way of the serpent upon the rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea.  I often think to myself that what really is too wonderful to me is when I often question this profound thought "How is it that You can love me so much and how You can be so mindful towards us", even though You knew everything about me and my faults?  I don't think I can ever be smart enough to answer that question beyond human understanding.  When I truly consider this, I realize how amazing His love is towards me that goes beyond my understanding.  Consider the fact that when I give thought to Him leaving His glorious Throne in Heaven and willingly accepts to come down to earth in the form of flesh not born in a nice hospital or comfortable setting, but started His live in a manger, I compare it like myself going from being a human being to accepting by becoming an ant in the lowest ranks and being that servant to all and willingly being chastized, beaten, mocked, ridiculed and rejected by His own family members, people from His own hometown, etc.  And how He did this for myself (insert your Name here) personally.  To me, this is just scratching the surface of His amazing love He has for each of us individually.

          Another amazing thing about God is when you consider the billions of people on the face of this earth, there is no one who is out of sight of God.  Nor is our innermost thoughts, our words, our motives ever hid from Him out of the billions of those who have lived, are living and are still to be born.  When we dwell in the uttermost parts of this world, He is there with us (Ps 139:9,10).  To ever think He has forgotten you is a trick of the enemy just because we "feel" like He is not present with us does not mean He is not present with us.  These are the times we need to put our faith in what we know and read about Him and not come to believe just because we feel His presence, but we NEED to know He loves us and is ever so present with us.  This is where we need to rise up above our fickle feelings and BELIEVE He loves us and cares for us and to ever stop being lead by our feelings.  Just because we don't feel like He is amazing has nothing to do with the reality that He truly is AMAZING!!  When we stop and consider how fearfully and wonderfully we are made, that in itself should amaze us.  Even back thousands of years ago, David Himself remarked about this (Ps 139:13,14).  How much more that when we find out more about the human body should we should make this same remark ever so much more.  When we think how the brain is formed and how it is made, it is amazing to know that our God is an amazing intelligent designer beyond human understanding.  I did some searching lately in the internet about how the brain is formed.  It makes up around 10 billion neurons, electrical impulses that directs how our bodies react.  The brain alone is the most amazing complex information management system in the universe that only takes up the top portion inside our head!  That alone should amaze us about God who is the One who designed all of this when He formed us in our mothers womb (Jer 1:5) (Ps 139:15,16).  To think of how He knew us before we were born indicates only one more of multiple billions of examples to indicate how amazing our God really is.  Even all the languages in this world, God knows each one!!

          When we take a moment each day, everything we see, everything we do, what we eat and what we have, it is utmost essential that we should take moments of each day to consider God and acknowledge how amazing He truly is.  I find familiarity and commonality are some of the most dangerous mindsets we can allow ourselves to become because this is where our minds grow dim and our hearts become dull of the reality of how awesome our God really is.  We lose vital sight of how fully dependant we truly are for God to sustain us in every moment and every breath we take in our entire lives.   We need to understand that if He were to turn His back on us for a very short moment, we would no longer be alive to tell of it.  This makes me realize in a truthful profound way that He truly is amazingly merciful towards us and so long-suffering.  This no longer just becomes some vocabulary we say, but when we stop to think of these things, it becomes so real.  Just like when His Word becomes a Rhema Word which is "Revelation" to our spirit.  When I consider these things, I find it very scary when we become so familiar in our surroundings, that we forget the One who gives us life in such great magnificent detail, with such loving care simply because we don't bother to take even a few minutes of our time to acknowledge His greatness in every facet of our lives.

