"Abundant Water"

"For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." Isaiah 44:3

Mankind is always trying to solve his own problems. We have to face it--- we can't. We need help. We need God's help because while we can't, He can. For example, we can't quench our own thirst. There is a "thirsting" within us that is longing to be satisfied. We try to quench it but without success. We have tried to quench it through sensual pleasures, through entertainment, through education, through hobbies, through mind-altering substances, and an endless list of other activity. We may find something that will quench it for the moment, but then it always comes back.

Are you trying to quench your own thirst? Are you trying to satisfy that dry place in your life? You can't. You can't give yourself "water". You can't produce the "rain" that you need. But God can. In the verse above He said, "I will". When the heavens were shut up and there had been no rain upon the land for over three years, Elijah prayed for rain and the heavens opened up and the rain began to fall. Did Elijah do that? Did he produce the rain? He prayed for it, but God created it and God sent it.

This morning God is wanting to pour water upon those thirsty areas in your life. He is wanting to saturate you with "heavenly" showers. He doesn't want to only send enough to dampen your life, He wants to send "floods". He wants to send it in abundance. Twice in our opening verse He said, "I will" do this. You can't do it. But He will do it.

When it rains, the earth just receives it and lets it "happen". God is ready to send water- cleansing and refreshing- to your life. He is ready to send floods to your dry places to cause them to come back to life and bloom again. Cry out for the spiritual rain like Elijah cried out for physical rain and get ready, it is coming. Then just receive, bask in and enjoy the abundant rain of peace, grace, strength, provision and blessings that will flood your soul.

Have a great day. You can't water your own life, but God can and will, and He will do it in abundance.

For further reading:

Isaiah 43:19,20; 55:1
John 7:37; 4:13,14; 6:35
Psalm 63:1; 68:9
Matthew 5:6
1 Kings 18:41-45

"Fear Of The Lord"

"Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways." Psalm 128:1

Sometimes we wonder what it means to "fear the Lord". Does it mean we are supposed to tremble when we approach Him and be afraid of Him? Does it mean we are supposed to reverence Him? It means both. But the "fear of the Lord" is not demonstrated by trembling in terror, it is demonstrated by obedience.

The fear of the Lord is defined in the verse above-- "that walks in His ways". The fear of the Lord means that we respect and honor God enough to walk in His ways, keep His commandments and do His will. The fear of the Lord is not doing what we want and putting our will and plans above His for us.

There are blessings that are attached to the fear of the Lord. When we have the fear of the Lord (and not just say we do), we get to enjoy those blessings-- they are given to us by God Himself.

Are you walking in the fear of the Lord? Do you respect Him? Do you reverence Him? Is His will more important to you than your own? Are you following Him- yielded and obedient to what He desires? Think about it, search your heart, look at your lifestyle and see if you have the fear of the Lord.

Have a great day. The fear of the Lord is to respect the Lord and show that respect by doing His will and not your own.

For further reading:

Psalm 128; 111:10
Job 28:28
Isaiah 33:6
Proverbs 9:10; 10:27; 14:26

"Let The Burden Go"

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Does this verse describe you? Are you weary? Weary of trying to do things your way? Are you burdened? Struggling with what to do and how to do it? Are you under a burden of guilt and condemnation? Are you burdened by the extra things in life that you are taking on? Are you exhausted from trying to live a perfect life? Are you beating yourself up because you don't seem to be able to accomplish it? Then this verse is for you.

The Lord is giving you an invitation to lay down all your cares, to let go of the heavy burdens, to come out from under the load of guilt and to have peace and rest. How do you accept this invitation? You do it by applying the first three words-- "Come unto Me".

Go to Him, don't stay there continuing to "work it out". Don't keep trying to no avail. Don't keep laboring. Lay it down at His feet. Hand it over to Him. Place it in His hands. And then you will stop struggling. You will stop being confused. Then your burden will lift and your labor- weariness and exhaustion- will stop.

Have a great. Accept the Lord's gracious invitation to come to Him and lay your burdens down. Then you will receive His rest.

For further reading:

Matthew 11:29
1 Peter 5:7
Luke 10:39-42

"The Sidewalk To Nowhere"

"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." Isaiah 29:13

This morning I was reminiscing about a trip that my husband and I had taken years ago.  At this particular hotel we stayed in there was a sidewalk that was in the middle of the yard. It looked very odd because it was just there. It wasn't attached to anything. It wasn't a path that led you from one building to another. The function of a sidewalk is to be a path that leads you to somewhere else. I called it the "sidewalk to nowhere" because it did not take you anywhere-- it just ended. Something that I noticed about this sidewalk was that it looked to be in good condition. It was well kept-- the grass was mowed and weeded around it. It was obvious that the ground's keeper has not ignored it.

The more I thought about this oddity, the more it made me think about people who are religious. Their lives are like this "sidewalk". They look good. They look like they have a purpose. Their religious appearance is well maintained-- they go to church, they give offerings, they quote the scriptures, they sing in the choir, they have been baptized-- they do all their religious duties. But the trouble with religion only is that like this sidewalk, they aren't attached to anything.

Jesus died so that we can have a relationship with the Heavenly Father. He did not die to give us another religion. Religion does not attach you to Jesus. It does not bring you into a relationship with God, therefore, your life is like an unattached sidewalk that looks good and looks well-kept but is a dead end and just there.

Without a relationship with the Father through Jesus the Son, our lives are like this sidewalk, if we stay on it it will keep us going nowhere. We will be spending our time, energy, strength and effort going back and forth and back and forth over the same path and never getting anywhere-- kind of like the Israelites in the wilderness who went around and around the same mountain over and over again for forty years but never got anywhere. Without a relationship with Jesus, not only are we like a disconnected path that goes nowhere, we can't lead anyone else to Jesus and eternal life. If they follow our lives they will find themselves on a path that goes nowhere except back and forth, unattached to anything.

Is your life like the sidewalk that leads to nowhere? You look good but are not attached to Jesus. Are you religious but don't have a relationship that attaches you to Him?

Have a great day. Religion will take you nowhere. Having a relationship with Jesus will take you to the Heavenly Father and eternal life.

For further reading:

Matthew 7:21,22
Luke 6:46
Ephesians 2:8,9

"Blessings In Temptation"

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." James 1:12

Are we tempted? Do temptations come our way? Are we faced with temptations? Yes, to all. We are not exempt from temptations-- none of us. Even our beloved Savior Jesus was tempted. Being tempted is not a sin. Giving into the temptation is.

Often, we focus on the consequences of yielding to temptations-- and there are consequences. But we tend to forget that there is a blessing when we don't give in and when we stand firm against them.

We don't tend to recognize the blessing because it doesn't always look like one. When Joseph resisted Potiphar's wife, he was thrown into prison. When the three Hebrews refused to bow before the statue, they were thrown into the fiery furnace. They didn't look very "blessed", but they were.

When we stand firm and resist giving into the temptation that we face, it may look like anything but a blessing-- it may look otherwise. But there is a blessing attached-- it's an eternal blessing, it's a crown of life, it's a promise from the Lord Himself. So keep resisting; keep enduring; keep standing firm when you are tempted you will receive a blessing from the Lord Himself.

Have a great day. We often focus on the consequences of yielding to temptation, but there is a blessing attached as well when we don't.

For further reading:

Matthew 4:1-11
1 Corinthians 10:13
2 Peter 2:9