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2009-10-06T12:35:00.001-07:00

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Prepare a place for you

2009-09-28T05:03:00.000-07:00

I was reading John 14, In My Father's house are many dwelling places.( G3438 a staying, abiding, dwelling, indwelling, to make an abode, this is talking about the Father and Jesus living within us.) if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place ( G5117 place, any portion or space marked off, inhabited place, as a city, village, district) for you. If I go and prepare a place(G5117) for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

I think we need to understand, that Jesus is not talking about a house for us in heaven after we die, but a place where Jesus and the Father can abide in us here on earth. Where is that place? I believe that it is in Christ. Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

The Father's heart for us to do good works are not in heaven after we die, but here and now on the earth. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being. The works that I do is no longer me, but Christ working though me.

John 14:10-13 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me. The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does is works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Notice that Jesus told us that He would do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Not that we would be glorified in our ministry. We need to understand, it is all about Him. Jesus told us that He is the radiance of the Father's glory and the exact representation of the Father's nature.

Jesus's heart was to only do that which pleased His Father. I think we need to ask ourself a question here. It is not what we do, but why we are doing it.

Jesus tell us that He has ask the Father to give us another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will in you.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

Are you hearing this, I got excited when I was reading this. Jesus prepare a place for Him and the Father to abide within us. Think about it, the fullness of the Father abides in us. Wow

The Holy Spirit which the Father has sent us in Jesus name, is teaching us all things and bringing to remembrance all that Jesus told us.

We are not orphans, but are sons because Jesus and the Father has made their abode within us.

We didn't choose Him, but He chose us. John 15

Eph 1 the Message puts it this way. How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessings in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Think about these things, and enter His rest, and walk in His peace.

Grace on your journey.

Doug

Podcast

2009-02-05T05:38:00.000-08:00

I have a new toy, that Ben gave me. It is my live pod cast. The address is web.me.com/repent let me know what you think about it.

Blessings
Doug

Don't Bargain with God

2009-02-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we think that we have to bargain with God, I will do this, if you do that. With this way of thinking we end up being performers instead of sons. There is a truth in the word, about what you do, and what the Father will do. But we should be doing what He commands us because we love Him and want to be more like Him. Not because of what we can get from Him.

I like what Luke and Hebrews tells us about this from the message.

Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?

Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

Let us remember, that it was the Father who choose us and called us His own. We are children of the King, a chosen people a Holy Nation. We are to walk as Sons and Daughter,for that is the truth of who we are.

Blessings
Doug

Be Bold with God's Gift

2008-12-01T06:39:00.000-08:00

Every time I say your name in prayer—which is practically all the time—I thank God for you, the God I worship with my whole life in the tradition of my ancestors. I miss you a lot, especially when I remember that last tearful good-bye, and I look forward to a joy-packed reunion.
That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Loisto your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.
So don’t be embarrassed to speak up for our Master or for me, his prisoner. Take your share of suffering for the Message along with the rest of us. We can only keep on going, after all, by the power of God, who first saved us and then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. But we know it now. Since the appearance of our Savior, nothing could be plainer: death defeated, life vindicated in a steady blaze of light, all through the work of Jesus.
This is the Message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end. So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.

I was blessed by what Paul wrote in 2 Tim 1, it reminds me of the faithfulness of our Father, who has called us before the foundation of the earth, and has predestined us to good works in Christ Jesus.

Remember we are in the world but not of the world, we are spiritual not fleshly. We are a chosen people, set aside for the Father's own purpose. Our Father knows the end before the beginning. We not only trust the Lord, He is our trust, and we will be fruitful even in dry places.

Grace on your journey.
Doug

Agreeing with the Father

2008-05-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

I am in Brazil with Mitch doing some meetings with some bible college students. Last night Mitch was talking about the story of Jesus, when he was baptize by John. When he came out of the water they heard a voice saying, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Then the next thing that happen was that the Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and to fast for forty days.

I was thinking that so many times when we hear a word from the Lord, we get so excited that God has spoken to us about our purpose and destiny, Then we are lead into the wilderness to be tempted, to see if we really believe what the Lord has spoken.

