Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Unlimited...


Unlimited mercy.
Unlimited love.
Unlimited chances.
Unlimited grace.
Unlimited blessings.
Unlimited power.

The Lord God almighty, the One who sits on the throne, has no limits. With this being understood, I'd like for you to think about all the times you've placed limits on God. Think about a time when you've asked God for something small. Something that is achievable, but might just be a bit out of your reach. Thus, you need God's help to get you across the finish line.

Now think about the concept of risk versus reward.

What if you really went out on a limb and asked God for something that you know you cannot obtain without his intervention. Perhaps it's getting a ridiculous promotion that you thought you could never achieve. Or getting over an illness that you've been fighting for an extended period of time. Or maybe it's to help you turn around a relationship that's gone down hill for years. Financial setbacks, hard times, mistakes, etc. the list goes on and on.

With that I say that we should ask God for those unimaginable blessings. Ask and believe and it shall be yours.

 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
-Mark 11:24 

Ask God for those things that you cannot achieve on your own. For many requests have earthly boundaries. However, I tell you that we serve a God that has no boundaries. He is a God that can do anything, at anytime, for anyone.

Take the limits off the Lord and allow Him to show you His supernatural power. Increase your faith by unshackling the early chains you place on the Lord. Do this and He will show you great blessings.

Think about the unwavering faith the paralyzed man had as he his friends carried him to meet Jesus. When the paralyzed man came to the place where Jesus was teaching, it was overly crowded and they could not get in.

So what did the man have them do? He had his friends cut an opening in the roof and lower him to see Jesus. That, my friends, is unimaginable faith. That is taking the boundaries off our Lord and saying... "Here I am Lord, I believe that you can heal me."

Here is the passage from Mark 2:

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Go forward today with great faith in your heart. Allow the Lord to show you His unlimited love, mercy, and power. Take the boundaries off the Lord and He will shower you with great blessings.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Your faith has made you well

I recently realized what it truly means to have faith in God. It sounds strange even writing this, but there is a big difference between saying something and "hoping" it will come true versus saying something and BELIEVING it will come true.

On a personal level, I've determined that the word "Faith" equals "Trust". Meaning that you must put all of your trust in the Lord and believe that what the bible says is the absolute truth. The bible comes from the breath of God...  and God's Word does not change nor does God lie.

Far too many times we (as a society) attempt to create our own destiny. We think that we must have complete and total control over our lives in order to be successful or get what we need or want. However, the bible tells us that God understands all of our needs and God also allows us to ask Him for favors, blessings, etc. For it is out of prayer that we talk to God.

The one verse that I've really talked openly to God about this week comes from the Book of Mark.


I've recently prayed for something that I never thought was possible and I spoke this verse to the Lord (as a reminder) of what He has promised... "what you ask in prayer, believe it and it will be yours." God has come through with his promise and in my mind it is a miracle. However, to the Lord, I'm sure it was effortless.

This same situation held true with the woman that touched Jesus' robe.


My message is very simple today. When you pray, remove yourself of any earthly boundaries and maintain complete trust and belief in God's power. When you pray, believe that you will receive God's gifts. Not out of arrogance, but out of trust in God's Word from the bible.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Goals

Regardless of age, we've all heard the saying... "You can do anything you want to do, if you put your mind to it."

I, for one, believe that once we make something a priority (meaning it is important) we get it done. For example, how many times have you heard (or seen) weight loss transformations? People lose large amounts of weight, firm up, become healthier and fitter. How do they do it? They do it by making it a priority in their life.

I also believe that a large part of this "thought process" is being able to visualize the end state. Having a clear vision for what is not there. The same level of determination revolves around people we call "over achievers." They are people who place large amounts of self induced pressure on themselves to accomplish one or many goals. I'm not saying this is misplaced or wrong (it depends largely on the goal), only that this exists in our society and most likely has always existed since the time of Adam and Eve.

However, the problems that can surface with placing our own needs above the needs of others or the obedience to God's Word from the Holy Bible are limitless.  Many times we point our internal compass toward selfish goals in an attempt to rectify or obtain what we feel is important. This is exactly the type of deception that the devil wants us to buy into. Lack of making time for God... due to our "busy schedules" is nothing more than an excuse. It's hard to hear this even for myself. But, I'm as guilty of this as anyone and am not ashamed to admit it. The important thing is to get ourselves back on the right track. There may be many roads to Heaven, but they all end with meeting Jesus and our mutual goal is given to us in the Book of Matthew to "Seek first the Kingdom of God."

Simply put, this means placing God first. I'm not saying this is not difficult to do... I'm saying it's nearly impossible... but with God all things are possible - Matt 19:26 

That is why we are constantly "seeking." Yet, one day we all will "find" ourselves before Jesus and will give account of our actions and goals. God loves all of us and wants everyone to get to Heaven. If you make Jesus a priority, your life will change. It's not something that I am promising you. This is something that the Lord promises.

Remember... "You can do anything you want to do, if you put your mind to it." The only question is... what are you going to do next?

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

In good times and in bad



I recently watched a move titled Facing the Giants. It had many solid Christian messages and a few things that still leave me thinking about my daily actions. One of the biggest lessons I learned from this movie was to glorify God in both good times and bad. You see, the Lord has the (immediate) ability to change your situation. He can give or take away at any time. If you've read Job, you might recall Job's wife telling him to curse God for all the terrible things that has occurred to him...
 

And Job replied...


I think this is a classic, real life example for all of us. We tend to forget about thanking God during the good times and have more of a tendency to turn to Him for help when we are in trouble. My message today is to always gives thanks to the Lord, even for the smallest of things. Remember, everything we have is a gift from God. Our sight, hearing, smell, ability to walk, talk... the list goes on and on. We could spend hours listing out everything God has gifted us with and still never have a complete list. 

I guess part of it is that we expect things to go our way. Don't we? We expect things to go well and if they don't then we get frustrated, angry, or depressed. Does that help us? No. It only adds to our anxiety and plays into the hands of the enemy. 

I'd encourage you to stay strong in the goodness of the Lord. For the Lord will test all of us in our own time. Even so, I pray that we all have more good times that bad and during our good times let's remember to thank the Lord for every blessed moment we receive. We are never promised tomorrow, so let's give him thanks in all situations and never lose hope. Remember the Lord is the final decision maker and can override any situation. Do not lose hope or faith. 

Remember... God has no limitations and nothing is impossible with God.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

Verse of the Day