Ending 2012 Clean

Are you clean?  I remember hearing those words from my mom when I was little and then the inspection began.  What was the big deal about behind the ears anyway?  Yes mom always now's best.  And being clean is a good thing...taking a bath or shower, brushing your teeth and don't forget deodorant.  Enough about physical hygiene what about your spiritual hygiene.  The Bible makes it pretty clear we are dirty because of sin. Even our best is nasty (Isaiah 64:6).  We may look good on the outside but God looks in (I Samuel 16:7).  It begins with the blood of Christ that will take away all your spiritual nasty filth.  Then daily stay clean by the washing of the "water of the Word of God" (Ephesians 5).  So jump in and take a spiritual shower and end 2012 clean!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwOEzKdXnaQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjysiv5i7kI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

He carries our burdens!

The sovereign God of the universe not only saves us from death (spiritual death) but He comes along side us and carries our loads of trouble, sorrow, grief and pain!

Psalm 68:19-20 ESV

Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.  Selah(pause and ponder that thought)
Our God is a God of salvation,
and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnWKehsOXu8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

What's Our Excuse?

In Acts 7 Stephen told Bible stories and proclaimed Jesus, for which he was promptly stoned to death....so what is our excuse in a persecution free country for not openly proclaiming the Gospel?   Afraid of what someone might think of us? 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYyNrgkKf6o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7GBP4GoWB0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Still Complaining?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9pNeT55U_c&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Solution To a Complaining Spirit?

Complainers abound in Scripture...as it would be, my personal reading schedule had me in two of those passages, Numbers 16 and Acts 6.  We may not always verbalize our complaints but I guarantee we all have had the complaing Spirit.  I am sure that some of us who live in the lap of luxury; compared to the rest of the world; were complaining yesterday about something we got or didn't get, or the food, or the snow that was being predicted, or.... Ever wonder if God would like to strike out at our complaing?  He didn't take it lightly in Scripture. So stop your whinning and complaining! I am glad He has more mercy than this boss!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4aJBcS2srU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Merry Christmas from me and my dad.  Can you say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Mary did you know?

The rhetorical question ask by the songwriter could be answered with a question......do we really fully comprehend and know?  To which I would have to answer...No!  All this inspite of the fact that we have the complete revealed Word of God.  Mary only had the law and the prophets.  Yet she knew how to praise the Lord in the midst of her personal circumstances that no one before her had ever experienced and no one ever will.  The song of Mary reveals what she knew. 

Luke 1:46-55 ESV

And Mary said,

"My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his offspring forever."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U2G8wsbXBo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Ahhhh! Giants in the Land!

You may have a giant in your land, but you can defeat the enemy in the power of Christ who already won the victory at the cross on your behalf.  Don't buy into the "nay sayers" who squall and whine saying the enemy is just to big and in turn miss out on Gods blessings...and intended place (which "flows with milk and honey") for you to be. Be a Caleb!

Numbers 13:25-33 ESV

At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, "We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan." But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." Then the men who had gone up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are." So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them."

Why God's Blessings

I often ask for the Lord to bless with me in mind; and not that asking for such a blessing is wrong; however the Psalmist gives us a new perspective.  Do you see it in the passage?  Bless me Lord and be gracious to me so that others may know you.  Lets refocus on others!

Psalm 67:1-7 ESV

May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face to shine upon us,  Selah

that your way may be known on earth,

your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you judge the peoples with equity

and guide the nations upon earth.  Selah

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

The earth has yielded its increase;

God, our God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us;

let all the ends of the earth fear him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwiF3HE4cQ8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

OUR GOD IS GREATER

May the Lord rise up and defeat your enemy today.

(Numbers10:33-36)

And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.

Remember that He is greater than the enemy you are facing.                 

(I John 4:4)    

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.                                                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DylGqaXYJMg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Weeping to Joy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghF9y4Sy-mU&feature=youtube_gdata_player