"Pleasing Who?"

"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10

 

The devil has a plan for our lives (to destroy them). Other people may have a plan for our lives. We have our own plans, what we want to do with them. Then there is the plan of God for our lives. He has one for each of us. We have all been created with His specific plan for us in mind.

 

Often the plan of man for our lives and our own plans will conflict with God's plan. So what are we to do? Whose plan do we follow? We should always follow God's plan, and we will if we seek to please Him rather than to please people or self. 

 

Are you a "man-pleaser" or a "God-pleaser". Do you follow someone else's plan for your life because you want to please them? Do you hold back from speaking when you know that it is God prompting you to do so because you want to please someone else? If so, then you should settle this fact once and for all-- you can't please everybody. Jesus couldn't-- someone was always unhappy with Him. Someone was always offended with Him. Someone was always trying to make Him please them and submit to their plan. But He didn't. Jesus stayed focus on one thing-- pleasing the Father. He did that by fulfilling the Father's plan for His life-- not His own, not the Pharisee's, not the disciples, not the religious leaders, not His mother's and not the people's. 

 

If you are going to fulfill God's plan for your life, you are going to have to stop trying to be a people pleaser. You are going to have to make your one goal and one heart's desire that of pleasing the Heavenly Father. 

 

Have a great day. You will never fulfill God's plan for your life as long as you are trying to please other people. 

 

For further reading:

Jeremiah 29:11

John 4:34; 10:10

 

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"Walking Among Them"

"And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side." Luke 10:31

 

The religious leaders that Jesus talked about would not go among the people for fear of "contaminating" themselves. They would not touch the sick, the bruised, the beaten, the down cast, the unclean least they become "unclean" themselves. Little did they realize that they were themselves sick, bruised, beaten, contaminated, dead already in trespasses and sin. 

 

There was quiet a contrast between the priest, Levites, Pharisees and religious leaders of that day and Jesus. Jesus walked among the people. He touched the lepers. He embraced the hurting. He held the children. He ate with publicans and sinners. He wasn't afraid of being "contaminated" by them. He was out there daily not only touching and changing their lives, but giving them life. 

 

As Christians, while we are to be "separated" from the world, we are to go into the world. We are to go and reach hurting, broken humanity with help, healing and the message of hope. We are to walk among them and compel the lost to come to Christ. We are in the world but not of the world. But we act like we are not in the world because we separate ourselves from reaching out to them. Are we afraid that we will get "contaminated"? Are we afraid that it will "dirty" our righteousness? 

 

We have been delivered out of the world- the sins, the thoughts, the actions, the deeds, the mindsets, etc.- so we are not to go back into what we have been delivered out of, but we are to walk among the world like Jesus did and help them find their way out. Jesus wasn't afraid of getting "dirty" by the world. He readhed out and touched their lives. We should follow Him and do the same. 

 

Have a great day. Are we keeping our distance from the world for fear of being "contaminated" by it, or walking in it like Jesus did reaching out to the lost?

 

For further reading:

Ephesians 2:1

Luke 14:23

 

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"Created Equal"

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." Genesis 1:26

 

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Independence Day here in the United States. In our Declaration of Independence our forefathers wrote these words. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

 

"All men are created equal". How true that is. Although when we look at people, we don't always see that. We categorize people. We put them in classes. We look at them through our own standards. We label them. We make judgments that this one is better than that one based on some human accomplishment. We act as if the affluent are better than the uneducated. We think that the rich are more nobler than the poor. Then there are those we place on pedestals and others that we look down our noses at. We tend to think that we are better than some other people. But the truth is, "we are all created equal".

 

We are all created in the image of God, after His likeness. Every person born on planet earth, past, present and future, has been created by God and in His image. Every person originally started from dirt. We all enter this life through the womb. So we are all equal in terms of how we are created. 

 

We are all created with feelings and emotions. We all hurt. We all feel pain. When we bleed, we all bleed the same color- red.