          Another thing I find fascinating that God has accomplished far more than all the millions upon billions of published volumes of books, the world could not contain or have room for the books that would be written (John 21:25).  I truly believe that if I could write a Blog everyday just by mentioning every amazing thing about God, I don't think I could ever cover everything about His amazing attributes during my entire life.  Everything that man is able to do is because God enabled every man to have every skill set in the first place.  Consider right from the beginning of time, the Bible doesn't speak about people living in caves (like the evolutionists like to advise), but even Cain, who was one of the firstborn had built a city (Gen 4:17).  This is the theory of evolution when you think that man lived in caves like neanderthal apes.  It's disgusting to me to believe in evolution rather than seeing ourselves created by an awesome designer that only God could ever create.  To me, there is no way any man could do that if it weren't for the awesome power of God to give man the amazing ability to build a city.  Where would he have gotten the education to do such a task?  To marvel at what man can create is simply because God has given that wonderful ability to each one in the first place in everything imaginable.  God told Noah exactly how to build the ark in every detail to satisfy every living creature with Noah and his family.  Even to think of how God was able to direct two animals (male/female) alone to come to the ark is amazing.  The ark was build right to the exact measurement in every detail directed by our awesome God.

          As you can see, these examples are barely a shaving of ice off a huge iceberg to describe of how awesome our God really is.  Therefore, I find it most essential if we would just spend a few minutes throughout each day and see how the mighty hand of God has blessed us in so much detail of life.  Even if we spent every minute for our entire lives, we could never cover every detail of life and how He sustains our lives, protects our lives, blesses our lives in such detail while holding every order of life and all creation in the universe by the power of His Word.  When I think of these things more and more, I cannot but agree with David when he says of God "Your infinite knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me.  I cannot reach it". (Ps 139:6).  Truly, His awesome ways are hid from our hearts when we fail to give time to be still and know that He is an awesome God (Ps 46:10).  When we take time to see how awesome our God is and coming to know the truth to reverently fear Him, this is where we begin to attain wisdom (Prov 1:7) simply because our eyes and heart are open to receive understanding of the truth of how awesome He truly is.  Who in their right mind does not want to receive true wisdom that comes from on High?

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the "giving God" who gives liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault-finding, and it will be given him        (James 1:5)

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/


Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? (Exod 15:11)

LIVING AMAZED - PART 1

Blessed Saints of God, 

         We know that our God is an amazing God, when you consider that He created EVERYTHING out of nothing, gave life to all creatures and mankind, gave us everything imaginable to enjoy.  There is absolutely nothing else He could do to give us any more satisfaction in all of life.  There is nothing more He could have done to show His love any greater through His Son Jesus.  He gave us absolutely everything so we can enjoy the multitudes of variations of colors in all creation including sunrises and glorious sunsets.  Just think when He could have created everything black and white with a few greys here and there!  When we think of how fearfully and wonderfully we are made (Ps 139:14),  and everything is held in place by the power of His Word (Heb 1:3), He truly is an awesome God.  The oceans don't just stop at the sandy beaches, but Gods Word keeps the mighty oceans intact.  Ever wonder how amazing it is that something so fragile as sand is able to keep the mighty oceans from destroying many lands?  This should cause us to realize how God puts things in order, otherwise everything would seemingly float around in chaos and total disorder.  The stars in the heavens don't just hang in mid air, but God places them and holds them there by the power of His Word.  I like going back and reading Psalm 139 that tells us of Gods awesome sovereignty as well as the very last verse in John (John 21:25) that says that the books ever written in this world could never contain what God has done or continues to do.  To me, that is amazing just to think about that.  But so many times, we lack having that reverential fear and amazement of God.  The question I often like to ask is "Why is that" and seek Him to give us answers to these questions.  We should encourage each other to learn to ponder questions because it compels us to do some searching and seeking.  We need to do this to gain the benefits of receiving the richness of His Word rather than always letting others always feed us the word.  We are called to do some studying and searching, otherwise we fail to benefit the most from what He can offer us when we don't take time to study and to know Him in the power of His resurrection (Phil 3:10).  He tells us when we learn to seek the rich knowledge of His Word, we find extra-ordinary wisdom in it (Prov 2:4,5).  