Notice that when the devil came against what God had spoken about Jesus, that Jesus didn't feel the need to prove himself to the devil, but just spoke to the devil what the Father had spoken. If Jesus had fallen into the trap of trying to prove to the devil what God had spoken, then the devil would have been the judge to rule on what God had spoken. Jesus just agree with what the Father had said.

I think that it is good to just agree with what the Father has spoken and let the devil see that he is the liar and the truth is not in him.

We don't have to prove anything to him and we don't have to perform for him.

Let us be the people that takes the Father at His word and see His Kingdom established in us and around us.

Food for your thoughts.

Blessings on your journey.

Doug

Being a Friend

2008-04-22T05:37:00.000-07:00

Here are a few thoughts on being a friend.

Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.

Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; But the kisses of an enemy are profuse.

By yourself you’re unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped

This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father.

Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.

Friendships are eternal, we need to be friend to have a friend.

Let's learn how to be a faithful friend of God's and to one another.

Blessings
Doug

Practice Love

2008-03-31T05:27:00.000-07:00

My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

If you know the truth, the truth will sent you free.

Blessings

Doug

Life as an Offering

2008-03-30T07:36:00.000-07:00

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.
If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.
Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Food for thought.

Blessings
Doug

Way of Love

2008-03-13T07:26:00.000-07:00

1 Cor 13: 1-7

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for the self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swollen head,
doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies

I am glad that God is love and not just a God of love.

Let this be our goal: to walk in God's love.

Blessings
Doug

What is the Mystery

2008-03-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

I like the way The Message translates what Paul said about the mystery.

Col 1:26-29

This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing.

The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you and therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That’s what I’m working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me.

Christ is in you. How cool is that.

Everything we are and ever will be, is in Christ. No more, no less.

Let us have faith as a child. Believe what God says--we are in Christ.

Blessings
Doug

There is Only One

2008-02-23T06:45:00.001-08:00

Eph 4:4-6
There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

I have just returned from Peru where I had been invited to come share the word of God. I found that the word of God is the same in Peru as it is in America. If were not, then something is wrong. Because God is not building something in the USA and something else in the rest of the world. I am reminded of what He said: If God is not building the house, the labors are working in vain.

I feel alot of what is being built today is not the heart of God. Most of what we see being built today is the tradition of men or a spider web. The spider web, I guess, is not bad if you are the spider, but if you are not the spider, then you are just food for the spider. There seems to be alot of fat spiders or Apostles and Pastors in what is called the church today.

God has called us to build His Church, make disciples and establish His Kingdom on Earth. What causes the body to grow, is when every part is working. We need to understand that every part is important; we need each part walking in the grace that was given to them in Christ's gift.

That is why Christ gave gifts to men for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

The heart of a Father should be to see everyone complete in Christ, who is the head of His body. We need to think about what Jesus said--He came to serve, not to be served. If you want to be great, you must be a servant of all. Paul said that he was the least of all saints. I feel that is a different mindset than what we see in today's so-called Fathers.

Paul implores us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Blessing on your journey.

Doug

Abide in His Love

2008-01-29T07:26:00.000-08:00

John 15:9
Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Jesus speaks of the differences between the Father’s commandments and His commandments. As I looked at this, I realized that Jesus said, "love one another, just as I have loved you." Notice that it is not as you love yourself, but as Jesus has loved you. There is a difference from the letter of the law and the law of the Spirit.

There are 5 things that Jesus basically commands us: to believe in Him, to love one another the way that He has loved you, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, to preach the Kingdom, and to make disciples.

What are the things that the devil is always fighting against? Us believing, loving, being baptized in the Holy Spirit, preaching the Kingdom and making disciples?

That is why the devil is happy to let us be religious, independent and full of ourselves, walking in the traditions of man that keep us divided.

That is why when you are born again, you become spiritual beings in Christ, walking in the Spirit and you are no longer human beings walking in the flesh.

