Tithing lays up treasures in Heaven!

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:19-21 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Where do you hide your heart? What we most value is where we will find our heart. So it is an important question. You see, we can treasure money & riches, control, security, relationships, cars, toys, tools, just about anything. When we do that, they begin to control us. When we do that we become just like the world and we become carnal or natural, worldly Christians. God wants us to be Spiritual Christians and seek those things that are from Him for our lives. We are reminded here that it is only by turning loose of the things of this world that most of us keep as our treasures, that we will find what is truly treasure. We must sow into the Kingdom of God to store up treasure for the future. God’s wants us to tithe (Tithe: to give a tenth of your first fruits. Take your income amount and move the decimal point 1 space to the left. The result is your tithe!) to Him. That’s because you treasure your earthly money more than you treasure God. There are some of you out there that are NOT tithing and know that you should be! When you know what is right and don’t do it that’s SIN. You know who you are and so does God! Don’t test God! That is NOT a good thing to do.
God wants your heart that’s why He says to lay up treasures in heaven, where He is. God wants you to hide your heart in His Secret Place.

MY PRAYER…
Holy Father, I pray that out of the riches of Your grace, You help me find my treasure in You instead of the things of this world. Today, I want to offer You all that I am and have, for Your glory. Father, supernaturally by Your Spirit enable me to be all that You have said I am. Father, show me the way into your Secret Place that I may hide my heart in You.
Through Jesus my example, Lord, and Savior I pray.
Amen

Can you stand and praise God anywhere?

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
Psalm 95:1-2 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
What better way to express our joy than with laughter and song. We sing to the Lord because we are joyful and thankful for all He has done for us! Not what is going on in our lives and in the world around us. Our music is not inhibited or held back, but exuberant and as full of heart as it is of sound. We praise Him with our whole being, all that we are. Just like David danced in the streets before the Lord. You can do it at sports events and concerts and no one cares, try being that exuberant when you praise God and see what happens. Thanksgiving and praise to Him is what brings us into the Father’s presence and it is our joy at the knowledge of what He has done for us that leads us to praise Him. Even if we are not musically inclined it’s okay. He said in His Word we could make a joyful noise unto the Lord. It’s our hearts that matter, not what we sound like. Remember He said, He would inhabit the praises of His people.

MY PRAYER…
Most wonderful and glorious Father, thank you so much for sending Your Son and saving me from sin, death, and the law. Thank you for saving me and giving me the assurance, through your Holy Spirit, that I can come before you with exuberant and overflowing joy. Your love and grace have not only given me hope but have made me your child, a son and an heir. Hear my heart and be blessed by my sounds of praise. Through the mighty name of Jesus I pray and because of Jesus I will shout your praise forever and ever.
Amen

Are you a Child of God by faith in Jesus?

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:26-29 KJV

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Want something really basic, simple, and easy to understand. When we became Christians through our faith (our belief in Jesus Christ and Him crucified for us) and baptism into Christ, we were made one with all other Christians around the world. Race, gender, nationality, and social status are gone. All that’s left is one, The One, Jesus Christ and His body of believers. Our lives are His and thus are connected to each other now through His Spirit. Our destination is the same, heaven. Our family is the church (not a building but the gathering together of His children), the bride of Christ. No barriers. No closed doors. No Denominations. We are one in Christ. Oh, one other thing. If you could trace your family roots far enough you would find that everyone came from Adam and Eve somehow anyway! We are all family.

MY PRAYER…
Abba Father, thank You for adopting me into Your family. May we be one on earth now, as we will be when we are all together around Your throne in heaven. I pray for unity among all those who call upon the Name of Jesus and share Your Spirit so the world may know there is a solution to conflict, strife and division at least within the church (the Body of Christ). In the name of Jesus, the Christ, our Lord, Savior, and Righteousness I pray.
Amen

You never hate a person, only the evil that they do!

Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Psalm 97:10 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Hate is a bold and powerful emotion as well as a word . Look very closely here to what God says, God does not say here to hate people who are evil. We must not hate people, but hate evil itself. It’s a tough combination to pull off, but absolutely vital. You don’t hate the homosexual, you hate the homosexual acts they do and the one who causes them to do the things they do. God doesn’t hate the homosexual, He hates the evil behind it (Romans 1:20-32). Evil is here because of the evil one — the champion of hate, lies, and death (Satan). So when evil rears its ugly head, let’s be courageous and oppose Satan and his work, we already have the victory anyway in Christ! In the process, let’s pray for those trapped in the evil one’s tentacles, even if they consider us enemies. This is what God directs in His Word. “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44-45

MY PRAYER…
Almighty God, make my heart grieved by the evil in my world. Give me the power to be strong against those things opposed to Your will and character. Yet Father, just as You redeemed me by grace, and rescued me while I was a captive to sin, give me courage to care about those who are in the evil one’s embrace. Lord, help me to pray for those who are despitefully used by the evil one, help me to heap coals of fire upon their heads and lips through love and prayer for them. Through my Savior, Jesus, I pray.
Amen

Where do you lay up your treasure?

Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days. Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, For you do not know what evil will be on the earth.
Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Cast your bread upon the waters, bread is representative of money or wealth when used in this context here. Casting it on the waters is representative of sowing it into the Kingdom of God for His work. The world lays up treasure for a rainy day placing it in stocks and bonds and savings or just in a sock under their mattress. Stocks and bonds aren’t a very good place right now with the conditions of the financial market the way they are today. But Christians are supposed to sow into the Kingdom for a rainy day (a day when times of evil will befall the earth and overtake mankind). God will take care of you when these times come if you have sown into His Kingdom, Just like he took care of Elijah during the famine. If you have laid up treasure in heaven, if you believe that He will, God will take care of you. Since I have put my faith in Him, even since retirement and much less income, I have never seen lack. I have always had more than enough, my wife and I eat out more now than we ever did when I was working. If fact there has always been more than enough so that I could do good works for Him in His Kingdom and still have ALL my needs met. God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and this principle totally confounds those of the world. How giving tithes and offerings and helping the poor (sowing) could lay up a treasure for your time of need. They don’t understand how God’s Kingdom works, yet the world uses it without even knowing it for other things. Just look at God’s principal of ‘Seed time and harvest!’ Some of you reading this claim to know and understand the tithing principle and yet you are NOT tithing! (Cindy, John, Charles, Melinda – God knows who you are!) God will only allow you to skate for so long before He removes His hand of protection from you and allows the Devil to come in! You know who you are, and so does God.

MY PRAYER…
Precious Father in heaven, reveal unto your people the secrets of Your Kingdom. As a father instructs his children, instruct us in Your ways. Teach us , Holy One, to do things Your way, to learn to put aside the things of this earth and to learn to sow spiritual seeds into Your Kingdom for a time when our harvest will come forth from the very windows of heaven. For a time as Your Word says, that You will open the Windows of heaven and pour out upon us more blessings than we can contain. Father, help us to see into Your spiritual realm beyond that which the natural eyes can see. In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen

Have you learned to receive God’s forgiveness?

You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call on you.
Psalm 86:5 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Forgiveness is such a sweet blessing, especially when it’s to you. But God does more than forgive! He cleanses and forgets. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” If you know anything about the Earth and geography then you know the east never meets the west! You can go north over the pole and then you are traveling south, but if you travel east forever you will always be going east, never west. God knew this even before men discovered that the Earth wasn’t flat! Our transgressions according to God are GONE! His love is not metered out or carefully rationed. He is not a respecter of persons. He pours it out upon all who genuinely seek Him as Lord, God and Father. But we must diligently seek Him with all our heart, believing in faith that He hears us. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.

MY PRAYER…
Precious Father, I call to You wanting You to know how important Your love and forgiveness are in my life. Thank You for sending Jesus to show and demonstrate Your love and to pay the debt of my sin that I was unable to pay. Help me to live today as Your child, that others may see my joy and my passion for You. That I would shine forth Your love to this world as a beacon of hope. To You be all glory and honor. Through Jesus, my Savior I pray.
Amen

Seek the Lord and His wisdom for your day to day things!

So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalms 90:12 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
So often we look up and time has passed us by and we wonder what has happened. I mean it seems like my son was just born a few years ago, and yet he’s already quickly approaching 42 in just a couple of weeks. And I even have a couple grandsons and 5 great-grandsons! The things we promised ourselves we’d accomplish and the deeds we told others we’d do, seem to often get left undone. Before we know it, days have become weeks, and weeks months, and months years. We find ourselves unable to accomplish what we once assumed we could do easily because we no longer seem to have the time, finances, or the energy. Yet we have the same amount of time that we have always had, we just aren’t using it wisely. We have ALL our needs met by faith in Christ Jesus, and the Lord is our strength! We must ask the Spirit of God to help us see and to help us seize the opportunities the LORD places in our path. We must ask the Lord to show us how to use our time both wisely and with His wisdom. Ask Him to show us how we can both accomplish what He desires for us and also those things that need done in the natural normal day to day things of the world around us. For He knows we have natural needs also, He made us. Do you remember what He said in Matthew 6:32-33?
“For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
We need to see and understand how to number our days according to His plan for our lives.