          When you think that God became angry with a nation because they lost their awe of Him (Jer 2:19), it compels me to ask why and seek His help because I don't ever lose my awe and reverence of Him not because I am afraid He will become angry with me, but I would hate to grieve Him to come to that point in the first place.  To think that He is the Creator of all the Universe, and yet, He wants to have a personal intimate relationship with each of us (including me) should amaze us!  The thought of living eternally is amazing, especially for us who invited Jesus to be our Lord, can live in that awesome Kingdom which describes beauty beyond mans imagination which He Himself has prepared this eternal place for us.  I often think that when we lose our focus on how amazing is our God, there are several reasons why this happens.  First of all, we take everything for granted because anything we were once amazed at becomes all too familiar or common.  We forget that it is an awesome privilege to simply even enjoy a clean cup of water (for most of us) and forget that our God blessed us with this simple resource we take for granted.  This is so true for so many things in our lives that I couldn't list all the things we are privileged and take for granted in a lifetime.  Just to be able to see and enjoy so many sights and hear so many sounds of birds singing, listening to talented musicians or singers we enjoy or enjoying the springlike fragrance from the blossoms is a rich blessing because of Him.  To enjoy the use of all our senses God has given us should be more valuable to us than any worldly fame and fortune anyone has ever attained.  It's as though we have forgotten God and just come to a point that the plants, trees, flowers and all vegetation we enjoy just happen to spring up every year and animals just happen to be born after its own kind while we forget that our God is the Source of every existing creation and every material and natural resources we see before us.

          Secondly, we become so focused on attaining worldly ambitions or allowing the attractions of this world to get into our heart, that our love for this world has replaced our love for the One who gave us life in the first place.  Jesus tells His Disciples that His Word which is meant to give us hope, health in every way, encouragement, comfort, peace, joy and eternal life are all choked out by our cares for this world all because our primary focus has turned towards our worldly ambitions rather than having that rich relationship with Him (read Matt 13:1-7).   He gives us the greatest pleasure to enjoy the rich fellowship with the Church (His people) which is far richer than those who often have the most money in their bank account.  I used to travel much on my former job with a small group of people doing inspections throughout Canada.  Several people have been impressed to see how I knew so many people throughout our country.  I can only thank God that because of Jesus, I am able to connect with so many people after living in various places in our country.  Even when Christians meet for the first time, we are able to have that wonderful connection simply because we share a common interest by having that wonderful relationship with Christ.  Had one of us not had any personal relationship with Christ, we would not have known each other.  I find that those who have a richer relationship with Christ equally have a much richer relationship with other Christians.  I marvel at how God allows His people to connect with one another in such a short time when it is virtually impossible otherwise.  Many of the people I have known for a long time never became close in relationship to me.  When I think about the relational opportunities we have, I cannot help but marvel and know that it is only because we have a personal relationship with God.  Because of Him, I know I can go throughout the world and stop in many countries to visit many of you and have that wonderful relationship simply because of Him!  Knowing this is awesome just because of Him who loves us so much.  This is one of the things He wants us to prosper is in our relationship with Him and with one another.  Only Gods people can be so privileged like no other to have this.

          Thirdly, our awe of God becomes lukewarm when we don't heed to Gods wisdom to "be still" (Ps 46:1) and give ourselves time to think about how God created all life in its fullness.  If we would just consider spending as little as 5 minutes a day to have a "think session", we would realize that our God truly is an awesome God and be able to enjoy more of His bountiful creative power.  I have learned over the years that taking my time to enjoy His presence is much more satisfying than all the worldly clutter I have accumulated over the years.  The things I once cherished and worked hard just to collect, I now find it no longer has much value to me.  This is why I can truly identify what Paul says in Phil 3:8 that he gladly counts everything else as loss compared to the valuable worth of knowing Christ and being richly acquainted with Him.  It took him going through many trials to come to this point.  I know it also took me many trials to come to the point that nothing in this world is worth turning my back on the Lord.  It's a real liberation to know how awesome He is to me which is what fills our soul with delight.  When we fail to take time to think of how awesome He is and fail to see our awe of Him, we rob ourselves from having our souls being satisfied to the full, being filled with His Peace, His Joy and His goodness.  Knowing the truth about how awesome He really is to us deep within is really what satisfies our soul, which nothing else or no one else has ever done or could ever possibly do.  

