Fulfilling Our Purpose

I always want to share my experiences with each of you in order that you will not just read some other form of Christian topic that won't mean anything in our eternal realm of existence, but will have a positive life altering impact that brings hope and fulfills a greater eternal destiny for each of us. I must admit that these past few weeks, I have been struggling with questioning my purpose in life in everything I do. I was able to spend some time with a dear Chaplain I admire and respect and shared with him with a question of whether or not if I am really and truly making a difference in peoples lives in the realm of eternity? Or as Solomon puts it, in (Eccl 2:17), am I just grasping for the wind? In other words, is what I am doing all in vain or am I actually fulfilling a wonderful purpose God has for each of us? I struggle when I think whether I am just living within my bubble just floating aimlessly about, or is what I am doing making a positive difference in the lives of others? If God should choose to take me home, has my life made a postive difference in all I have done? Will the legacy of my life live on or will it just simply vanish? I think of the many old Saints of God whom have long passed away. Even though many have passed away hundreds of years ago, their legacy still inspires people today. I would love to see each of us be able to equally leave a positive legacy that will continue on to inspire others. I do know that God tells us that our labour for the Lord is never in vain (1 Cor 15:58), but is always encouraging to get some form of confirmation not to test His Word, but to simply prove His Word and be encouraged because of it. I believe it is a good thing when we can come to this crossroad so we can examine an important issue. God may be trying to get our attention so we can take the time that is necessary to reflect why we do what we do and not just live aimlessly without having any purpose or vision. In other words, is what we do profitable towards the things of God? If so, this is where we find peace and fulfillment in what we do. It's important to reflect on this because He tells us that His people perish who fail to have any vision or no sense of purpose (Prov 29:18). The question is: are we taking the time to seek Him and are we trusting Him to help us fulfill our purpose in life? When I see how I go through trials, I have to admit that I often wonder "what purpose is all of this?". I hate the thought of just "trying to survive" without finding any true meaning or purpose in everything we do or aspire to accomplish. I do believe,(and hope it is true) that my past trials are helping others through their time of trials and thereby fulfilling the purposes of God by being able to comfort others with the comfort we have received from Him (2 Cor 1:3,4). What good are any of our past trials if it cannot be a message of hope to others? Even though I have struggled questioning about my purpose, I know deep down that there has to be something good come out of what people would describe as just circumstances of misfortune. I realize that what I go through is not in vain when I can share my experiences with many others to give them hope that God can make something good from their lives. One would quote Rom 8:28: "all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called by His purposes". I don't want these Biblical quotes to become just another sermon of vain empty promises to anyone, but that what He says is TRUE in all its entirety all because of the testimony we can share. I believe God will do His mighty work through our circumstances and turn everything out for GOOD when we purpose in our heart to give Him the glory by acknowledging His Goodness in what He wants to teach us. When I take the time to examine my purpose, the Lord helps me to understand our temporal troubles in this life will never be compared to our eternal glory that will be revealed in us (Rom 8:18) which is that inexpressible hope that we should carry within us. I also understand that through trials, God often re-directs my heart by setting my affections where they should be set (read Col 3:2). He tells us that where our heart is, that is where our real treasures are (Matt 6:21). I think one of the most tragic things is when people look back on their life and realize that much of what they did was all in vain simply because they fail to take the time to seek God for direction and lived aimlessly with no real purpose of value God had for them. Therefore, when we struggle with issues that question about our lives and our motives, this can be a wonderful turning point to get ourselves on track and know that God truly does have a wonderful plan for our life. I have asked the Lord many times during prayer that the day my life stops advancing His Kingdom and I fail to stop being a blessing to others (fulfilling my purpose), that He takes me to my eternal home the day before that ever happens. Paul states: to live is Christ and to die is gain (Phil 1:21). Even though he realized he would be better off to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8), Paul knew it is better for him to remain alive on earth simply because he understood his purpose God had for him by helping shape lives for many people. Just like Paul and many of the Biblical characters we read about, God is keeping each of us here for His divine purpose in life. REFUSE to ever give up or become complacent about it. God tells us that He is angry when His Children becomes complacent when we should be moving forward with His help (read Zech 1:15)! Start while it is called today because how we use this short time in our present existence will determine our eternal destiny. When we learn to number our days, we will gain a heart of wisdom by realizing we need to make the most of our lives by seeking Him (Ps 90:12) while opportunity still exists. Let's be certain we don't live aimlessly. We all have a purpose. Therefore, lets take the time to seek Him and with His help, believe that we will fulfill His purpose for us in our lives. There is nothing greater than knowing we have fulfilled His divine purposes for us that will give us far greater joy than anything this world can ever offer. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/