I would encourage you to see what Jesus has commanded you to do, so you will abide in His love.

Blessings
Doug

God's Pleasure

2008-01-17T06:53:00.000-08:00

While I was reading in Galatians, I saw where Paul said that it pleased (or was the will or wish of) God to reveal His Son to Paul that he might preach Him among the Gentiles.

I think that most people think God is out to get them and that He stands waiting for them to mess up so He can judge them. But if we understand the heart of the Father, we realize that He is for us and not against us. He wants us to fulfill what He has predestined us to be in His Son. It gives Him pleasure when we walk in the grace of His calling.

Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added. Do not fear, for it is your Father’s good pleasure (His wish, will, or choice) to give you the kingdom.

Paul said in Philippians that it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

I believe that there is a difference between what God’s pleasure is and what pleases Him.

We need to have our minds renewed in the understanding of what pleases God. Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Faith is what gives God pleasure--enjoyment, delight, satisfaction--and He has given to each a measure of faith. What pleases Him, He has already given us. How cool is that.

God is pleased to give His will, and it pleases God when we fulfill it.

Hidden in Christ with God.

Food for thought.

Doug

What do you have on?

2008-01-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about 2007 and all that had happened and the places we had been. Then I realized that 2007 is gone, and 2008 is here. I was reminded of what Paul said in 2 Cor. 5: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.

Eph 4
We have been taught, with regard to our former way of life, to put off our old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of our mind; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Rom 8
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on the nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by sinful nature cannot please God.

We need to start out this year by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. We need to prepare our minds for action and keep sober in spirit, fixing our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us in Jesus Christ. We need to take every thought captive by the word that is hidden in our hearts.

Eph 6
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

My question for you: What do you have on?

Blessings on your journey in 2008.
Doug

Where is your peace?

2007-12-19T05:25:00.000-08:00

We are living in a world where nothing seems to be certain. You hear one thing one day and another the next. You put your hope in what you have been told, and then find that what you have been told is not the whole truth. The world seems to have little to no understanding of what is going on and what is going to happen. One man tells us one thing and another man tells us something completely different. Who and what can we believe?

Jesus tells us that "in the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." He tells us, "My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." I hope that you are catching what He is saying here--that He himself is our peace. We can only find real peace, the peace that passes understanding, in Him. That is why we put our hope and trust in Him and not in the world.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Did you catch that? The God of peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it can get any better than that. But it does. The Father of peace will send the Holy Spirit in Jesus’s name to teach us all things and to bring to remembrance all that Jesus has said to us. Think about it--we have the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, so nothing can steal our peace that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts and let the words of Christ dwell in you richly.

Blessings
Doug

Reap What You Sow

2007-12-11T03:36:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered why some people are more blessed than others?

I think one of the reasons might be in what Paul talked about in Gal. 6. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

2Cor. 9 tells us that he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.

Did you catch the part that God loves?

Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality.

Most people use these words to talk about money, but I think it talks about more than just money. God wants us to sow ourselves bountifully into the work that He has predestined us to. Most of the time, it is easier to give our money than our time. God wants us to present ourselves a living and holy sacrifice.

I would encourage you to sow yourself to the work of the Spirit and watch what the Father will do on your behalf.

Blessings
Doug

What is a Father's heart?

2007-12-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

I realized that my heart as a father towards my children is like the heart of God the Father towards us, His children.

I have two children, one of which is a son. He is married and has two children himself. When they come home for a visit, I have realized that he thinks that what is mine is his. He will go into my closet and wear my clothes. Without asking, he will open my ice box and drink out of my water jar and it doesn’t bother him the least bit. I have two pairs of house shoes--when he is here visiting, I find that at times both pairs are in his room. When he comes to my house, he just makes himself at home and acts like it is his house and they are his things.

My daughter has the same understanding. She also is married and has two children. My wife and I will be gone for a few days and when we return, we will find things are missing from our home and they will be at her home because she needed to use them while we were gone. It doesn’t bother her a bit to get whatever she might need out of my house and take to her home.