I hope you will share these messages to help bless and encourage others in their time of need.  Lets spread the good news around the world!  

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
www.helpingcopewithhope.blogspot.com 

CHOOSE TO EXALT HIS WORD

Dear Blessed Saints of God,

          I was recently talking to a friend of mine who believes that a loving God would never send anyone to hell and eventually, believes that everyone will be justified and saved.  We do know that our God is a loving God, however, I would like to believe that everyone will be saved, but that is NOT what God says in His Word.  Even though we would like to believe this, we cannot afford to mis-interpret Gods Word when we choose our way of thinking through reasoning rather than believing what God says in His Word.  Satan who is considered a master deceiver was able to cause Eve to question Gods direct Word which caused mankinds downfall.  I find many people allow the same enemy to reason and question God "Why" simply because they don't understand why God does what He does.  They choose to believe their way of thinking over what God tells us.  We allow the enemy to fulfill his plan to rob, kill and destroy our lives when we do not choose the uncompromising Truth of Gods Word (John 10:10a).  God tells us in 2 Cor 10: 4, 5 (Amplified Version)  For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,5[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

          Here, God tells us that satan causes us to try to reason by questioning God and choose to understand our way of thinking, even though God directly says otherwise.  When I look back on my life, one of the things I had to surrender (and often need to continue to surrender to things) is to surrender my opinion and excuses.  When I made excuses to harbour bitterness from my past, it always sounds justifiable because it made sense to me.  But Gods Wise Words of wisdom tells us otherwise.  We often allow the enemy for us to question God "It's just not fair"!!  Because I chose to justify my negative behavior, I alone became my own prisoner because I did not take God in His Word and chose instead to listen to the voice of "reasoning".  When we choose to do things other than Gods way or believe what He says, we are giving rulership and dominion to the enemy who is able to deceive.  When we go outside of Gods covering, we are stepping outside of the safety zone and we end up giving the enemy dominion over us.  When we do, we are no match to the devils schemes because we end up being separated out of Gods protective covering by not following the authority of His Word.  Many people today question God "Why is there so much violence in the schools" and blame God for these escalating violences.  I would tell them, because they kicked God out of the school in the first place.  It didn't make sense to society to follow God when they themselves could be their own "god" by choosing to do things their way, which gave the enemy dominion and cause these outbreaks of violence.

          When I had an opinion of certain events and I realized God said something else, we have to strip that ugly pride from us that is destroying alot of people today, we need to surrender to God and say "Lord, I was wrong and You are Right".  I choose to obey the powerful Truth of Your Word.  If I have any wrong opinion now about anything dear Lord, I ask You to show me and reveal to me of any errors and I choose to do things and believe Your Word only.  I like what Jesus tells His Disciples after they questioned the Lord "Who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of God"?  He took a child and told them "Whoever humbles himself like this child will be the greatest in the Kingdom of God" (Matt 18:1- 4).  If you notice, a child who loves his earthly father and knows his father loves him does not try to reason with his father, does not try to debate or question his fathers authority.  But, a child will listen and believe what his father tells him because he loves his father and knows his father loves him.  Jesus tells His Disciples in John 6:29 that our works is simply to believe in the One (Jesus) whom the Father has sent.  Therefore, it is not a matter of having any sizable ministry or simply accomplishing anything by works, but a matter of believing.  Good works is important because we are saved to do "good works".  But, I believe we will be able to do greater works when we first learn to become a child and have that simple child-like faith and learn to believe like a child, love like a Child and receive that love like a Child is able to receive.

          So when God says to love your enemies and bless them, we can not afford to manipulate His Word or think otherwise.  We alone will suffer great loss just because we chose our opinion and ended up listening to the deceptive lies of the enemy.  Just like Adam and Eve ended up giving dominion to the enemy when God initially intended them to have dominion over all the world and over all creatures of the earth (Gen 1:26).  Pride was the main cause that destroyed Lucifer (Isa 14:12-15) who is known as satan.   When we choose our way of thinking above what God clearly says in His Word, we are in comparison being like lucifer who wanted to set his throne above Gods Throne.  Comparatively, we choose our thoughts above Gods thoughts.  Our own thinking becomes our "god" when we choose it over what God clearly tells us in His Word which is the only Key that bring eternal life (John 6:68).  Believing anything else goes down another path that does not lead to eternal life.

