Words 3

Greetings, My Friends;

When a couple decides to get married, they usually don't anticipate many of the things they will encounter. They have only known each other as singles, even if they have been living together. They sometimes use the reason for living together as a trial run to see if they are compatible. What they don't realize is that it is usually a flawed test. They have more than likely been on their best behavior the whole time, so they don't get a true picture.

Depending on their ages, or whether they had been married before, the learning curve and its success can be quite different.

Each person in the marriage has a different personality, needs, wants, and ideas. To succeed, they must communicate with each other. Words are the key. They can produce all kinds of different results. When everything is going good, words come easy. Words of love are usually in the beginning, and everything is great. As problems come up and time goes by, a lot of words are a reaction to the situation. Words get exchanged, and usually a solution is agreed on.

More time goes by and maybe added stress. Words can become harsh. If the stress has been going on for a while, maybe an unkind or blaming word comes up. A normal reaction is to say something right back. Depending on how good the relationship is, one or both people may say the most hurtful things they can think of. A marriage can then be in big trouble if the hurtful exchange escalates, it may in the worst-case scenario cause a breakup.

You may think that if some kind words are spoken later, everything will be all right. Maybe. Sometimes, if the words and the anger that caused them are bad enough, the hurt can last for years. Even if there are no angry words, words can still damage a person on the inside. When words that demean, or criticize are spoken often enough, you create what you speak. If you say to your wife, for instance, "I can't believe how you can never do anything right", unless she is a strong person, she will become what you say.

Pride starts a lot of arguments, and brings up hurtful words. Think about the damage the wrong words create. It stands to reason, therefore, that if kind positive words such as, you sure are a good cook, or I love you, the opposite is true. If you use positive words in a sincere way you can have a fantastic relationship. When your spouse is bombarded with positive, caring, loving words, your spouse will react in kind. Choose your words carefully, because it affects more than just next 5 minutes. No problem is too big in a marriage where both parties treat each other with respect and love.

You may want to read 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Read it as many times as it takes to help you choose words.

God bless you and remember,

Jesus loves,

Prayer of Salvation;

"Oh God in heaven, I believe with all of my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive Your Word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed and washed in the Word and in the precious blood of Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."

Words 2

Greetings, My Friends.

As we grow up, we may not be aware of what is happening in our lives. As we get into the teen years and later, we probably recognize that we have some problems. Those problems probably started manifesting themselves very early in our lives, but we were not aware.

I don't want to sound like a shrink, but many problems and complexes got their start when you were a kid. Many adults trying to be funny can cause the damage. For instance, if someone told you stories about ghosts or monsters when you were very young, you may have certain fears today.

The list goes on. An uncle has fun teasing you, because you stutter. It can actually make the problem worse, and in later years, even if the stutter is gone, you may have a fear of talking to people or groups.

Someone pushes you into water as a joke, and you spend the rest of your life afraid of water. Someone teases you about your weight, and you have weight problems the rest of your life. These are just a few examples of what some people call innocent fun, but it can be devastating in someone's life. When a person experiences this kind of trauma, it usually lasts for years, even for a lifetime.

Most of us don't realize how fragile the human psyche can be. The self-worth that a person has, is usually a result of past experiences. Many problems we have today, would not be a problem had we not been set up for it years earlier.

I have always said that 100 positive things cannot erase one negative one. I believe, if we give our children nothing but positive words,and experiences,  and make their home a good Christian one, showing them by actions, not just words, the chances of them growing up healthy mentally as well as spiritually and physically is very good.

We must think about what we say and do with young people, in order to lessen fears, anxiety, inferiority and personal relationships in the future. We must first use our brains, and our mouth second. We will continue looking at words as they affect marriage and in the workplace.

God bless you and remember,

Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation;

"Oh God in heaven, I believe with all of my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive your Word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed and washed in the Word and in the precious blood of Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."

Spirit, Soul and Body

Greetings. My Friends;

As you probably know by now, we are all a combination of spirit, soul, and body. Your spirit is made in the image of the Creator. To a person that is saved, your spirit is one with God, and He is one with you. Your spirit is the part of you that was saved through your salvation. It has perfect faith, and communicates with God. Your spirit operates in the spiritual world to carry out what you speak. When you were saved, you also received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit acts through your spirit, he even prays through your spirit.

