-- ______________________________________________ Jean Hainley 22Wednesday, July 13, 2016 MATTHEW S:16. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” (Matthew 5:13-14). Hey Gang: In Gramps last Morning Message you were ‘salt that reflects your relationship with Father God’; today you are that light that reflects your love for Abba Father. The two are essential ingredients in your “Go into all the world and preach or witness the gospel.” Having driven home the point that we are to be salt, Jesus now turns His attention to our need to also be Christ-filled witnesses. It may well be said that the greatest compliment that was ever paid to a Christian is to be called “the light of the world”. Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5). In other words, when He taught that His followers should be the “light of the world”, He was teaching them to be “Like Him!” When Jesus used this phrase, it was familiar to the Jews. They often referred to Jerusalem as “a light to the Gentiles,” and a famous Rabbi was often called “a lamp of Israel”. But they were also adamant that no man kindles his own light! Without our being connected to God’s power supply, our light will be like a hot ember that is taken from the fire, laid aside and soon loses is power. The radiance that shines from a Christian comes from the presence of Christ within the Christian’s heart, and that requires ongoing maintenance under God in His tutoring program. Jesus completed his teaching on “Letting your light shine” with another challenge “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (V.16). The Greek word used here for ‘good’ not only means that our works should not only be seen, but also should be beautiful, attractive and filled with God’s love and compassion. These are very dark days when one has to search to find folks who are filled with God’s salt, and God’s light. In this day, when we see man’s cruelty to man all around us, we need take heed of John’s words: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His So cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 6-7). So, my friends who are in Christ, is your light as one that is on a hilltop? One that can be seen by the world? Or is it hidden under bucket? As you progress through your day, are you a light that radiates God’s love? In other words, are you a seed planter of hope to a lost and dying world? Have you prepared for this day by plugging into God’s battery charger, which is the word of God? Blessings, Gramps

A Time For Joy!

 

Monday, July 4, 2016

 

A Promise:  For I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” ((Phil. 1:6).  And that my friends you can take to the bank!

Hey Gang:  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).  And then He turned man loose and man turned it into a superficial world.  We now live in a world where we often miss the wonderful hidden pearls that God so bountifully placed all around us.  This morning I watched the sun come up, as it has every day since He created it.  Is that not awesome?  Did you ever stop to say, “Thank you Father God for gravity”? 

Do we not take things for granted in this affluent world?  With the rising of the sun came the sounds of birds, and the blowing of the wind through the trees.  Our resident rabbit is pigging out in the back yard, as he does many days.  I think it is one of God’s very special blessings for us as we start our day. A bird just flew by the window.  I wonder if he knows where he is going.

 I think perhaps he does for he does not seem to be weaving from place to place.  It is one of God’s other creations – man, who contains the ability to reason and think about what seem to be going in circles for much of his life. 

This time in the morning has become very special to me. Getting alone with the Master Designer of all that we survey is a good way to start the day.  I have come to the place where, when I cannot spend this hour or so with the Lord to begin my day, my day does not go so well.  Perhaps that is because I have joined the “older than dirt” crowd and my mind is no longer interested in what I can get out of life to what I can give.

So, I pray this morning that I will be able to share Paul’s antidote to the grubby times and darts of the enemy that tend to defeat us.  The antidote? JOY!  How we get it – ‘an act of our will’.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 Paul gives us the formula to being an overcomer, ‘Rejoice always’.  Hard, yes, at times nearly impossible.  If that does not work, Paul tells us in Philippians 4:4 to turn up the heat and “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice” for the Lord is ever near to us. 

The key to rejoicing? “Pray without ceasing”,( I Thessalonians 517). Know what your weapons are and use them freely.  James  tells us “Submit therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7-8).

Paul’s third key to victory “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  I find the next instruction by Paul to be lacking in much of the generations that occupy planet earth at this time, Do not quench the spirit or despise prophetic utterances” ((vs 1)Read vs 2021.) If you were to examine the recent studies pertaining the spiritual life of a growing number of persons in America, you find there is a steady diet of quenching the spirit in every facet of life. 

Rejoice, pray, give thanks in all things, don’t despise prophetic utterances, and abstain from doing evil equals “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (verse 22-23).

Bottom line: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”   Is that not what we await for in this day when all things that can be shaken are being shaken?  

Blessings, Gramps Pray that God will Bless America. Seek God Will as you vote.