          I have often prayed in the past to ask God to help me love what He loves and hate what He hates.  When we do, we choose to do what is right and what is eternally best for us because God alone does everything RIGHT.  He does not make a mistake.  Many of us may not say that, but when we question how things have worked out for us when it is unfavorable, we may be telling God He has made a mistake and we see ourselves justified by it.  We need to surrender and crucify these "questionable thoughts" and tell God, You are RIGHT.  When we question God to the point that He made a mistake or that "He doesn't understand", we have to BELIEVE He knows best.  When things have not worked out for us, can we truly tell God we have followed everything He tells us?  Maybe we have unconfessed sins?  When things always go bad, do we repent and learn to speak the Life of His Word to us or do we continue to speak words of death (Prov 18:21)?  He warns us that speaking negative words over our lives brings forth death.  Do we continue to harbour iniquity (Ps 66:18)?  When we fail to live the abundant life Jesus tells us that He gives, there is always a reason and maybe we have failed to be humble like a child and failed to surrender to His authority.  Sometimes, God in His wisdom has to allow us to go through more trials because we continue to have selfish ambitions that need to be crucified?  Or perhaps we cherish the love of this world greater than our love for God?  Prov 26:2 tells us that a curse does not come without a cause.  King David suffered much until he learned that confessing his sins before God released him from the weight of sins that was causing him to waste away (Ps 32:3-5).  Have we come before the Lord to confess our sins to Him and our faults one to another (James 5:16)?

          Friends, refuse to allow our minds to be exalted above Gods Word and realize by choosing your thoughts above the One who created everything who is Source of every life is utterly foolish.  I want to encourage you to ask God to reveal the riches of His knowledge and wisdom to you.  To love His Word and hate every wrong path.  Ask Him if there is any false compromising ways you are presently believing and ask Him to reveal the deeper truths to you.  Forget about the traditions of our ancestors and ask God (read Matt 15:6; Col 2:8) to reveal greater Truths of His Word.  When we ask, we need to believe He will bless us with revelation knowledge in a far greater way when we believe like a child.  Why would He refuse to reveal His Truth to us?  We may not have because we simply have failed to ask (James 4:3).  When we ask, do we have wrong motives?  Let us become like a Child in our love and faith in Him and be like King David who loved His Word to the point that he hated every wrong path (Ps 119: 127, 128), which is why I believe God tells of David that he was a man after Gods own heart.  When we become like a child, Jesus promises us that we will become amongst the greatest in the Kingdom of God (Matt 18:4).  Who in their right mind would not want to be amongst the greatest in the Kingdom of God where His Kingdom has no end?

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

How We Are Strengthened

Dear Blessed Saints of God,

 

          What compels us and strengthens us?  Why does it often seem that some people are often encouraged and remain encouraged and others find it hard to receive encouragement and be encouraged?  Do you ever find that what we often like, we end up often meditating on it more and more.  When we meditate on something often, it becomes our desire within and actually builds a stronghold in our lives, whether good and favorable or evil and destructive.  It's the agendas we spend the majority on that we meditate upon and give thought to that truly strengthen us more in those particular areas.   Where one person is strengthened in the Lord more than the other, is because they end up giving more thought to Him and meditate on Him and His Word more than the one who may not give much attention to the Lord otherwise.  We find our strengths are developed within us when we look back and realize what is the majority of a particular agenda we gave thought to?  Therefore, what is good and often encouraging is to put several scriptures around to remind us, especially the scriptures that encourages you and lets you know He loves you with a love no other human can give.  