Your soul is generally considered to be your mind. Your mind ideally works together with your spirit to control your body. Your spirit has perfect faith, but your soul sometimes has a hard time. For instance, in your spirit you believe for something like healing of a sore throat, but your mind may not be so sure. Make a conscious effort to train your mind to keep saying aloud the result, not the problem. Talking about the problem is complaining and doubt, and will probably result in no healing.

The body is controlled by the brain, or as we call it the soul. If your brain is not controlled by your spirit, the body may do all sorts of sinful things. If the body is in charge, expect the worst. Name a sin and the body will do it. If you are truly saved, the body will not act in a sinful way as a regular practice.

The soul can be controlled, and therefore the body will be controlled. Make up your mind to get in the Word every day. If you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, pray in tongues every day. Talk to the Lord every chance you get. Even something as simple as, Lord, I can sure use Your help with this.

One last thing. Don't make the mistake of always expecting to feel something. Faith is believing something as if it already happened. Hebrews 11:1, "now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

So remember, when you say something out loud, your spirit puts your words into action in the spirit world and you will have what you say. Guard, what comes out of your mouth.

God bless you and remember,

Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation;

"Oh God in heaven, I believe with all my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive your Word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed, and washed in the Word and in the precious blood of Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."

Pride

Greetings My Friends,

Pride is a sin.

Proverbs 21:4 "A haughty look, a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked are sin."

This is such a vast subject that even a couple of messages cannot even scratch the surface. As you can tell, God hates pride and considers it a sin. Why do you suppose he has such hatred for sin ? Probably because it leads to so many others sins. Pride is what caused Satan to fall. He was so full of pride, he thought he was better than God.

We will take a brief look at some of the usual results of pride. Usually self righteousness is the beginning. A self righteous person compares his supposed superiority to other people. He figures he is far better than anyone when it comes to lifestyle, being convinced that whatever they do is no comparison to him. He brags about what he considers his spotless life.

Our business, position in church, any type of situation can bring out pride in someone. Head of a company, a preacher, even the manager of a softball team, can easily be corrupted by a personality that sees itself superior  to everyone else. A very good example of this superiority complex can be found in people in politics.

Psalm 10:4 "The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God,  God is in none of his thoughts."

Proverbs 26:12 "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than him."

God is a jealous God. When you are the created, how can you be greater than the Creator? When a person is full of pride and self righteousness, he doesn't even recognize God. Maybe he thinks he is so great, that he created himself.

This topic is so extensive that it cannot be covered in one short message. We will take a further look at another time.

God bless you and remember,

 Jesus loves you;

Prayer of Salvation;

"Oh God in heaven, I believe with all of my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive Your Word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed and washed in the Word and in the precious blood of Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."

Riches 3

Greetings, My Friends;

I believe it is a fact that some people are blessed with riches, because the Bible gives examples and instructions. The more you follow the Word, the more the Lord trusts you, and blesses you. In the 1st place, we must recognize that all good things come from the Lord. He blesses as He sees fit. We have responsibilities.

Luke 12:48. "For everyone, to whom much is given, from him, much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask more".

We should never brag about how we have gained much by our own brains and effort. The fact is that wealth comes to us from God. If we follow his ways, it is a blessing. If we follow our own understanding, it can become a curse to destroy us. When we follow the Lord, our hearts become compassionate, generous and caring. There are literally millions and millions of people dying from starvation or diseases that have simple cure's, but people cannot afford them. There are many good organizations to contribute to.

Support the church you go to. If they are teaching the Word of God, they deserve your support. You are helping spread the word of God. If an individual in your church is having problems, see if you can help them. Money is not the only way to give. Sometimes kind words, followed by helpful actions mean more. A caring Christian gives what it takes, and is blessed.

We must all remember that the Lord looks at our hearts. He blesses a cheerful giver.If a person's heart is not a caring,  God fearing heart, you're giving will probably go unnoticed by God. I believe that there are so many people in this world that are super poor.  God gave the rest of us a real  opportunity to help. If you can talk to a starving person and all you do is tell them that Jesus loves them, don't expect a positive reaction. While it is actually the truth that Jesus loves them, a bowl of rice or beans after you tell them, helps them to see that love.