You know, I like that they still feel like this too is their home, and these things of mine they are welcome to use. They are my children and they have a key to the front door.

I think that is what the Father wants us to understand. All things that are His, He gave to us. He has given us access to Him though His Son Jesus. The word tells us to come boldly before Him, letting our request be made known. You have not because you haven’t asked, and when you asked you didn’t believe you would receive.

I believe that God wants us to understand His heart toward us as His children, and to walk fully in the purpose that He had predestined for us before we were born.

Jer 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give a future and a hope.

John 15:16
You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

Walk as children of God and heirs to His Kingdom.

Blessings
Doug

Rejoice in Suffering

2007-11-26T10:14:00.000-08:00

God uses circumstances to develop our character.

2. Cor 4:17
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Life is a series of problems. Every time you solve one, another one is waiting.

John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

You are measured by the way you handle your problems.

1 Peter 4: 12-19
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

Mat. 5: 1-12
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Sometime we suffer for someone else.

Col. 1:24
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Problems forces us to look to God and depend on Him instead of ourselves.

2. Cor. 1: 3-11
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

We learn obedience in suffering.

Heb. 5:8
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

We need to be like Paul when he said "whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I haven suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him." Phil. 3

Learning how to rejoice in suffering will keep your heart right and bring peace.

Blessings
Doug

Being Convinced that God is Faithful.

2007-11-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

The Lord spoke to me about being convinced that He is able to bring to pass what He has spoken and that He is able to keep what I have trusted to Him.

Heb 11:6
Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those that seeks Him.

He gives each a measure of faith. Did you catch it? He gives us what pleases Him to start with so that we can please Him. How cool is that.

We must believe that He is. Is what? He is God, He's the Man, He is the beginning before the end. He holds the universe in the palm of His hand. That means He is BIG.

"Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you." He tells us that when we seek Him first all these things will be added because He knows we have need of them. How cool is that.

I made a list of things that I am convinced of:

1. God loves me. John 3:16
2. God chose me. John 15:16
3. God will never leave me or forsake me. Duet 31:6
4. Greater is He who is in me than against me. 1 John 4:4
5. His word will not return to Him without accomplishing what He sent it for. Isa 55:11
6. He is a rewarder of those that seek Him. Heb 11:6
7. All things work together for good. Rom 8:28
8. No weapon formed against me will prosper. Isa 54:17
9. Whatever I ask according to His will, He hears me. 1 John 5:14
10. That signs and wonders follow me. Mark 16:17
11. That His blessings will overtake me as I walk believing.
12. He is able to finish what He has begun. 2 Tim 1:12

I would encourage you to make your list of the things that you are convinced God will do.

He is faithful and He keeps proving Himself faithful.

Blessings
Doug

Cease striving and know

2007-11-07T04:47:00.000-08:00

Ps 46:10
Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

I feel that this is the time for us to be still and listen to what the Lord will be speaking to us. I believe the Lord is ready to be exalted among the lost of the world. I feel that this next season will be a time of salvation and healing for many who are lost, and a time of God redeeming those who have fallen alway.

We need to be at the place where we can hear what His heart is. John 15 tells us that we are no longer slaves but friends because we do what He commands us. Therefore He is making known to us what He has heard from His Father.

I want to be a part of what God will be doing on the earth. Not of watching it, but an active doing of it. His Kingdom is being established here on earth as it is in heaven.

Take time to be still from all your stuff and listen to what the Spirit of the Lord will speak to you.

Being still and listening so I will be a doer.
Doug

where is your trust

2007-10-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

In the mid 80's, God spoke to me about getting out of farming and move to the DFW area to go full time in the ministry. So I moved to Graham Texas and got in the oil business, not what the Lord had spoken to me to do. But what my leadership said I should do, so I thought I missed the Lord in what I thought He has spoken to me and moved to Graham.

The oil business went south and I had lost a bunch of money. I didn’t understand what was going on. I then heard the Lord say, go back to Oklahoma, so I moved back and bought a restaurant, and it went broke. I thought well, I could get back in to farming and every thing would be good and I could get out of debt.