          God tells us in Phil 4:8 to teach us what we should be keeping our minds focused on.   When we give thought to a negative situation that may have happened to us in the past, the longer we meditate on these past events, this is what causes us to be stirred with anger or bitterness more and more simply because we continue to entertain and dwell on these thoughts. If another person chooses not to dwell on negative things and chooses to be mindful on the wonderful attributes of God and realize how merciful He has been to us, we find that the person who chooses to heed to Gods instruction will not develop that bitterness or negative stronghold in his/her life simply because they chose to dwell on good things the Lord encourages us to dwell on.  God encourages us to choose His ways, and we have been given that power to choose.  He always teaches us what is best for us.  But, in order for us to receive His best, we need to consciously choose His instructions that do benefit us the most.  By choosing to think and meditate on His goodness, we are liberated with peace, joy and freedom from bondages of any anger or frustration.  Just like He tells us that we don't simply overcome evil by just refusing to focus on it, but we overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).  Therefore, we need to change our focus from fretting on the negative circumstances and purposefully replace them with His presence and His Goodness and favor for us.  Just like the love message I have mentioned in the past to realize how He fulfills that law of love for each of us perfectly.  To know we are constantly surrounded by His presence, and how He (His Love) always hopes for the best in us.  It is not a bad thing to remember the past in order to bless others with a message because we often need to express our painful past and share it with other Christians we truly trust.  However, we have to be careful not to dwell on them to the point that we are constantly talking about our negative past all the time that we end up giving very little time to express our Hope that God is able to exceed our painful past and is able to give us a far greater hopeful and bright future.

          In the past, there have been hackers sending emails to some others using my name in vain.  When I realized I was starting to dwell on it too much, I could feel in my spirit that anger and bitterness would rise up within me, which would have done myself more harm than anything.  With Gods help, I chose to dwell on the mercies of God and His love for me, and be able to use this opportunity to be a message to others.  If we learn not to dwell on the negative, and learn to seek Him, He can use our situation to be a blessing to many others.  When we choose to use our past to bless others rather than dwell with that "Woe is me" attitude, this frustrates our enemy (the devil).  God wants to liberate us from holding on to every injustice because He promises that vengeance belongs to Him (Rom 12:19) and you can be certain that He is more than able to bring the proper correction and RIGHT every wrong that may have been done towards us.  No one gets away with anything that God is not going to require an account of.  I realize that is is totally futile to harbour any resentment towards others because we fail to benefit at all which is what the enemy will lie and tell you that you are justified by harbouring resentment and unforgiveness which is only a trap to keep you a prisoner of.  Knowing this causes me to have Godly sorrow for those who cause injustice which is the type of sorrow that God tells us that brings forth life (2 Cor 7:10,11).  When we know and understand that the Wisdom and Knowledge of His Word is far richer than any treasures, this truly does strengthen us.

          With Gods help, we are truly strengthened when we choose to be hopeful of our most blessed eternal future which will far exceed anything that has ever happened in this world.  I find Rom 8:18 is really encouraging to me knowing that our troubles in our present life is so temporal that will not ever be compared to the eternal glory that will be revealed in us.  No wonder Paul gladly chooses to forget his past trials and sufferings by focusing to press onward and forward to what lies ahead (Phil 3:13).  When we choose to do things Gods ways, He promises to us that He will give us double blessings for every trouble we have ever endured (Isa 61:7).  I would hate to not choose to do things Gods way and to forfeit His rich blessings that all the money in this world could ever compare to.  This should encourage us to focus on storing for ourselves eternal treasures (Col 3:1-2) by letting go and letting God love us and care for us.  By letting go of my past trials of injustices done towards myself, I can truly say that my blessings have far exceeded every negative circumstance from my past.  I encourage you deliberately and joyfully choose to do things Gods way (to Worship Him, Praising Him, receiving His perfect love for you) having that expectation of Hope to KNOW your blessings will far exceed any trials you have ever endured.  You cannot expect God to be faithful to His Word to doubly bless you when you choose not to do things His ways or remain doubtful. 

"May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope" (Rom 15:13 Amplified Version).

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

What then shall we say to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)