The Blessed Life

James 1:12 "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him"

It is such a struggle to do right sometimes. Doing right takes a lot of thinking and planning on our parts.  The Bible says that we are all tempted when we enticed by our own lust. And when we have given ourselves to that lust we have gone into sin, and sin always brings death.  Why would we want to choose to be around death?

Notice what our verse says though, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation..." We can have a blessed life, we just have to discipline ourselves to not give into the temptations that we are faced with each day.  That is to say we must learn to tell ourselves - NO.  That's right tell yourself, NO! 

We will always be tempted of something. And once you get victory over something that tempts you often, something else will come along to tempt you as well.  Just say NO, and live the blessed life.  The choice is your.

 

How To Have a Life With No Regrets

Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

I have travelled down the Regret Hwy, more times than I care to admit.  It sometimes starts out as a pleasent trip, but every time the trip ends the same - in misery and regret. 

In studying the word regret, I found that in its origin it means to "remember with distress or longing."  Oh, I have many memories of regrets.  I could go all the back to early childhood and find many regrets in choices that I have made, things that I have said to people, things that I have done, things I haven't done...they all can leave us stranded on this long painful highway of regret.

While I have many things in my life that I regret, I want to share with you about another highway that I have travelled too.  It is similar in name, but yet so different to travel on.  It is the road named No Regrets.  It is on this road that brings much peace, joy, and happiness.  But I must tell you something, this road is not heavily travelled on.  It is even a little out of the way, and there are not any short cuts in order to get to it either.  No Regret Rd. is a single lane road that only goes to one direction and always leads to the same place as long as your stay on its path.  Now you will find that while you travel down No Regret Rd. there are plenty of other roads that you will be tempted to turn down, and you may even give into the temptation.  But there is not another road that leads to where No Regret Rd. will take you to.  You have to learn to be patient on this road, but is worth minute it takes to get.

Where is this No Regret Rd, you ask?  Well, it is the road that we travel as we walk with God, the path that He wants us to take.  While I may have many regrets in this life, I have never, not one single time, ever regretted serving God and walking His path.  His way has never, and never will lead to regret.  What I have regretted in my Christian life are the times that I gave into the temptation to do my own thing and go my own way.  I have found that as long as I keep myself on the path that God places in front of me - it always leads to a life of no regret.

You want to really know how to have a life with no regrets?  Live your life for God, walk in His ways, love him, keep his commandment, and you will have a life of no regrets.  Occasionally you may come across someone that says, "I have regrets from serving God."  And all I can say to that is this, "you obviously were not walking with God when you thought you were, because God's path always leads to no regrets."

Today at the Crossroads, you have a choice to make.  You will find your self at these Crossroads everyday of your life.  NO Regret Rd or Regret Highway.  Which way will you choose?  I hope you choose the No Regret Rd.  - walk with God and have a lifetime of no regrets.

My Lips are Sealed

Ephesians 4:29 "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."


I am always amazed by the things people say to each other.  The fact of the matter is, people can be down right cruel.  As a child I was taught, as many of you were, the saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  I know the intention behind that phrase is good, but it is an absolute false statement.  Words do hurt, and they hurt deeply and badly.

The Bible instructs us here in our scripture verse today, that we are to let no "corrupt communication" leave our mouths.  There is another phrase which says, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."  That phrase too, while it sounds good, doesn't go with what the scripture says.  It is important to note that Ephesians 4:29 doesn't stop at "no corrupt communication", it continues on to say, "but that which is good."  We are not supposed to just say nothing, we are speak good and encouraging words that build up those around us rather than tear them down. 

Now, let me say something here while you are working on training yourself on speaking encouraging words.  There are going to be times in the beginning that your lips must remain sealed.  What I mean by that is - think about what you are wanting to say first - and if it isn't kind, don't say it.  You're gonna have to train your self to speak kind encouraging words, but once you're trained it will be extremely easy to speak kindly rather than corruptly.

Maybe we need to adapt some new phrases today.  How about this one: "If you can't say something nice, say something nice instead."  Or this one: "Sticks and stones may break the bones, but words will wound the heart." 

If we will learn to speak kindly to others, I promise you others will learn to speak kindly to us as well.

Hard or Soft?

Psalm 95:8a "Harden not your heart..."  Ephesians 4:32 "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

I am going to try and keep it really simple today.  Are our hearts hard or soft? And what difference does it make?  And, no I'm not talking about tacos either. :)

I have heard many people say many times that they have hardened their heart because they had gotten hurt and they were not going to get hurt any more.  While on the surface a statement like that makes a lot of sense, when you dig a little deeper into the matter it never does what the person is attempting to do.

Anyone that I have ever seen harden their heart with the purpose of never getting hurt again always seems to get the same results from their hard heart - they get hurt even worse, and their heart grows even harder.  Each time their heart gets harder it actually becomes easier for them to get hurt.  They begin expecting to be hurt and they find hurt almost everywhere they look.  After a while people with hard hearts become as easy to spot as who is 7 feet tall.

Ephesians 4:32 exhorts us to keep our hearts tender and soft, always kind and forgiving.  I know from personal experience that forgiving someone is not the simplest of tasks. But we must understand that the forgiveness that is being offered is not really for the person being forgiven as much as it is for ourselves not to become hard hearted.

I know I said I was going to keep it simple today and believe it or not it is a very simple concept, but not as simple to carry out.  I will promise you this though - the more you forgive others, the simpler it becomes to forgive more.  As you consider forgiving someone or not, take just a moment and ponder on what God through Christ has forgiven you for.  If can truly take a close look at what God has freely forgiven you of - in comparison you too can and should forgive.

 

Greatness is in the preparation

Proverbs 24:30-34 "I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man."

It was about 20 year ago when I first heard the statement, "Greatness is in the preparation."  As a 15 year boy, it really didn't mean that much to me at the time, but I never forgot it. Over the years I have pondered on it from time to time and I have come to understand it better now more than ever.

If something is going to be great, not so great, or lousy, it is going to be the preparation that often makes the difference.  Take a sports team for example.  They spend more time on preparing for game time than they do the actual game.  A great movie will take months in preparation for a great 2 hour long movie.  A great garden requires much preparation.  A great event must be prepared for in order to ensure its greatness. 

You may be asking yourself, how does this apply to my life, most importantly my Christian life?  Well, if greatness is in the preparation, then how we prepare for our daily lives is important if we want to have and experience a great Christian life.  How much preparation are you putting into your daily life?  Is one church service a week enough?  Is 2 or 3?  Not if you are expecting to have great victories in your life it isn't.  It is going to require daily preparation in studying God's word, in spending time with God in prayer, in making an effort to do what God is prompting you to do.  If you are prepared for the devils attacks they will be easier to avoid.  Get yourself prepared and begin experiencing the great benefits of being a Christian. For greatness is in the preparation.