Q & A Segment (Quiet Time)

QUESTION

     Several of my friends talk about having a “quite time” each day. I do read my Bible frequently but not in this sense. Is a quiet time all that necessary?

ANSWER

     Let me answer your question by first saying that the most important thing in my life is an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

     A quiet time is focused time spent with God that nurtures that relationship. The more hurried our pace and busy our schedules, the more we need to spend time alone with the Father.

     A quiet time should include several common biblical threads. Always, you should make reading, studying, and meditating on the Scriptures your primary focus. God talks to you through His Word as the Holy Spirit guides you. It is truth for daily living, and it fortifies you to face each day’s challenges and opportunities.

     Prayer should be a regular part of any quiet time. Prayer is talking to God, and this is the real stimulus for communion with the Father. He wants to hear from you. He enjoys your fellowship. Your prayer may include confession of sin, praise for God’s goodness and faithfulness towards you, and specific requests. Be honest. Be real. God is not threatened by your anger, disappointment, or questions, He can handle it.

     Some people like to include another devotional tool in their quiet time. I think this is fine so long as it does not displace the Word of God and communion with God.

     A quiet time is usually best observed by scheduling a particular time of day. I cannot think of a better way to start the day. However, others prefer to have their quiet time in the evening. Again, the important thing is to do it regularly and consistently.

     I also think it is helpful to spend your quiet times in the same place each day as often as possible. When you do, a sense of sacredness develops. When you sit down at the kitchen table, the den, the living room chair, or wherever you choose, you will find that you are ready to spend time with God.

     Expect to hear God. Anticipate answers to prayer. Persevere when the dry seasons of the soul strike. That is when you need God’s refreshment most.

     Above all, remember that a quiet time is time spent with God. You are fellowshipping with your personal Savior, Deliverer, and Friend. Get to know His as well as you can. Also, you must keep a focused mind and have a willing heart to allow the Holy Spirit to grow your relationship with God.

Presidential Executive Order

     Below are some excerpts from an e-newsletter by US Congresswoman Kay Granger from the 12th District of Texas.

     “On March 16, 2012 – President Obama issued an Executive Order that gives an unprecedented level of authority to the President and the federal government to take over all the fundamental parts of our economy...all of our water resources, construction services and materials, our transportation system, food and health resources, our energy supplies, even farm equipment, can be taken over by the President and his cabinet secretaries. Under this Executive Order the Government can also draft U.S. citizens into the military and force U.S. citizens to fulfill “labor requirements" for purposes of “national defense/emergencies.” There is no Congressional oversight on this Executive Order.”

   

     Listen: Congress must act within 90 days or this Executive Order automatically becomes law, and time is running out.

     I believe this President is putting the Federal Government above the law, which is never supposed to happen. This type of Martial Law imposes a government takeover on U.S. citizens that would typically only be reserved when national defense/emergencies already exist.

          So where is the outrage here? Come on America let’s Wake Up our Nation is in serious trouble with leadership that is selling us out – God help us is my prayer!

    

      I would hope that those of you, who still believe in the Nation’s Founding Fathers principles (God, Family, and Nation in that order) which are the very essence of America’s freedom and life, would follow God’s Prescription. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God tells us “If My people, which are called by My Name (meaning believers in Christ), shall humble themselves, pray, and seek My face (Please understand this is referring to Prayer of Repentance); then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (This is God’s prescription for spiritual sickness).      
     You see this is America’s problem; we are spiritually bankrupt as a Nation, in need of national healing. Let me ask you can God depend upon you to do YOUR PART – PRAY? Or will you just sit back with your head in the sand, tweeting and texting about things which really have no eternal value.

Speech (Does it Matter?)

     If you recorded yourself, what would the playback reveal concerning your speech at the end of the day? Our conversation can reveal much regarding our spiritual commitment. Do we truly believe in and live by the truth of the Scriptures, or does our language mirror an ordinary worldview? A positive confession, based on the Scriptures, bolsters our faith and encourages others.

     We may be in a bad financial situation. Do we complain about our personal state? Or do we confess the truth that our “God shall supply all (our) need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19)? Listen: Our confession in such circumstances mirrors our genuine belief in the power of God and His Word which sustains us (and others), encourage, and build truth into our lives.

     A positive confession is a testimony to others. As they hear our trust in God verbalized, they are confronted with the truth.

     Our words and lives are sermons that preach to everyone around us. What we say can point an unbeliever to Christ while keeping our spiritual compass fixed on Him.

     Let your speech be an accurate sounding of God’s truth.

Forgiveness “Who Me”!

    

     What if the person who needs to be forgiven is myself? What if I am the transgressor?

     Forgiving ourselves is often more of a dilemma than forgiving others. After all, we have to live with ourselves twenty-four hours a day.

     Perhaps some misdeed that I participated in years ago, even as a child, still haunts me today, causing a tremendous sense of inferiority and insecurity. “Can God forgive me for what I did? I caused so much pain to others that I’m just not sure He can pardon my iniquity. “My anxiety is dispelled only as I realize that I forgive myself on the same basis as I forgive others – through Christ’s forgiveness of my sins on the cross.

     We forgive others because God no longer holds their sins against them. We forgive ourselves because God no longer holds our sins against us.

     God had forgiven Paul through the sacrifice of His Son. Paul, therefore, had no right to not forgive himself, neither do you.

     If you are a believer, you are a forgiven person. Worship God for His grace. If you turned to God for the forgiveness of your sins, come to Him for salvation by acknowledging His death for you and receive a full pardon for eternity.

     Read: Philippians 3:4-16 – Let me address verses 9-14 “And be found in Him (meaning to be united with Christ by living Faith, which has as its object the Cross of Christ), not having my own Righteousness (in other words; not having any Righteousness which can be called my own), which is of the Law, but that which is through the Faith of Christ, the Righteousness which is of God by Faith: 10) That I may know Him (again referring to what Christ did at the Cross), and the power of His Resurrection (refers to being raised with Him in “newness of life” [Rom. 6:3-5]), and the fellowship of His sufferings (regarding our Trust and Faith placed in Him), being made conformable unto His death (to conform to what He did for us at the Cross, understanding that this is the only means of Salvation and Sanctification) 11) If by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the dead. (This does not refer to the coming Resurrection, but rather the Believing sinner being baptized into the death of Christ [refers to the Crucifixion], and raised in “newness of life,” which gives victory over all sin) 12) Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect (we can’t claim sinless perfection); but I follower after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. (Paul was saved by Christ for the purpose of becoming Christlike, and so are we!) 13) Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do. Forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14) I press toward the mark (this represents a moral and spiritual target) for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (means the manner and means in which all of this is done, which is the Cross).

AMERICA’S DOWNWARD JOURNEY

         A few years before our original thirteen states adopted the new constitution in 1787, Alexander Fraser Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over lousy fiscal policy, followed by some type dictatorship”.

     The average of the world’s great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence:

1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence
8. from dependence back into bondage."

     Based upon this sequence where do you see America today? Don’t you think it time get back to Spiritual Faith and Great Courage trusting the True God?

     Why not share your thoughts and pass it on!

What’s Your Secret? Try Paul’s

Philippians 4:11-13 “Not that I speak in respect of want (Note: declares his independence from creature comforts): for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content (Note: to be independent of external circumstances). 12) I know both how to be abased (Note: to keep rejoicing when there is no money), and I know how to abound (Note: to keep rejoicing when there is money): everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. (Note: Listen all will come sooner or later and the negative are not for a lack of Faith, but rather for our instruction in Righteousness.) 13) I can do all things (Note: be abased or abound) through Christ which strengthens me (Note: In other words from whom I draws strength)

     Secrets – whether a grandmother’s special recipe or a company’s unique product formula – are rarely revealed. In his letter to the Philippians church, the Apostle Paul provided all who would read the Scriptures with the secret of contented living.

     Paul announced to them and us that he was content in life – whether he had scraps for dinner or a feast, whether his purse was bulging or flat. His secret is shared in verse 13 above “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

     The Greek word for contentment is translated “self-sufficiency or “self-satisfaction.” That may surprise you. At first glance, Paul appears, to say that the secret to contentment lies in his own resilient self.

     But what he was expressing was this: “My self-sufficiency, my lever of contentment, lies in the sufficiency of Christ to meet my every need. I can endure rain or shine, darkness or light, sorrow or joy because through Him I am equipped and sustained.”

     Paul’s secret is yours. Despite the circumstances, you can enjoy true contentment when you accept the truth that Christ is adequate for your every need – in good times and bad.

The Thorn and God’s Grace

In 2 Corinthians 9:7-9 we read: “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the Revelations (Note: this presents the reasons for the thorn in the flesh), there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me (meaning an angel of Satan), lest I should be exalted above measure. 8) For this thing I be sought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. (You see the Apostle Paul knew it was the Lord allowing this, but he didn’t understand why.) 9) And he said unto me (the Lord responded, but did not agree), My Grace is sufficient for you (this speaks of enabling Grace, which is really the Goodness of God carried out by the Holy Spirit): for my strength is made perfect in weakness. (Listen: All believers are weak, but the Lord tends to make us weaker, with the intentions being that we then depend solely upon Him, thereby obtaining His strength.) Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities (Why? Because of the end result), that the Power of Christ may rest upon me. (If Paul needed so humbling and painful and experience of what the carnal nature is, it is evident that all Christians need it. Whatever weakens, belittles, and humiliates that proud and willful nature should be regarded by the Believer as most worthwhile.)

     The unlimited, immeasurable, superabundant Grace of God is adequate for all our needs.

     Let me ask you: What is Grace? It seems so vague. It sounds nice, but how do we grasp it?

     Well how about this definition: “Grace is whatever you need, whenever you need it.” In other words, Grace is custom-tailored to your personalized set of needs.

·       Do you need courage? God’s Grace is sufficient.

·       Do you need hope? God’s Grace will supply it.

·       Do you need wisdom? God’s Grace is more than adequate.

·       Do you need financial help? God’s Grace will provide a channel of aid.

     Knowing the sufficiency of God’s Grace, we can learn to be content in our circumstances. Regardless of the situation, there is nothing that God cannot supply with His abounding love and favor.

     So you should give praise to the Lord Jesus Christ today for His amazing Grace that fits your most pressing demands – perfectly.

Giving Thanks When You Can't

     Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good (note – but only if certain conditions are met) to them who love God (note – the first condition), to them who are the called according to His purpose” (note – this means it’s “His Purpose, and not ours,” which is the second condition; otherwise, all things will not work together for our good).

     With the understanding of conditions laid out in the above verse, look at the startling command of 1 Thessalonians 5:18 which bewilders even committed believers at times: “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s Will for you in Christ Jesus.”

     How do we give thanks in times of catastrophe? For what are we grateful when disaster strikes?

     As foreign as it may seem, we give thanks to God in all things because His sovereign, loving power is able to weave our grief, sorrow, and pain into the fabric of His eternal plan for our lives. God does not cause evil, and neither is He conquered by it. You may ask HOW? Because of what Jesus did on the cross for mankind.

     Listen: God’s purposes for us cannot be thwarted by our problems. For that, we can give thanks in the midst of our adversity.

     Someone once wrote – “The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. The circumstances surrounding our lives are not accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign God.”

     All evil is subject to Him, and evil cannot touch His children unless He permits it. God is the Lord of human history and of the personal history of every member of His redeemed family. The question is “Do you know Him’? You can! Take a look at the beginning of our blog for details then pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart and forgive your sins. HE WILL! Amen.