If we gain the whole world...

Luk 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luk 9:24  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Luk 9:25  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

Gain the world. The world is at our fingertips. Work hard and get anything in the world you want.  The world has it all.  The riches of the world.  How many people are told about the parts of the world where you can go and work hard and live the dream of freedom and wealth? You hear the story here in the United States about a person coming from nothing and working hard to make something of themselves and it happens all the time. Those who live horrific lives manage to escape and they truly appreciate the opportunities they are given.  But how many get here and life is still extremely hard for them? That dream they had looked forward to turns to dust.  We who live here also can find it very difficult to make a living in this land of opportunity. And so often because our lives are measured in things like careers, salaries, education, looks, etc and we come up extremely short and so we don't call our lives a success. We've forgotten that even if we were to gain the entire world it means absolutely NOTHING to eternity, not a single thing.

Worldly success is nothing without God, nothing! 

Worldly success is worthless without a true walk with God.

Worldly success means absolutely zero if we do not deny ourselves and take up the cross of Christ Jesus our Savior.

Success is a WALK WITH CHRIST, a LIFE WITH CHRIST, LOVE WITH OUR GOD.

Gaining the WORLD or anything in the world that we believe would make us achieve worldly admiration can be a deceptive trap to lure us from the Cross we are to carry.  Gain the world and lose ourselves and be cast away, this is truth. 

If we find ourselves caught up in the world we have to repent and deny ourselves, picking up the cross of our Savior.

So right now, ask yourself just how much of the world you have gained and how much do you want to gain, have you picked up the cross of the Savior and denied yourself?

Lord, help us to deny ourselves. Lord, help us to not want to gain the world. Lord, help us to pick up Your cross.  Please, Lord, You are EVERYTHING help us to choose You always as satan presents the world to us in his awful deceptive way.

In Your Love, thank you for all You do for us, for all You will do for us, for all You've done for us.

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Now and forever!  Amen.

Daily

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Mar 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

DENY SELF.

TAKE UP A CROSS.

FOLLOW CHRIST.

Daily this is our instruction.

PRAYING DAILY-  'Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. …Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread. '

Do we deny our selfish ways?

Do we take up our cross, do we even know how?

Do we truly follow Christ?

And do we pray daily?

We can't refuse to take the cross and follow Christ, it doesn't work that way.  We listen to our Savior only in the things pleasing to our ears, our desires.  We have to listen to Christ in all ways, so why don't we? Why do we keep getting in our own way?

We have an unseen enemy who is around us all the time and this enemy will stop at nothing to keep us from following Christ in any way. Fortunately Christ is greater than our enemy and has defeated Him so we cling to Christ, our Savior, the only one who has ever defeated our enemy. We don't dare try to defeat him on our own, we rely upon the Savior.  As we rely upon our Savior we do all we can to live as He instructs us to live.  We do all we can to deny our selfish ways.  We take up a cross.  We pray.

We do all by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, now and forever!  AMEN.

Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity

Psa_119:37  Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.

So much of our time is spent focused on ourselves, even ourselves in relation to others. Thinking about how we appear to others, thinking about how we feel at any given moment. Venting to others often as we feel the need.  How can we keep from this vanity that afflicts us all in so many incredible ways? I don't have the answers.  I do know that the above verse is a plea to God, a plea we all should have. 'Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity…..  quicken thou me in THY way.'

We need God to turn our eyes from our vanity. 

We truly must pray this prayer from our heart.

David's son, Solomon was given the greatest of all wisdom any man had been given and he was very clear in revealing the truth about vanity.

Ecc_1:14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecc_12:8  Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

Imagine for a moment-  having seen ALL the works that are done under the sun.  A lie? Impossible? We would say impossible wouldn't we? But why would this be a lie, is it a metaphor? Is it an exaggeration? Could Solomon have been shown all the works under the sun? Perhaps he was shown everything, or enough so that he could comprehend that so much is truly vanity, that it is at the root of all our lives. 

If we weren't focused on ourselves what would we be focused on? How can we not be focused on ourselves? Truly God alone has the power to rid us of our vanity.  If Christ is in us then we are not self-focus, we can't be. Christ will fill our spirit with His Spirit. We must be Christ focused, we must choose to desire to be Christ focus and then let our God work in us.

As the Holy Spirit convicts us we are to use the conviction to seek Christ in a deeper walk. We are to truly comprehend our need of Christ in our every moment and if we believe that we don't need Him in our every moment then we are sorely mistaken.

Please Father in heaven, please help us to realize how much in our lives is vanity and help us to seek forgiveness, repenting truly repenting.  Please Holy Spirit, please speak for us because our words fall short, our knowledge falls short, whatever it is we need please give it to us because we don't even know the depths of our needs. We would be Yours, please…please.  All through our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Now and FOREVER.

Amen.

Honoring - Obeying

Mar 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

Mar 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these

Jesus equates the desire for eternal life with the moral commandments, make NO mistake about that. Jesus told this man in the above verses that he was to LOVE the Lord thy God with ALL his heart, with ALL his soul, with ALL his mind, with ALL his strength.  And then He told him that he was to love others as he would be loved-one who loves God.

How are we supposed to love God with our ALL in ALL, with our Everything as average everyday people with jobs, families, etc?  God has to be ALLOWED into our jobs, our families, and everything we do.

We are to LOVE, and the LOVE we are to love with is God's love.

God gave moral commandments to explain His love more plainly in a way people would be able to comprehend.

IF we love God-- as we talked about yesterday, we will have…

No other Gods. No graven images. We won't take God's name in vain. We will remember God's holy day, the Sabbath. We will honor our father and our mother. We will not kill. We will not commit adultery. We will not steal. We will not bear false witness against our neighbor. We will not covet our neighbor's house, we will not covet our neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is our neighbor's. 

Do these moral laws make sense to you?  Can you find the love in them? If we are loving God with our all in all then it would be impossible to have any other god but God and we will not worship any object in place of God, we certainly wouldn't use our God's name evilly. And if we are loving our God we would definitely want to spend special time HE set aside for us to spend with Him.  If we are loving others - any other- we will honor, we will respect our parents, we won't kill, we won't cheat on our spouse, we won't steal, we won't lie about anyone, we won't with malicious intent want what others possess. 

Again I ask- do these make sense, and is there love revealed in them?

How do we honor God- we LISTEN TO HIM! And in listening to Him we OBEY, we FOLLOW what He tells us.

Can I honor God when I refuse to obey Him?

Can you honor someone and refuse to listen to them?

We can honor God in our everyday life in many, many ways!

More tomorrow by the wonderful grace, the marvelous mercy, the love of our God, our Savior, Jesus Christ now and FOREVER!

Amen.

How do we honor God?

How do we honor God?

Webster 1828 Dictionary- Honor  --  I'm taking from the following all I believe may apply to how we honor God.

Honor

HON'OR, n. on'or. [L. honor, honos.]

1. The esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation.

A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country. Mat 13.

2. A testimony of esteem; any expression of respect or of high estimation by words or actions; as the honors of war; military honors; funeral honors; civil honors.

3. Dignity; exalted rank or place; distinction.

I have given thee riches and honor. 1 Ki 3.

Thou art clothed with honor and majesty. Psa 104.

In doing a good thing, there is both honor and pleasure.

4. Reverence; veneration; or any act by which reverence and submission are expressed, as worship paid to the Supreme Being.

HON'OR, v.t on'or. [L. honoro.]

1. To revere; to respect; to treat with deference and submission, and perform relative duties to.

Honor thy father and thy mother. Exo 20.

2. To reverence; to manifest the highest veneration for, in words and actions; to entertain the most exalted thoughts of; to worship; to adore.

That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. John 5

4. To glorify; to render illustrious.

I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host. Exo 14.

*******

So, how do we honor God?

Do we esteem God above all else, and I mean all else, ourselves included?

Do we respect God above all else in our actions, in our words?

Do we hold God in an exalted rank?

Do we reverence, do we venerate, are we in submission to our God?

How do our lives reflect the honor we give to God?  How do we reveal that we are putting Him first in our lives, in all things?

We need to truly delve into this and by the grace of God be shown our shortcomings, and our obedience.

Let's look at the moral law God gave to those He chose to become His people.  He was teaching the Hebrew people about Him and His relationship to them.

Exo 20:1  And God spake all these words, saying,

Exo 20:2  I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exo 20:7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Exo 20:12  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Exo 20:13  Thou shalt not kill.

Exo 20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exo 20:15  Thou shalt not steal.

Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Exo 20:17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Exo 20:18  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

Deu 4:13  And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

Mat 19:16  And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Mat 19:18  He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

Mat 19:19  Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mat 19:20  The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

Mat 19:21  Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Mat 19:22  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

Mat 22:35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

Mat 22:36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.

Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Love God, love our neighbor- all ten moral laws are based upon those two commandments. The first four are God's, the last six are for our neighbors.

We need to open our hearts to the truth of these words because in those first four commandments of the moral law given to instruct those who were brought out of bondage into the light of truth reveal the honor God is due.

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exo 20:4  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Exo 20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Exo 20:7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Exo 20:8  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

No other Gods. No graven images. No taking God's name in vain. Remember God's holy day, the Sabbath.

Jesus had NO other God before His Father God. Jesus had NO graven images to worship before God. Jesus never took His Father God's name in vain. Jesus always honored God's holy day, the Sabbath in the truest way possible. 

Jesus did all these in honor of His Father God.

We can do no less, through our Savior.

More on all this tomorrow by the grace and mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

All to the Glory of God!

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.--I Cor. 10:31

'We must offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts them. Then hold firmly to that position and keep insisting that every act of every hour of the day and night be included in the transaction. Keep reminding God in our times of private prayer that we mean every act for His glory; then supplement those times by a thousand thought-prayers as we go about the job of living. Let us practice the fine art of making
every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.'  --The Pursuit of God  by A.W. Tozer

Truly we have fallen into a horrible trap when we try to lead two lives- one for God, and one for the sin-filled flesh we are. Does this mean we don't have special worship time? NO.  God is first, or SHOULD be first in EVERYTHING we do.   Yes, everything! If we step out of God's view at any moment we are NOT living with Christ in us.  We can have our set aside times for deeper worship, but God needs to be in all we do, this isn't a joke. This isn't idle talk. This isn't some unrealizable hope. This is TRUTH.

Whether we are EATING-

Whether we are DRINKING-

WHATSOEVER we are DOING-

-we DO ALL to the GLORY OF GOD.

This is TRUTH!

Can we slip? Yes, we can let a temptation sweep us away but as SOON as we recognize that falling away we need to repent and seek forgiveness. Ideally we don't fall to temptation, there is NO green light for sinning at any time for any reason.  We must live to the glory of God and by HIS power through the Holy Spirit by the love of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of our Savior we are enveloped in HIS righteousness, His blood covering our sins.

And lest anyone try and soft peddle this to you, do NOT believe that it will be an easy road paved smoothly without any bumps.  It's a very narrow way. We can expect to be buffeted on all sides.

2Co_12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

Satan will buffet us at every opportunity.  Satan will remind us how awfully sinful we are. Satan will point out to us every reason why we are unacceptable to God. Satan will try to convince us that it is impossible to live in Christ, to be Christ's, to live sinless through Christ's righteousness. Satan LOVES to point out the smallest of our errors and is loathed to have us ever forget the biggest of them.  Satan wants to lead us to despair and will do ALL in His power to bring us to the point of believing we are without hope.

And Christ has done ALL in His power to give us that hope!

When we are told to pray always it is no surprise not really. Because we are in God's presence at all times. We like to pull down the shades and lock our doors, but they never keep God's presence out, He is always in our lives through our good and bad. Every record of our lives is kept, there is nothing left out.  Christ has promised that if we believe in Him, believe in the LOVE He alone has for us His creatures, His brothers and sisters in humanity, that He will through the power of the blood sacrifice that He made forgive us our every sin.  Christ is our HOPE and our LIFE, all our life! 

Sin, especially deliberate sin will separate us from God as long as it is left unrepentant and unforgiven. And while everything in our lives is recorded and known that does not give us automatic forgiveness and understanding. We choose.  There are many, many people who will happily declare their freedom from believing in God, and they have that. If they want the separation they will be separate because God will NOT force Himself on anyone. God is still there for each and every one of them should they have their eyes opened, their hearts convicted of the truth. Make no mistake though, God will NOT bring every one into His kingdom and it will be through NO FAULT of His own. He will NOT FORCE heaven or eternal life in Him upon any one at all, not a single person is forced to believe, not one!  Those same people who choose to reject Him, those who refuse to accept His truth in all things revealed, those who only make a pretense of being a Christ follower, all of these people will not see heaven upon Christ's return.  Some will expect it, knowing they made the choice and are now proven foolish in their decision, others will be shocked believing their own brand of Christianity should have been enough to see them through.  May we be among those found only in HIS truth, in HIS righteousness, known by Him, loved by Him.

Let us LIVE our lives in CHRIST.  No, most of us are not preachers making a living preaching our faith, we are laymen but our lives must be lived in Christ just the same. Please, do not put Christ up on a shelf only taking Him down as needed, Christianity does NOT work that way. He is forever needed. Just as we would not divest ourselves of our own flesh and blood, Christ should be that much a REAL part of us and our lives.

May we, through Christ be truly HIS! 

All through Him and His power, in His love and mercy now and forever!

AMEN.

Be thou my strong habitation, Lord, please.

Please Heavenly Father-

Psa 71:3  Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

Truly you are my strong habitation, help me to realize it's in You I must continually resort. You and You alone have given the commandment to save my life eternally, only You offer this to me and no other. You truly are my rock, my surety, my fortress, my sanctuary, my retreat, my everything.  This world will up-end me at every turn, twisting and turning me violently, if only in my mind. My sinful, selfish, awfulness that rears up its ugly evil head all the time can only be destroyed by You and Your power, I'm powerless against sins that truly- so incredibly easily beset me! Please, Lord, please, forgive me for so many, many sins! Save me, my only hope is in YOU and YOUR MERCY!

Change me, Father, change me into a vessel You can use for Your service in my everyday life. Satan's assaults have me doing things that I DON'T WANT TO DO, and not doing things THAT I WANT TO DO. Please, KEEP THE DOOR OF MY LIPS, because what comes out of my mouth really does defile me!

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Psa_141:3  Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

Act 8:22  Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

Act 8:23  For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

Please, Father God, please forgive the thoughts of my heart, my selfish, selfish heart, please.

Please, Father take me as wholly Yours, use me in Your service, all my plans truly I must lay at Your feet… this prayer from another is mine! Help me to be all You need me to be especially right now, let me be for my mother all You would have me be, all You can through the power of the Holy Spirit change me to be. Give me all the strength spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally that I will need to love my mother and care for her. Please live in me, please she deserves only love, the love that You alone can give us to give to others.  Bless her with Your mercy, please bless her in Your love! Let Your will be done in her in all ways! She always prayed for me, and for all her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, she's Yours Lord, she's Yours, wrap her in Your loving embrace and keep her in You as she enters this phase of her life leading to her long sleep, so that she may awake when Your last trump sounds and the dead in Christ rise to meet You in the air!

1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

All in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Amen.