MY PRAYER…
Father, I confess that so often I leave undone what needs to be done and instead do what could have waited. Usually because what I did was something I liked to do. Please help me see Your plan in each of my days and help me to live in a way which not only honors and glorifies You, but also blesses those You want me to reach out and bless. Lord, help me to number my days and accomplish that which You would have to do each and every day. Help me Lord to understand Your timing in everything I do. In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen

God is your all in all, if you will let Him!

I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I take trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:1-2 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
We sing it and we say it in our public praise and prayers: “Father, God, we love you.” But notice very carefully the beginning phrase of our verse. “I will love You, O Lord…” Even in public, in community worship, in the grocery store, and at WalMart we need to know the importance of a personal expression of love to God. When is the last time you told the Creator of the universe, “I love You!” Do you ever just change the we to I and sing it from your heart when you are singing those praises in public? Try it sometime, you might be surprised by the results when it is personal and comes from your heart and is directed from you specifically to your Lord. All He wants is your heart. He said, “He would inhabit the praises of His people.”

MY PRAYER…
Father in heaven, I love You. I love You because You first loved me. I love You because You are more than worthy of my love. I love You because You sent Your Son to be my big brother and pay the price for my adoption into Your family. I love You because of Your faithfulness. I love You because You have permitted me through Your grace to love You. I love You because there is no one else worthy of this love I have for You! I love You, I love You, I love You, I love You, I love You, I love You, I love You, I love You, I love You, I love You!
In the name of Jesus I Love and thank You.
Amen

Are you suited up in God’s armor always?

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Ephesians 6:12-13 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
How often do you forget that we are in a spiritual war and not a physical one? Our enemy is deceptively cunning – take away the urgency of a threat and the danger appears gone. But he’s there, the evil one is there always, just waiting to stick his foot in the door like a persistent salesman. But rather than try to guess his plans and counter all of his moves, Paul reminds us to simply take up the tools God has given us and stand up to the evil one. Put the power of prayer in the name of Jesus to work in our lives. Make sure that you have donned your armor and picked up your shield of Faith and then turned on your spiritual security system every morning by spending time in God’s Word before heading out into the world of darkness around us. Always, always make sure you have on the full armor of God. From the helmet of salvation to the shoes of the Gospel and everything in between. Most importantly the shield of Faith, by which you can quench ALL the fiery darts of the enemy. The moment we forget even one piece of that armor, is the time the enemy will come in with force and find the chink in your armor! It says when he comes, not if he comes. But the Word also says we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.

MY PRAYER…
Lord of Hosts, my Great Deliverer, protect me from the evil one by Your great and mighty power. Give me a sense of urgency as I face Satan and his schemes on a daily basis, but also help me to increase my confidence that Jesus has already defeated my foe. Help me to stand against this foe and show myself faithful to You. Lord, reveal unto to me the enemies’ plans before he has a chance to apply them. That I may then use that which Jesus has already provided for me in my defense. May Your Holy Spirit fill me fresh each day. In the name of my Lord and Savior I pray.
Amen

Do you do random acts of kindness, or intentional acts of love?

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.
Colossians 4:5-6 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
For Christians there are no such things as random acts of kindness, only intentional acts of love given the opportunity to happen. This is true not just in deeds, but in words as well. But more than trying to avoid poor speech, we are urged to use our speech to bless and help others to come to know Christ. We are to always be full of the Word so that we have a answer to any question, an answer that lines up with the Word of God and not a worldly answer, not an answer that is of a doctrine of men, but of the doctrine of Christ. We are to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) Always be prepared with a Godly answer.

MY PRAYER…
Father, forgive me for the careless words I have uttered this week. I understand that these careless words are twice sins — a sin once when I committed it and a sin a second time because I didn’t see the opportunity to be redemptive right away. Open my eyes Lord so that I may see whom You have placed in my path to witness to. Lord, help me through Your Holy Spirit to have the correct words and the wisdom to know how and when to speak. Lord, use me as your oracle, help me to speak as lead by Your Spirit and not by my mind or the circumstances at the time.
In the name of Jesus I pray.
Amen