Wednesday, May 24, 2006

YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!!

This is going to be short and to the point. My children say that my posts are too long. So this one is for them. Hopefully they will read this and apply it and reap the benefits.

We see all these exercise plans on TV and magazines that if you will do this exercise or that exercise for just 7 or 10 minutes a day then you are guaranteed to lose weight, look prettier, be happier, get the man/woman of your dreams etc.. I think you get the idea. So many people believe these scams and do try them only to discover that they have "failed again" because it didn't work. They didn't lose the weight they wanted to, still don't like the way they look, still are not happy, and still haven't found their knight in shining armor or princess.

Well, I have the plan that will work for you!! In less than one minute a day I can guarantee that your life will change for the better and you, YES YOU, can become beautiful and be full of joy by just spending less then one minute per day on this program. I know this sounds too good to be true, but it's not. I guarantee this program will work for anybody who isn't already on it. Those who are on it rave about how wonderful it is and how much better their life is on it.

However, I must be true to my word and make this short. You'll have to wait for my next post to see what this unbelievable program is and how it works!!

Read the other posts on this site while you are waiting or visit Voice of Vision for some more great stuff.

Dan

Monday, May 15, 2006

BELIEVE THIS !!!

Are you ready to find out about this unbelievable plan that can change your life by following it for less than one minute a day? The plan that can make your life better, make you more beautiful, and fill your life with joy?

There are also advanced stages of this plan for those who achieve the beginning stage. But I assure you that the promise I made of a better life is extended to those in the beginning stages as much as those in the advanced stages.

The Plan: Commit to read one Bible verse a day.

I know it sounds stupidly simple right? I guarantee that this will work though. If you are willing to commit to God that you will read one Bible verse a day, and do it with an open heart and mind for Christ your life will change. You are showing God that you are serious about Him and are making an attempt for a relationship. You may not see immediate results, (or you may) but don't get discouraged. If you remain obedient you will start noticing changes taking place in your life. Changes that are permanent. Like building a foundation.

Eventually you will find that one verse is not enough and you will have to continue on to the advanced plan which consists of more verses per day, more prayer, more praise etc..

I think most will find this first step more difficult than you think. Many Christians (myself included up until about 4 months ago) do not read the Bible on a daily basis. I don't say this to condemn, I say this to challenge you.

A lot of our "problems" would not be problems if we were living a life that focused on Christ. One way of focusing our attention on Christ is by reading the Bible. Try this... The next time a "problem" arises, focus your attention on Christ not your situation and see what happens to the problem.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...

Dan

Friday, May 12, 2006

ARE YOU LISTENING?

I Chronicles 21:1
Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

I remember when I was a teenager and I used to look at myself in the mirror. I'd check out my muscles and how good I looked. Not that I was a hunk or anything but I was fit and trim. Not like I am now! I also remember when I was still in high school and we had an undefeated basketball team. We didn't just win our games, we pulverized our competition. For the longest time we just couldn't be beaten. We would remind our opposing team all through the game how they lacked in ability and how we excelled, chanting things like we're #1, we're #1. You're problably wondering where I am going with this. Just keep these memories in mind while I go on.

There is a great man of the God in the Bible that had to deal with a little sin in his life. I personally believe this particular issue was pride but some disagree and think it was fear. I'll address this shortly. Regardless of what the sin was you can replace it with whatever it is in your life at this moment. So this is for everybody, no matter who you are and what your situation may be. As Pastor J.D. Hatfield asks us on occasion,"When you woke up this morning were you God?" Then this applies to you.

King David was on the winning team. He was winning all his games and stomping on all his competition. He beat the Ammonites and the Syrians, he conquered a place called Rabbah and David just destroyed the Philistine giants. And in one instant David took his eyes off God and sinned. Because of all the victory David had been experiencing is why I believe that this was a pride issue and not a fear issue. Don't misunderstand me, David was a great man of God and was obedient in a majority of the areas in his life most of the time. He was very special to God and God, I believe, was overall very pleased with David. I pray that we would all have the zeal to serve God as David did. I point out all this to say that even David made mistakes in his life. So don't be discouraged, be encouraged.