I starting farming, and it looked like things where going good, my cattle where getting fat and the price was good. The week before I sold my cattle, they started dying, and I thought that is weird. But I said it’s ok because my wheat was looking good and would make up the difference. But the week before I started cutting the wheat, a hailstorm come and hailed out my wheat. I thought, that is weird. But it’s ok; my cotton crop is looking good. The week before I starting harvesting my cotton a hailstorm came and hailed out my cotton. So I said to the Lord. What is going on? He said, I am showing you what you can do.

That is when the Lord gave me Jer 17:5-8
I learned that I couldn’t trust in the arm of my flesh, but had to make the Lord my trust. It is one thing, to trust in the Lord, and another thing to make the Lord your trust. When the Lord is your trust you will be fruitful, even in dry places. The blessing of the Lord are always before you; you just can’t see them because you are trusting in the arm of your flesh or your gifting.

That is when I made the Lord my trust, and not my ability. So the next year I planted cotton and made the best cotton in the county.

The thing that I learned was the Lord had to be my trust and my hope, I couldn’t trust in what I could do or even in what the Lord had gifted me to be. He is my trust, and I can do nothing outside of Him that will bring life or produces fruits.

I have been serving the Lord for 33 years, I am debt free, out of farming and travel the world preaching His kingdom and making disciples.

I pray that this will help you from making some of the same dumb mistakes that I have made.

Make the Lord your trust, He is faithful.
Blessings
Doug

How We See One Another

2007-10-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Most of us spend our whole life knowing one another after the flesh. We judge people by what they do and don't do. It is all about the way people preform according to our judgements and expectations that we have. If they do this, that means this. If they do that, it's means that and so on. We get caught in the trap of trying to be what people want, instead of being who we where called by God to be.

I think what Paul was talking about in 2 Cor 5. was not to regard one another from a worldly point of view, but a Kingdom point of view. We are to know one another after the spirit and not after the flesh. When we see people by the spirit, then we see them through the heart of God's love and purpose. Remember in Christ we became spiritual beings no longer fleshly beings.

Let us try to see and encourage one another with the heart of the Kingdom, which is not counting people's sins against them, but reconciling them to God's love in Christ the King.

Blessings
Doug

Cure for Anxiety

2007-10-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

Have you ever found yourself worrying about stuff?

Stuff like what you will eat or what you will drink or what you will wear or even how you are going to pay your bills.

Mat. 6: tells us to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

His Kingdom and His righteousness, that is the key. It is in finding your life in Christ the King. When you know who the King is and that you life is hidden in the King, then you have every thing that you need. For there is nothing you need outside what the King’s heart is for you.

We have been told that we have every thing we need in Jesus and that is true, because He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

He tells us that His peace He leaves us. So stop worrying about the stuff and rest in the fact, that the King has called you and chosen you and appointed you for good things.

Remind the King of what He has said, and watch Him do it.

Blessings
Doug

Is Life Like Golf

2007-09-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

I was playing in a golf tournament this last weekend with a friend in Granbury, and I realized that golf was like life.

In this tournament, you had to reach a certain score to win the event, ours was 38.5 and that was what we where looking at. Then it dawn on me that we couldn’t look at the end score, we had to look at every hole, and try to get the 2.14 per hole so we could meet our goal, and not just every hole, but one shot at a time. When we hit one shot at a time then the whole would take care of itself. We couldn’t make 38.5 points on the first hole, so we didn’t try. Each hole one shot at a time, we started out making what we needed on the 1st few holes, and then something happened, we went 3 holes without making a point. We said that’s it; we won’t make our goal. But we stayed focus and played each shot at a time and made 38 points. Didn’t win, but reached our goaled. Well almost, what’s a .05?

The thing I learned is that God knows our goal, and shows it to us at the beginning, and then helps us one day at a time to reach the end. We are not to get distracted by one or two bad shots, but know, that the whole will take care of the end.

Blessing
Doug

PS
Jesus is the whole.