Mark 4:8-9

“8. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.

9. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. ”

Wayside = Satan comes immediately to still the word.

Stony ground = Received the word with gladness, but because you had no depth to your faith, you could not endure trials.

Thorny ground = received the word, but the cares of this life (lust of life, deceitfulness of riches), choked out the word so that it was unfruitful.

Good ground = You hear the word, receive it, and through faith allow it to become fruitful in your life (some 30, some 60, and some 100 fold).

Sometimes we are so hard on ourselves because we feel we don’t have it all together. We love the Lord, and desire to serve him. But still we find ourselves failing him over and over again.

The great thing about God is through the word (reading, hearing preaching, teaching, and bible study) he shows us ourselves. We are able to see where we are as well as where God requires us to be. Our problem is that we condemn ourselves because we know that we are not where God needs us to be. There are times we even say ‘why bother trying’ we give up and continue our evil ways.

What God wants us to know and understand is that he shows us these things so we can take the necessary actions to change. These actions are simple, recognized where you are, repent to God, and allow him to usher you to where you need to be.

Our problem is once we see the truth, we either let Satan still it immediately, or we do not have enough depth (solid foundation or relationship with God), that trials trip us up. Or we did receive the truth, but the cares of this life overshadows the word that we forget all about it. Because of this we remain as we are. Eventually guilt sets in, and we hide from God (spiritually speaking). We stop reading the Bible, or stop going to church. We begin to make excuses.

However, what you need to understand is even if you were once (or are currently) wayside, stony or thorny ground, you do not have to remain that way. Once you get good and tired of yourself, you just need to cry out to God and ask for forgiveness. Ask God to allow your heart to become good ground. Repent and seek after God.

God is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9). He will help you. But ultimately everything boils down to your choices. Eventually, you must begin to make the right choices, and do so daily. Joshua 24:15, you have to choose God daily. There is always going to be opportunity to make other choices. We must strive to be consistent and choose God. We are not perfect, we will make mistakes, fail God, and fall. If and when this happens, we must remember 1 John 1:9, repent, and ask God for help. Eventually, you will find yourself falling him less. You will start to please him.

You are good ground. Receive the word with gladness. Apply the word to your life by walking according to it. Watch the fruit of God be in abundance in your life. Share this fruit with everyone God allows you to. Don’t not be ashamed when God shows you the wrong you have done or are doing. Rather take it as an opportunity to repent and do better. For that is the reason God showed you yourself.

God bless you all.

Joshua 24:14-15 ESV

14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Many people want to believe (subconsciously or not) that once they make their initial choice to be a follower of Christ, that the choice is forever settle. However, this is a misconception. We must choose the Lord daily.

Why? Because every day of our lives – and sometimes several times a day – we are faced with life choices that can takes in the right or the wrong direction.

Everyday we must choice Christ, everyday we must choose what is right. This sounds simple. However, must of the time doing what is wrong is easier. Many times, doing what is wrong seems to work in our favor.

Doing what is right requires integrity. It is challenging to make appropriate choices.

For a believer, choices require strong faith in God. We have to make decisions that will take us in directions that do not make sense to others. We make choices that seem like the long way around. But walking by faith rarely make a straight line, it often requires a lot of twists and turns. But the destination is always where we need to be. That is where our faith comes into play. We must allow the Lord to lead us in the path he would have us to take. To be able to successfully do this we must give the power over to God, and truly be his follower. We must choose to allow him to lead our lives.

Choices are the hallmark of being an adult. But it is also the hallmark of a believer – faith choices. We must choose to follow as the Spirit leads – always. As Joshua said above “this day” is every day. Every day, with every choice, we must choose to “serve the Lord.”

Trust me, there are choices that take us away from the Lord. Although God promised never to leave us, he did not say we couldn’t leave him. We do this by making the wrong choices, and then by choosing to live with them rather than choosing to correct our error.

If this is you, repent, and choose the Lord all over again. Then allow him to strengthen you to go through what you must because of your poor choices. For the word of God is sure, you will reap what you sow. But when God is with you, he will enable you to make it through.

What a great God we serve.

Then moving forward Make wise, godly choices which garner the favor of God.

Be blessed.

Matthew 15:23-28

“23. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

26. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.

27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.

28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. ”

Have you ever sought the Lord for something and did not get an answer?

Have you ever sought the Lord but felt like God was not listening to your prayer?

If you are like me, you have. Many times this lack of response would lead us to feel like we have displeased God or that we have done something wrong. Most of the time God is just testing us to see what our next move will be.

Will you give up? Will you get mad at God? Will you turn your back on him? Or will you try to go about making your own miracle? By the way, doing this usually makes matters worse.

When we are seeking God, we cannot afford to be impatient. Being impatient shows a lack of faith and leads to poor decisions. These poor decisions will place us in a place of desperation. If we are not careful desperation can cause you to have a sense of hopelessness. The foundation of all these types of emotions are a lack of faith and trust in God.

The believer must have confidence in God. We must be persuaded that “he is, and he is able…”. This confidence in God will cause us to exhibit the same perseverance as the woman with the issue of blood, and as the mother in the scripture text. In the face of what looked like rejection, she did not give up. She knew what she needed from God, and she kept after it until she received it.

Notice Jesus remained silent. He did not send her away as the disciples wanted. He allowed her to stay. His silence was more of an invitation or opportunity, if you will.

