The Seed Of Faith

Matthew 13: 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The word of our GOD is great! A powerful seed that is sown in faith. The seed of the Word can grow anywhere, stony places, among thorns, but it cannot produce fruit until it finds good ground. We hear the word of GOD preached and it is taught to us every service.

 That is GOD’s way of sowing the seed.....but it is our responsibility to prepare the ground IF we want to see the fruit to grow in our lives.

We know if we plant any kind of seed here in the natural that we must first prepare the ground, you break-up the ground where you plan on planting anything. You remove any rocks, old roots of weeds and grass and you may add some natural nutrients to maximum growing potential. We do that spiritually by praying, fasting, reading separating ourselves from the world, and most of all by just doing what the word of GOD tells us to do!

James 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

So tend to your own garden, and do not worry about your neighbors, that your fruit may grow......some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold so you may be able to share the good fruit out of your garden with others.

May the LORD richly bless you!!

God Loves Pickles

We occasionally go out to eat at a place and get a pork tenderloin and with that sandwich we get a sliced pickle. The pickle really brings out the flavor of the food for me. There are a variety of kinds of pickles, some very sour, some hot, some even sweet. But all are good! Sometimes our life has a side of pickles.....some very sour, some hot and some sweet.  There are times in our life when we get served  pickles out of the blue and there are times we get ourselves into a pickle that we cannot get ourselves out of and that’s when we cry out to GOD! In my short time here on earth, I have found out that my God loves pickles!!
He loves to show his strong hand of deliverance, his mighty hand of healing, and his powerful way of provision!!!  The word says: Psalm 86:7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. The word also says in Isaiah 65:24And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.  He will help us with the bitterness of not having. Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
 Our GOD will help us out of our pickle of going backwards!! Hosea 14:4     I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. He will help us with our sour times of sickness. ISA 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. GOD loves to take the sour times and make them sweet. So remember the next time you feel like you are in a pickle....Call on GOD!!! He really loves pickles!! May the Lord bless you always!

50/50

                                   

We were recently at the hospital with a dear Saint of GOD. Her family was telling us what the doctor had said about a surgery she was facing. The doctor told the family that the surgery was very difficult and that she had a 50/50 chance making it through the operation. Her husband had faith in GOD and told me that GOD was going to take care of her. The surgery was scheduled late, it was going to be a long surgery and a longer night of waiting, but GOD showed his sure hand of mercy and picked up the other 50 percent and brought her through. This got me thinking about the way man is. My experience with people is that most men (and women too) only half way do things. They don't take time to do it correctly, we will skimp on things, and we are not willing to pay the price we need to, we try to do it the cheap way. Most of the time we will not want to spend enough time to work on it and we rush through it. We half way do it.  Other times it's all we are able to do with what we have to work with... for example: our health, finances, even the state of mind hinders us and stops us from doing what we want to or need to do. But thanks be to GOD ....When we fail GOD picks up the slack. He puts in the other 50 percent. GOD knows what we are. In JOB 14;1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He tells us in the last part of Matthew 19:26 With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Our GOD is willing to pick up the slack, he is willing to take what we have with our faults and failures and do something supernatural and use us in ways we could never imagine. Psalms 130:8  The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy What a mighty GOD we serve, So when you feel like you don't have enough to do the job just call on Jesus to pick up the slack.

Going Back to the Honey Hole

The days are starting to get a little bit longer and a little bit warmer. The beautiful clear warm days brings back good memories of days gone by spent at my favorite fishing hole. Any fisherman worth his salt always had a great place to go where he could always count on catching a lot of fish and never leave empty handed. We call that the “HONEY HOLE”. It’s where you go back to when you have tried fishing other places without any luck, and you get frustrated, you start thinking about giving up and not even trying to throw out another line. It’s the place that reminds you why you love to fish in the first place. Some times in our walk with GOD we have times of discouragements and frustrations. We even get to a point when we just want to quit. That’s when we need to go back to our “Honey Hole”. A place of past victory’s and times when GOD has delivered in a mighty way. It reminds me of Samson, in the book of Judges, chapter 14:5 & 6 It says:  Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.

⁶ And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. It goes on to say in verses 8 & 9 That Samson he returned……..

And he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.

⁹ And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.

As Samson was traveling back he was able to stop at one of his “Honey Holes” . You know he was attacked out of the blue, unexpectedly, (sound familiar??)And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily and gave him victory. He was able to go back and get a sweet taste of victory again and even be able to share it.  So when we are getting frustrated and at the point of Quitting, we need to take a trip back to our “Honey Hole” and get a sweet taste of encouragement.   May GOD richly bless you!

I am a Believer!

The apostle Paul had a lot of storms in his life. But through the hardships of life he kept his faith and believed God. In the book of acts it tells of one of his journeys to Rome and the storm he went through. 

ACTS 27: ²¹ But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.

²² And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.

²³ For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,

²⁴ Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

²⁵ Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

What a powerful statement. “I BELIEVE GOD” Even through troubled times Paul spoke what he believed. That God would do what he said he would do. You know we are just like Paul. We go through storms and times of trouble, but just like Paul we need to speak our faith. I believe GOD! Most of the times it gets worse before it gets better, but we must stay the Course and trust GOD, for we know according to Psalms 34:19 declares

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. The enemy likes to kick you when you are down. Just remember when all hell is breaking loose in your life God is still in control!!

You are still an overcomer

You are still blessed

You are still a child of the KING

You have been endued with power from on High

If GOD be for you who can be against you.

The enemy is trying to steal from you….so the question is…….

ARE YOU A BELIEVER??

The Lion's Tooth

Well, it is Spring again. My favorite time of the year. Things start changing for the better. The trees start budding, the grass is getting greener, the temperature is rising and before you know it you start seeing little yellow flowers popping up everywhere. They are called Dandelions.

The origin of the word "dandelion" is from the 14th century. The  French word "dent de lion", which literally means lions tooth. It was named after its root, which is shaped like a lions tooth. They are very difficult to get rid of. People try to get rid of them by pulling them up when they see them, but when we do that never get all the root out of the ground. In time it simply grows back; usually bigger .  Well it is the same way in our  lives. We have things popping up in our lives and we try to "pull" them up. It works for a while, but hey usually grow back bigger, because we did not get all the root out. In order to get rid of our fleshly 'dandelions' we must get to the root of the problem.  The root of the problem is SIN. That is where we need help from our GOD. After all, he has made the way for us to be delivered from sin. He paid the price for our sin at Calvary.

Colossians 1:20 KJV  "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven."

So, the first step in getting rid of our lions tooth is to obey the word of GOD, and follow the "PLAN" GOD has made for us. Jesus tells us in John 3:5, "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the  kingdom of God." To be born of the water and the spirit you must follow His plan in the book of Acts.

 Acts 2:38, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Once we have done that then we can start to learn about our GOD and follow him. This will start to kill the root of sin (our fleshly dandelion) and help us to live an overcoming life in him! GOD has given us power to overcome, but it is up to us to use the power we have been given. For he tells us in the last part of LUKE 24:29, "...but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem , until  ye be endued with power from on high." That is the Holy Ghost....the Power from on high!

He tells us that he has come to give us life. In John 10:10 is says, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly." 

During this Easter season, remember that the price has already been paid, So walk in the power that has been given to you and live the abundant life that has been promised to you.

May GOD richly bless you !!