 

We are all the same/equal in the fact that we are all born into this life as sinners. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12) We are the same in the fact that we are all lost, separated from God, under the death sentence, and in need a Savior because we can't save ourselves. We are the same in the fact that if we are going to be saved and have eternal life, we all have to come the exact same way to salvation. One group may try to work their way to salvation, another may put their hope in some ancient prophet to save them, or another may think that their goodness will save them. While many others believe there are many ways to be saved, to have eternal life, and to get to God, there is but One Way. We are all the same in the fact that Jesus is the Only One who can save us. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) There is no other way besides Him.

 

As we celebrate the freedom of our nation this week, will you declare your independence from sin and death by turning to Jesus the Only One who can save you and set your free? 

 

Have a great day. All men are created equal... we are all born into sin and we all need a Savior. There is only one Savior for all of us-- Jesus. 

 

For further reading:

Romans 3:23

Acts 10:34

James 2:1-4

Luke 18:11

John 14:6

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"Singing Words"

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Deuteronomy 6:5

 

I woke up this morning with a chorus repeating over and over in my thoughts. The words that kept going over and over are, "I'm a lover of Your presence." There are a multitude of Christian songs out there. They are classified under numerous categories-- Southern gospel, contemporary, hymns, choruses, rap, etc. We all have our favorites. And we all have songs that we love more than others. The point I want to make this morning is not pertaining to which "style" of Christian music you enjoy more, but more to the content. And more specifically, what are you doing with the content? What are you doing with what you are singing?

 

As this line of the song was playing in my thoughts, I questioned, "Is that true? Am I a lover of God's presence? Do I love His presence more than anything else?" How many times do we sit in a church worship service and sing the songs without giving any thought to the words? Do we sing them out of habit? Are we just reciting some words that we have memorized? Are do they really mean something to us? Do we really mean what we are singing? Are we practicing what we sing? Is our heart in it, or is it "lip worship"? 

 

Do I truly believe "There is Power in the Blood"? Am I like "A deer panting for the water"- longing for Him more than anything else? Am I living like there is "Nothing but the blood that can wash away my sins" or am I trying to clean up myself? Am I convinced that "He is Mighty To Save"? Do I daily, "Surrender All- All to Jesus", or do I reserve the right to hold on to certain things in my life?

 

The next time you sing a song, the next time you are in a worship service, the next time a chorus or hymn comes to mind and you find yourself singing it, take note as to whether you are singing it because you have memorized the words or because the words have meaning and you are living by them.

 

Have a great day. I wonder if the songs we sing are just words that we have memorized, or are we living what we are singing?

 

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.

"Cornerstone"

"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." Ephesians 2:20

 

When a building was to be constructed, the first thing that was put into place was a cornerstone. The rest of the building was then built according to the placement of it. One of the purposes of the cornerstone was to keep the building in alignment. Without it the building would be crooked and unstable.

 

The Apostle wrote that Jesus Himself was the chief cornerstone. It is upon Him that the church is built. It is also upon Him that our lives must be built. He is the cornerstone in our lives that holds all things together. He is what keeps our lives organized and in order. Without Him we are like a house that is "unsafe" and "unstable" because the foundation is faulty. 

 

Does your life seem to be out of alignment? Does it seem to be chaotic? Do you feel like you are off track? Check the foundation? Are you moving yourself away from the true foundation and trying to relocate to another one. Another one such as self-centeredness, greed, jealousy, pride, etc.?

 

If we try to build our lives on another foundation, or try to get away from being built on Him, we are like a house built on sand. There is nothing solid to hold our lives up. Sand continually shifts and gets us out of alignment and takes us into a life of disorder. Christ is the only sure foundation. He is the only One who can keep our lives in order. 

 

Have a great day. If your life is out of order and chaos, check to make sure you are still firmly built upon Christ the sure and solid foundation.

 

For further reading:

1 Peter 2:6

Isaiah 28:16

1 Corinthians 3:11

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell

and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from

About the Master's Business Ministry, Inc.

Please feel free to

call (601) 833-5278 or
Email:mastersbusiness@bellsouth.net

Visit us on the web: www.mastersbusiness.org

You are welcomed to make copies and distribute them free of charge.

You may also forward them via e-mail or post them to your website - leaving the whole message in tact unless permission is granted to do otherwise. Please remember to give credit to About the Master's Business Ministry.