RECEIVING HIS BEST

Dearest Saints, I would like to send you Gods richest blessings and His very best for you to receive from Him and to allow Him to do mighty works through you. To receive His best for you, it is always available to each of us. I believe that most times, we only tap into a fraction of Gods divine power and goodness for us when He wants to do so much more for us and through us. There is no one who can't receive His best for us to do His mighty works through us to others. The problem is that we often doubt ourselves when we need to know that it is His power working through us in the first place. Where striving for self-confidence is exalting our efforts which will always become a failing attempt. Trusting God is putting our confidence in the One who is able to do far greater works through us than we could ever possibly do which is the only way that is acceptable before Him. We often receive a fraction of His power working through us because we fail to repent for not allowing His best to receive and humbling ourselves of our desperate need of Him. When we repent, we can't afford to hold on to any guilt because we are never justified by ever feeling guilty from our past. Its not how we feel guilty that justifies us, but thanking God and believing that He took care of our guilt and shame because of what He did for us. We are justified because we believe not ever because of what we can or cannot do. I like the illustration in 2 Peter 1:3-9. Starting in vs 3, He tells us that we have been given His divine power (already). In vs 4, He mentions that He has bestowed His precious and exceeingly great promises so we are able to escape all moral decay and be sharers of His divine nature. By believing and receiving the promises of these first two verses, this will allow us to be strengthened so we can develop the wonderful attributes of Godliness that will abound in us (vs 5-8). We will never find strength in our inner man when we choose to rely on our own thinking rather than simply believing what He says. In particular, verse 9 Simon Peter who wrote this book tells us that we are short-sighted and have become oblivious to the truth that we have already been cleansed from our old/former sins (because of what Jesus has already accomplished). So when we do repent, we need to know that He is faithful to forgive and refuse to continue carrying any baggage of guilt that only weighs us down from believing the lies of our enemy. God tells us that is why we are justified because we believe what He says (Gal 2:16). We will never be justified any other way. As we enter into the beginning of this new year, I would like to share a wonderful declaration that our dear Pastor Bert McCutcheon has put together to hand out to each of us. However, as we make this declaration to receive His best to be our best and do our best, as mentioned, we need to refuse to carry any guilt which we have already repented of which God has already erased from His memory. We need to humble ourselves by decreasing ourselves (relying on our own strength and intellect) and choose to rely on His greater power to do that wonderful work through us that He so much wants to do and is able to do exceedingly more than we could ever ask or think (Eph 3:20). This is only possible if we humble ourselves and allow Him to do that work through us. This New Years Spiritual Fitness Declaration is as follows: Heavenly Father, By Your Grace and power, I am ready. I am prepared to accept Your strategy to get rid of this spiritual flab. I submit myself to your transforming plan for spiritual/physical health and fitness. I am ready to hang around with You so that Your actions and reactions become mine. I will stay in constant communication with You throughout my days and years. I will consult You continually as I learn how to walk in the new freedom You have given me. I will reject spiritual junk food that tempts and weakens my mind. I am ready to make Your guide book (the Bible) my training manual for this new pursuit. You went through all that I will go through, so I commit myself to follow Your instructions. With Your help, I will learn to say "NO" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and live a self-controlled, upright and godly life right now. When I fall down, with Your help, I will get back up and continue to move forward with You. When people see me, I want them to see You. I am ready to be on your front page of 'before' and 'after'. With Your help, I am declaring to train and live in Your Righteousness through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. We can all make 2014 the best and most blessed year ever by letting Him work powerfully through us as we carry that Hope of Him within us. We are blessed to be a blessing to others. Refuse to ever let the enemy deceive you from ever believing that we are not 'good enough' to receive His very best to work for us and through us. It is His Goodness working through us when we understand who we are in Christ simply know we are righteous because of what He did, not what we could ever do. One of the deterrents is failing to purposely making a choice to let Him do that work that only He can do. Repentance, humility and wholly trusting Him are the most powerful tools to receive His best for you as He so much wants to do a wonderful and powerful work through you. Will you make that choice? In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director - Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/ For with God, nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment (Luke 1:37) Amplified Version

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/