The Key to Life

by Gloria Copeland

I first got excited about the word years ago when I read what my husband's mother had written in the front of a Bible she gave Ken for his birthday: "Ken, precious, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you. Matthew 6:33."

I had never heard anything like that. And we needed a lot of "things," so that Scripture got my attention. I started studying the Bible to learn more.
What I found changed my life. I discovered that the Bible is a treasure house. I found that God's Word would meet every need. That was such good news to me that I got excited about it!

The Bible tells us that the Word is life to us. It will quicken us in our spirits. Psalm 119:25 says, "Quicken thou me according to thy word" (KJV). E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible says that passage means "Give me life" or "Keep me alive according to Thy word."

When our spirits are quickened, our flesh is also quickened. As I study the Word, something happens on the inside that I can almost feel physically.
The more I give myself to time in the Word and prayer, the more revelation I receive and the more accurately I live my life.

When we receive revelation from God's Word we become like the man described in Matthew 13 who found the pearl of great price. He recognized that what he had found was worth everything he had.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it" (vv. 45-46, NKJV).

The manifestation of the kingdom of heaven-heaven taking over our aff airs, making our bodies well, saving our children, causing us to prosper and so on-is worth everything we have. It's worth every effort we make to experience it. We must get into the Word if we desire to learn about the kingdom of God and understand how it operates. To obtain victory in any area, we must find out what God has said about the matter in His Word. After that our part is to believe-to trust and know that His Word is true. Then we must set our words and life in agreement with the Scripture.

It's important to decide that the Word of God is the ultimate truth in every situation (see John 17:17). Jesus said, "'And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free'" (John 8:32).

When you find out what the Scripture says about a particular situation, faith can be established in your heart, which will influence your soul (your mind, will and emotions). Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

You can't stand effectively on "blind" faith. You must have a "knowing" faith, and that comes from believing wholeheartedly what the Word promises. You know God has spoken it and declared it to be so, and you know you can depend on that.

Keep the truth of the Word going in your eyes and ears until it comes out in faith-filled words and is manifest in your life. God has provided you with a lifetime of benefits.
Remember: It is God "who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children" (Ps. 103:3-5,17-18).

Considering the blessings the Lord has in store, isn't it time for you to dig into the Scriptures and begin to believe what they say about you?

Get excited about the Word-and your life will be blessed!

Love Looks Not with the Eyes

Love looks not with the eyes

But with the mind,

And therefore is wing'd cupid

painted blind

-William Shakespeare

HTC Touch, my new toy :) I'm luving it

An unpleasant year

The year of 2007 will soon be over in another sixteen days. Twelve months just passed like a blink in the eyes. Looking back, it has not been an easy year for me. It is a year where i experienced a sense of lost. Lost of all the things that are close to my heart, all that meant to me are taken away from me.

Perhaps, I may appeared to be strong to the people around me, living up to their expectations of me, and it come to a point where there isn't anyone i could rely on, except God.

On my part, I was impatient. I took things into my hands and not wait and heed the word of God. I paid a big price for my mistake. For every choice make comes with consequence, I've to bear the fruit of my foolishness.

I'm glad that everything's over.
God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
God is forgiving, He did not give up on me.

I look forward to my new beginning.

It's not What you say, but How you say

A king once dreamed that all his teeth had fallen out.

He was naturally concerned about his dream, so the next morning he sent for a soothsayer to interpret his dream for him.

The soothsayer listened to the king's dream, pondered over it for a moment, and then delivered this pronouncement:

"Your Highness, the dream means that all your relatives will die and you will be left alone."

The king was furious at the soothsayer's interpretation, and he demanded the soothsayer be exiled.

Then the king called for a second soothsayer.

This soothsayer listened to the king's dream, pondered for a moment, and then proclaimed:

"Rejoice, O King! The dream means that you will live many more years. In fact, you will outlive all your relatives! LONG LIVE THE KING!"

This interpretation so pleased the king that he gave the interpreter a large purse of gold.

Essentially, the two soothsayers made the same prediction. But there was a big difference in HOW they delivered the message. As a result, there was a big difference in how the message was received.

The moral of the story is very clear: It's not WHAT you say, but HOW you say it that counts!

Time and Season

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly, so he sent them each on a quest, in turn to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral:

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Don't judge life by one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later.

Dilbert

Expectations

by Os Hillman

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ~ Philippians 1:20

Have you ever had expectations that did not get fulfilled? Perhaps a coworker let you down. Perhaps you were trusting God for something in your life that never materialized. Perhaps you became devastated by an unmet expectation that you felt you were entitled to. Expectations can be a difficult trap for each of us if we are not fully committed to God's purposes in our lives.
Paul wrote this verse from prison to the people of Philippi. He had an expectation that his life would bring glory to God, whether through his continued ministry or his death. His joy in living was not based on his expectations getting fulfilled, but on remaining true to the purpose for which God made him.

When we react to circumstances with bitterness and resentment as a result of unmet expectations, we are saying that we know better than God, and that God has made a mistake in not meeting our expectations. The process of resolving unmet expectations may require full disclosure to the individual who was the source of the unmet expectation, and of how the unmet expectation made you feel. This is not to make the person feel obligated to meet the expectation, but simply to share your feelings about it. If God was the source, then it is important to share this with the Lord. However, once we have done this we must let go of the situation and allow God to work in our hearts the grace that is needed to walk in freedom from the pain of the unmet expectation. If we do not do this, we will allow the seed of bitterness and resentment to enter in. This seed of bitterness will create leanness in our soul and eventually will spread to others.

Ask yourself today if you have any unmet expectations. How have you responded to them? Have you processed this with the Lord and others who may be involved? These are the steps to freedom from unmet expectations.


Today's Prayer

Dear God, Thank you for having a purpose for my life and for telling me what Your expectations are through the Bible. I know You must be disappointed with me many times, when I fail to meet Your expectations of me. I can identify with that from a human standpoint. When I expect a family member to be responsible and to do something that they do not do, or when they make wrong choices in life, I am very disappointed. Sometimes I feel frustrated or angry and other times heartbroken. Help me to be kind-hearted and long-suffering with them, like You are with me. Guide me to handle those disappointments with integrity; to remain quiet when I should and to speak up when I should. Please give me the thoughts, words, and actions You want me to have. And God, please forgive me for disappointing You. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.