Again, verse 1 reads. Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. If you are familiar with the history of Israel then you know the only time Satan has had any strength over Gods people is when they are sinning, in disobedience or rebellion.

So you say "What is wrong with David counting the people?" Moses did it. He had a census that counted everyone and it was actually commanded by God. Moses did it according to and in response to Gods will. God knew David's heart. I believe David wanted to see how strong he was. Instead of using Gods measuring stick to measure his strength , David used mans measuring stick. Pride was Satan's tool. The only reason Satan had a way in and was able to stand up against Israel is because David allowed sin in the camp. What tool is Satan using on you? Satan's main goal is to take your focus off God. As long as David was trusting God for his strength, Satan had no power. If I am facing a mirror the only thing I see is myself. I assure you there is no God in that mirror. Remember I explained earlier this isn't just about pride. It's about anything that takes your focus off Jesus Christ. What's in the mirror when you look at it? You are! Start looking at Christ!

So, we see that sin can enter into our lives with one look the wrong way. What about our hearing? David not only took his eyes off God, he apparently wasn't listening to God either.

My kids don't like to hear me and my wife "COO" at each other, so when we do they stick their fingers in their ears and make a lot of noise so they can't hear us. Are you intentionally doing something that makes it so you can't hear God? Is there something in your life that is preventing you from hearing God? Do you even want to hear from God? Or are you afraid at what He might say? If you can't hear God it is problably because you're too far away from God or not even faced in the right direction. Who are you close to? Who are you hearing?

If you are too far from God to hear Him then you are way to close to Satan. If you do hear something there is a good chance it won't be God. What is it that takes your focus off Jesus? Is it pride like David? Lust? Unforgiveness? Fear? Anger? The list goes on.

How close are you listening? Remember the story in Acts when Paul and Silas were in prison and they were praising God and there was an earthquake that opened all the prison doors and loosed everybody's chains and they were able to walk out the door. How many of us would have said PRAISE GOD, THANK YOU LORD FOR DELIVERING ME and walked out praising God? You would have missed the whole point. As brother Danny Morgan, the evangelist, would say, "We have missed an opportunity". But Paul and Silas must have been listening close. The noise of the earthquake, falling walls must have been almost deafening. But in the midst of all that they knew they were to stay as if they were still chained up. A soldiers life and his whole household was changed forever because of that! And Paul and Silas still ended up free!! Every moment is an opportunity to serve God. How far are you willing to go? Would you be willing to stay in that jail cell even if the doors fell down? Are you close enough to God that you would even hear Him speaking to you?

Again, in Acts chapter 12, Peter is in prison and is awoken in the middle of the night by an angel that is freeing him. If Peter had his fingers in his ears, the angel would have never awakened him. There scripture says that Herod was about to bring him out. Problably for sentencing, maybe even for death. But peter was listening.

Are you close enough to God to hear Him? Would you hear Him if He told you to stay? Would you hear Him if He said run? If you're not even willing to read your Bible or pray, or fellowship with other believers then you're not going to be able to hear Him. You need to turn away from that mirror, take your fingers out of your ears and start getting closer to Jesus so you can hear Him. He wants to talk to you. He wants to save your soul. He wants to guide your every moment. Are you willing to let Him?

David was looking the wrong way to hear God. God never spoke directly to David through this whole ordeal. God spoke to Gad, David's seer, but not to David. God didn't speak to David until David repented and offered the proper sacrifices for his sin. If there is something preventing you from hearing or being close to God it is as simple as repenting and turning towards God. As far as the sacrifice goes...Sorry, but there is nothing you have that is enough of a sacrifice for your sins. But!!! Praise God, Christ has made the ultimate sacrifice that is more than enough for your and my sins. Have you allowed sin in your camp? Remember David isn't the one who really got hurt for sinning. 70,000 men died from plague. Our sins affect those around us. It may not be in death but in some way, even if it is just you being a poor witness for the Lord. Repent and mean it. How do you repent? Turn away from whatever it is that you are looking at and look at God, read the Word, pray, fellowship with other Christians and don't take your eyes off Christ no matter what.

Dan

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

VICTORY

I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of being beat up and losing battles to Satan. I've had some victories but it's been a lot harder than it had to be. Its like baking a cake, if you follow the recipe the cake will come out tasting good. I've been trying to bake a cake with bits and pieces of a recipe. Sometimes it may come out hard, bitter or too flat. Sometimes it is edible and sometimes it is not. Sometimes I had victory, sometimes I failed miserably.

My question to you is...When is the last time Satan lost a battle in your life? Are you tired of being beat up and tossed to and fro like a ragdoll? I believe God has revealed to me a recipe for victory.

The text for all this is II chronicles chapters 19 and 20.

The first steps toward victory would be conviction from the Holy Spirit to clean these areas up in your life that are displeasing or in disobedience to Gods Word. So all of this will seem pointless to you if you have not been "born again" and do not have a personal relationship with the one true God. This is the beginning of the sanctification process. God expects us to do the obvious beginning steps such as praying, reading His Word, studying, going to church, etc..

So, maybe your doing the basics. You have cleaned up some of the blatently obvious areas of sin in your life and have been pretty successful on this road to sanctification. Then God reveals to you an area that your not so ready to let go of. Perhaps that "pet" sin. Now Satan doesn't want you to be successful and will be unrelenting in his attempts to defeat you. If we look at verses 1 and 2 in chapter 20 Jehoshaphat learns that a great multitude is coming to destroy his land. Satan is going to come and try to destroy you and take away your victory. That is the point I would make it to and fail every time. I was victorious until it started to hurt a little then I would be knocked down and have to start over again.

So what happened to Jehoshaphat when he heard that multitudes were coming to destroy him? First of all he didn't wait until the danger was already there before doing anything about it. He had already placed judges to judge over their respective areas to be sure that all the land was living in fear of the Lord. He made provisions to be obedient to the Lord. This is one of the first ingredients in our cake. We need to make provision for victory. Avoiding people who are not encouraging or avoiding the bar or drinking buddies would be examples of making provisions for victory. I Thessalonians 5:22 tells us to obstain from every form of evil.

Next, Jehoshaphat fasted, prayed and went and gathered all the people to pray (verses 3 -13). So, our next step would be to fast and pray. The next ingredient I've already mentioned is he gathered all the people to pray. Jehoshaphat had to be humble. Next ingredient...fellowship (prayer) with fellow believers.

Then God spoke through others with encouragement to Jehoshaphat saying in verse 15 "Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but Gods". If we are obedient in following God's direction he will comfort us when we need it. So the next ingredient would be faith. As my Pastor and friend J.D. Hatfield says, "faith is in the face of fear".

Please understand, encouragement wouldn't be neccessary if it was easy. It will be difficult and there will be times when you want to give up. But that is when you need to realize you are doing something wrong. Read verse 17. You will not need to fight this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. If we realize that it is not us that needs to fight this battle then we can concentrate on what God wants us to do to be victorious. But we have to be still and not try to fight a battle that we cannot win.

Our cake is almost done! Our next ingredient is praise. If you continue reading from verse 18 you'll see that praise is all that was required of Jehoshaphat and his people to be victorious over their enemy. If we concentrate on the very reason for our existence then we can live that victorious life that I believe we all want. CONCENTRATE ON GOD!!!

After the enemy had been defeated then the people of Jerusalem and Judah went to the house of the Lord and rejoiced (verse 28). This is the stirring up of the cake. The witness, which was so great and strong that their other enemies heard of their victory and were in theory, already defeated.

Now that we have added all our ingredients and stirred our batter it is time to put it in the oven (Gods hands) and watch our cake rise and become the wonderful creation we were designed to be.

Dan