The mother seized the opportunity. She worshipped God. She the responded to Jesus’ comments, showing her faith. Jesus, knew who she was, the mother knew the Jewish customers. But she would not allow that to stop her. She knew this was her daughter’s opportunity to be delivered.

What about you? Are you having conversation with God in prayer? Where you speak and give space to God to speak? Are you listening to what he is saying? Or are your prayers one sided?

Are you worshipping God before bringing your petitions to him? Or are you rattling off what you want and getting up and moving on with your day?

Are you in a place where you have not been answered. Are you patiently waiting (passively, with no actions)? Or are you waiting in worship (persevering in faith)?

Don’t mistake silence for rejection. Continue to pursue God for what you need. Put some works with your faith.

In the end, the mother got just what she needed for her daughter. You can have a successful outcome too. As long as you don’t give up on God.

Remember, delay is not rejection. It is an opportunity to show God you are in it to win it.

Have a blessed day.

(Feel free to leave your comments below)

Matthew 15:15-20

“15. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.

16. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?

17. Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?

18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

20. These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. ”

Responsibility is a heavy word in every sense. We must take responsibility for the things we utter from our mouth. Things don’t just “slip” out of your mouth. You said it because It was in your heart, so it had no choice but to come out.

We must be careful in what we allow to make into our hearts. The things we allow ourselves to constantly think on, obsess over, or become fascinated with – whether they are good or bad – are the things in our hearts.

The Bible tells us whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, are of good report, think on these things (Philippians 4:8). Things that fall into these categories will not produce harm to the hearers. They will produce life in you. But it is still your choice, your responsibility.

What you think about, you will speak about.

What you speak about will either defile you or build you (and the hearer) up.

Feed your self and your spirit things that will keep you free, make you healthy, and be a blessing to all. You are the one who chooses what you will eat. People are depending on you. What will you pour into them?

It’s your choice, your responsibility – watch what you say.

Today, the lyrics to that William McDowell song is going through my spirit

I remember the things that God spoke to me years ago. It was a warning of sorts. Instead of heeding to the warning, I watched while it happened. However, the words that God spoke to me were forever alive in my spirit. Now, I am working on obeying what God said. And I can see all of the progress that I have made.

As in everything, of course the enemy came to test my faith. I noticed myself slipping into old habits (just a little). Then the word of God came back to me, and I realized. I don’t want the things that I used to. I don’t want ( nor am I really tempted) to go back to that old me. I can’t testify – I have been changed.

Philippians 3:13-14

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ”

Luke 9:62

“And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. ”

An important lesson for every believer to learn it to NOT look back. Don’t look back at your past failures, the wrong you have done, the mistakes you have made. Sometimes it is not good to even look back at your past successes. Looking back at your past will cause you to fall in your present. Once you have repented and God has forgiven you, let the past go and move on. If you need to get things right with people, do that and move on.

It is important to elevate your mind, and change your old perspective. For it is hard to move to new ground with old thinking patterns. That is what caused my transgression into old behaviors.

God is good, because he allowed me to recognize where I was headed way before I even got there. God promised he would provide a way of escape with every temptation. Our job is to recognize the escape route and take it.

I thank God for this song, for I have determined that I won’t go back to what God has delivered me from. My prayer is the same for anyone who reads this. Don’t give up before you get to where God is trying to take you. Stay the course. If it is too hard to push, stand still and watch God move it. Just don’t give up, don’t go back to the way it used to be.

I love you all, be blessed and have a great night.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. ”

God knows how to whisper things into your spirit that will automatically encourage you to push farther than you thought you could ever go. Because of this we cannot trust in the wisdom of man to do only what the power of God can.

God has blessings designed just for you, your name is written on it. No one else is able to receive it or walk in it just because it is tailor made for you. People can encourage you to seek after God to receive what he has for you. But only you can take the steps that will position you to receive. God is so good that he reveals to you, by his spirit, a glimpse of the blessing. But you will never know the fullness of the blessing until you exercise your faith to receive.

Seek after God. Trust in him. Speak life by faith, and remove negative words from your vocabulary. Walk in what he has for you.

Have a blessed day.

1 Peter 3:10-12 NIV

“10. For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.

11. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.

12. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

It is surprising how many people want to achieve higher heights in God, without make a change to the way they live their lives. We see the mega ministries, we see the multi book deals, and award winning singers, etc. in operation and they desire it as well. This is not a bad thing. Where the error lies is the belief is that you can get there without exercising some Godly self control.

Godly self control will help you to develop good habits that will propel you into these blessings. Habits such as hard work, perseverance, consistency, and self confidence, etc. Godly self control will help to keep you from laziness. It will encourage you when it seems like everyone else is against you.

Godly self control will allow you to hold your tongue when everything in you wants to tell someone off. This self control will allow you to do good and seek peace with everyone. Godly self control will keep God’s eyes on you and he will watch over your prayers.

What I believe is an equally important benefit, is Godly self control will keep you from evil. This is extremely important, because when you see these mega ministries, Christian authors, and musical artists, we always hear about the scandals they have become embroiled with. Exercising Godly self control will keep you from making the same mistakes, and to avoid certain pitfalls.

I am not talking about the person who wants to do wrong. No matter what, this person will find a way to do wrong, and find someone to do wrong with them.

But for the person who wants to do right, he or she will need to exercise Godly self control to help to keep themselves from falling. We cannot do anything without God, but through him we can do all things because he strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

Exercise self control and grow!

Have a blessed evening.