TAKE TIME to EXAMINE SELF

Dearest Saints, May Gods richer blessings be yours ever so more in 2016. Many messages I like to give is based on my past to bring hope to many and how God has changed my life. He continues to do that work in me that is needed and to not be silent about this in order to give many others the Hope we should have in Christ. It's always about helping others move forward in Him. It's like God telling us to do "Out-reach" rather then "In-reach". Otherwise, there is no point in sending any messages if it is not about blessing others. The messages I often like to give are Hope and Encouragement from my testimony. But other times, in order for us to move forward, we need to take time to identify if there is anything in our lives that needs to be dealt with and perhaps deal with any character flaws we may have and invite God to help us. I call these types of character flaws "little foxes that spoil the vine". In order to try to move forward in the things of God, we not only need to bring Hope and Encouragement which is what we need, but often-times we need to deal with any flaws by taking inventory of our lives and be open and honest before God. After-all, He already knows what we need. But opening ourselves to Him is what we need to do for ourselves, we don't need to do this because we think God doesn't know because He does. It's like the Psalmist says in Psalm 139:4 that He already knows our need before we petition Him. So it is always to our benefit to open up to Him. I find everything that God encourages us to do is to our benefit. It doesn't benefit or change God, but it changes us so we can benefit from it. I believe we can't move forward like we like to or need to do unless we deal with any possible Character flaws. It's like spraying perfume over the stench in the garbage which is like putting Christian labels on us but never dealing with anything on the inside. Like the saying I often like: "People don't care what you know until they know how much you care". We can talk about many things in particular about "little foxes that spoil the vine" like anger, lust, covetousness, competitive spirit, finger pointing, un-forgiveness, gossip, back-biting, division, strife and the list can go on and on. People know the "real you" by the fruit we bear, not just because we call ourselves Christians (Luke 6:44,45) or just say the sinners prayer and think that is it. As we start a New Year, for myself, I am asking God to help me each day become more and more like Him and move forward in Him and to give me a vision (realistic goals) for this year to overcome some obstacles and be the type of person He would like me to be on the other side (end of 2016). We need to have a realistic and positive vision, because the scriptures tell us that where there is no vision, we lack hope (Ps 29:18). We need to have a vision and that expectant hope that when we give any situation to God, He is going to take care of us and the situation we learn to give Him. By moving forward, we need to take the time to ask God to help us examine ourselves. In Psalm 139:23,24 David confesses to God to search himself and know his heart, to try him and know his thoughts. In the next verse, he says to see if there is any wicked way in me and to lead him into everlasting. As I was just typing these two verses, it just came to mind that David first had to confess to God to open himself before Him to confess any faults and evil way found within him. Next, David was expecting God to give him the answers he petitioned Him. David had to do these two things before He could expect God to lead him into everlasting that is mentioned in the following verse. It reminds me that too many times, we ask God to bless us. But at the same time, we fail to ask God to help us in our character flaws first and to help us so He can do that work within us before He can encourage us to move forward in the path He wants us to go. I would like to encourage each of us as we enter into this New Year, ask like David did to confess any faults we may have or "character flaws" by taking the time to examine ourselves before God. We often don't see any flaws of our own when we are too busy pointing the faults of each other and fail to possibly see a bigger fault of our own. It's like the Pharisees and Sadducees that are busy taking a look at Jesus to find fault in Him while at the same time, they had a much bigger fault within themselves. They didn't see the bigger fault of their own all because they were too busy looking for the fault of someone else. I also like the illustration that when someone points the finger at anyone else, three hidden fingers are pointed back at you and the biggest finger of all (our thumb) is being pointed to God! When we take time to examine ourselves before God, confess our faults to Him (taking ownership/responsibility), we need to HANG ON to the Hope that when you give your situation over to Him, BE STEADFAST and believe He is more then able and willing to help you. Don't believe just because you see anything, believe He is doing that work within us which is what builds our faith in Him that pleases Him. He already knows what help we need, He is just waiting for us to come to Him, confess our faults to Him and give everything over to Him. And with His help, have a God given vision for Him to help you be an overcomer and be changed to be more like Him by the end of 2016. Without having that expectant Hope of Him doing that wonderful work within us, we may as well not expect anything better to come out of us and we will just end another year being the same and never changing for the better. Having Hope in Him fills us with His Joy and Peace which truly does strengthen us (Rom 15:13 and Neh 8:10). Please email the undersigned should you wish to unsubscribe from my Blogs In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Ministry Encourager Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/