One final personal story.  My wife and I are on a fixed income for several years now. All of us have heard about how God returns more than you give.  Well my friends, it is so true. The human brain tells you that with a fixed income, you won't get raises or bonus. Fortunately, God does not work by human logic. My wife and I have always given with a loving compassionate heart. The Lord has always taken care of us, even before we found Him. To make a long story short, we did not see our fixed income go up, but we have seen unbelievable drops in expenses. It can only be God, keeping his word. One way or another, the good Lord blesses you.

Until next time, God bless you, and remember,

 Jesus loves.

Prayer of Salvation;

"Oh God, in heaven, I believe, with all my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive your Word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed, and washed in the Word and in the precious blood of Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."

Riches 2

Greetings, My Friends;

Today we continue with the series by talking about more of the probable pitfalls of riches.

Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve 2 masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon".

The ancient Hebrews regarded rich people as being blessed by God.In the teachings of Christ, he condemned the love of money to the exclusion of God. As most of us probably realize, the people who are so-called superstars are basically single-minded. To achieve success in the eyes of the world, you have to devote your life to your pursuits. It isn't only God, that gets ignored, families are torn apart, left to fend for themselves, and lives are pretty much destroyed. One of the normal costs of achieving wealth.

Another problem is that a lot of the so-called self-made successes, become prideful and arrogant. They get to the point where they feel they don't need anyone. They even ignore God. A lot of them look down on other people, by considering them lazy or stupid. They have a tendency to not help anyone because of their superior attitude.

A person who has things beyond the ordinary, also has in most cases, a problem with anxiety. The more they have, the more anxious they get. The majority of wealthy people worry about their investments. What is going on in the world, and with business, currency, stability in countries. They worry about all kinds of things that they feel might diminish their wealth. If for brief periods of time, everything is looking good, they worry about ways to get a better return on their investments. It seems they can never relax.

Ecclesiastes 5:12 "The sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep."

In my own personal opinion, whenever you devote yourself to anything, to the exclusion of God and your family, you live in a prison of your own making. Life is short, eternity is long. Devote your life to serving God and looking after and teaching the family He gave you to take care of. Sleep will be sweet and nightmare free.

Until next time, God bless you and remember,

Jesus loves you.

Prayer of Salvation;

"Oh God in heaven, I believe with all my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive your Word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness . I receive the new birth, cleansed and washed in the Word and in the precious blood of Jesus.Fill me with Your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."

Riches

Greetings. My Friends;

Discussions of riches take many forms, because of the good and bad associated with them. I will have a few different messages about riches, each one will cover a certain topic connected with them.

Riches are usually described as wealth or abundance. Let us start with wealth, the most common idea of riches.

1 Timothy 6:10 " For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

When I was very young, I suppose, 6 or 7, my old grandmother who had come here from the old country as a girl made a comment to me that I didn't understand at the time. I am guessing it was about packages she had sent to Europe. It was shortly after the war, and she would take most of the little money she had, and would send food and other necessities to her relatives.

I guess part of the problem was that their letters started asking for what, were luxury items that my grandmother could not even buy herself. This one day she had just received a letter and said to me, people are funny, if they have one, they want 2. If they have 2, they want 5 and so on, with no end. She did her best, but she felt it wasn't good enough, so she eventually stopped sending packages. 1st, your money is like that. These old sayings," the more you have, the more you want", tell it like it is.

For one thing, money is deceitful. You can see other people and what they have, and you figure you need more money. A lot of people will go to great lengths to get more to spend more. I have personally known 5 people over the years who worked extra jobs to get more because they thought it would make them happy. Regardless of what we think, money and things are here today gone tomorrow. No matter how much we get, it seems that it never brings real happiness.  Today's treasure is tomorrow's junk.

If you ask a majority of people about how things are going in their life financially, most will reply as soon as they have a few extra bucks, something happens, the car breaks down, wash machine needs fixing, and it goes on and on. What most of us just don't get, is that God wants to be our provider. He wants to shower us with an abundance of blessings.   All we have to do is focus on Him.

We live in a corrupted world, and anyone who wants to focus on the world is free to do so. Do not ask where God is in times of trouble, if you looked for him, you would know. The fact of the matter is, God is loving and trustworthy and riches deceitful and fleeting.

God bless you and remember,

Jesus loves you.;

Prayer of Salvation;

"Oh God in heaven, I believe with all my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive your Word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed and washed in the Word and in the precious blood of Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen."