Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! I know that it's easy to get caught up in the giving (and getting) of gifts, spending time with family, and enjoying all the new things that you've gotten, but never forget Never forget hat Jesus is the reason for the season; there would be no CHRISTmas without Christ.

We are celebrating Christ's birth today, and the greatest gift that you could give Him for His birthday is your soul. The gift of salvation would also be the greatest gift that you could receive.

All of us have sinned. (Rom. 3:23: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.)No one can honestly say that they haven't sinned. There is a consequence of sin, and that consequence is death. (Rom. 6:23a: For the wages of sin is death:)

Through sinning, we not only earn physical death, but also eternal death. Because of our sin, we are sentenced live forever in hell, a place of great pain and torture, after our physical death. However, there is a chance to escape this death!

While we can never escape physical death, we can escape from eternal death. God gave His Son, Christ Jesus, to die so that we could have eternal life. (Rom. 6:32b: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.) (Rom 5:8: But God commendeth his love towards us that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.)

The death of Jesus on the cross paid for your sins and for my sins. It payed for all the sins in the world. (John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.)

All you have to do is believe that Christ died for you, and that He didn't stay dead, but rose again on the third day. (Rom. 10:9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus,and shalt believe in thine heart God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved.) The gift of salvation can be yours if you will only trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. (Rom. 10:13: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.)

Please, if you have not already done so, will you pray today and accept the free gift of salvation

Teach Me to Do Thy Will

Why is it so hard to follow God’s will? I’ve wondered that many times in these past five months. I’ve dealt with a lot in that time that has taught me to follow God’s will no matter how hard it is.
This summer, I began talking with a guy with the intent of us getting to know each other better, and eventually, to begin dating. Only a couple of weeks into us talking, I received a phone call from him saying that he didn’t have peace about us dating; he didn’t feel that it was the Lord’s will. I struggled with that. Even though we had only been talking for a short time, I had not been careful with my heart, and I had begun to care deeply for him, and, yes, even love him. I couldn’t believe that God was taking that away from me. I thought for sure that this guy that I had been talking to was the one He had for me. I questioned God and became very bitter against Him for taking away the person that I loved, that I had been so sure was “the one.”
The following few months were tough. I held a lot of bitterness in my heart against God. It wasn’t until I heard Evangelist Dwight Smith preach a message during opening revival about bitterness that I realized how wrong I was. I had been holding this bitterness in my heart against God, and inside it was eating me up.
Once I repented of this bitterness and got right with God, I was finally able to see that the guy I was in love with wasn’t the person God wanted for me; it was the person I wanted for me. I had convinced myself that my will was God’s will. I realized how important it was to make sure that God’s will is our will, and not the other way around. It was only after I realized that that I was able to begin healing and start to move on with my life.
About a month or so ago, I started praying seriously about something. As I continued to pray about it, I felt an uneasiness about it, but I ignored it, thinking it would go away if I continued to pray about it. It wasn’t until this past Monday night during devos with Miss B, the Dean of Women at Ambassador, that I realized I was once again trying to make my will God’s will.
The devotion was not on anything to do with God’s will, but across the page from the verse that she had us turn to was a verse that caught my eye. This verse was the only verse on the page that was underlined. It was Psalm 143:10: “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God; thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” I kept reading the first phrase of that verse over and over again. “Teach me to do thy will.” I realized that I needed to make that my prayer; I needed to ask the Lord to teach me to do His will.
Doing His will doesn’t mean doing it just when it’s easy, or just when His will matches our will; it means doing His will not matter what happens, and no matter what our will is. We need to be willing to trust that God knows best. If we follow God’s will, then He will bless us and we’ll be so much happier than if we followed our own will.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

The Lord's Will

If it's the Lord's will, then how can it be so hard to accept? Why does it hurt so much? I've been asked that question by a couple of friends, and each time I didn't know how to respond, mainly because I had never had those feelings before. But now, I know exactly how they were feeling and how hard it was for them because I'm going through the exact same thing. It's not an easy thing to go through, by any means.

It's been almost two weeks now since I first asked those questions, and it hasn't gotten any easier. I still don't know the answer to those questions. I was so happy with the way things were going, so sure that it was the right thing, then, suddenly, I was confronted with the fact that it wasn't God's will. I couldn't believe it. Not God's will? I had been so sure it had to be God's will; after all, I was happy and content with the way things were going. I didn't understand how it could possibly be any thing other than God's will.

I was devastated. I cried. I cried a lot. However, that didn't help. The only thing crying did was remind me even more of the pain I was going through and of what I had lost. I couldn't figure it out. If it was God's will, then why did it hurt so bad? Why was my heart so heavy? Why did my heart heart feel like it had shattered into a thousand pieces?

The one thing that did help was turning to God for answers. I sought comfort from the one place i knew I could find it, God's Word. I opened my Bible first of all to my life verse, Isaiah 40:31. "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." That verse brought me so much comfort, because i realized that if I looked to the Lord and trusted Him, then in due time, He would give me the strength to go on.

The next verse that I saw was right across the page. I had read it before, but never had it spoken to me like it did when my heart was so troubled. "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

And so it continues, with the Lord leading me to verse after verse after verse. Every verse that I read was exactly what I needed at that time. Even verses that I had read before and had memorized as a little girl held new meaning for me.

Although that period of time was, and still is hard, it helps to know that I have a wonderful God right there with me. He will always be by my side. It reminds me of a well-known poem, Footprints in the Sand, by Mary Stevenson. The last few stanzas of the poem are: "'Lord, You told me when I decided to follow You, You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I'm aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don't understand why, when I need You most, You leave me.' He whispered, 'My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you.'"

That poem has never meant more to me than it has in these past couple of weeks, because I know that the Lord is carrying me through this trial. Even though I still don't understand why, or how it can hurt so much even thought it's His will, He knows. Although I still cry, and although it still hurts and it will hurt for awhile, I know that God is right beside me, ready to help me whenever I ask.