There was a guy I planted trees with in the Oregon woods. I remember him saying, "problems (speaking of slash which was logging debris that got in our way of planting trees) what problems? I don't see any problems." And he was the fastest tree planter on the crew.

The lesson being our work is hindered if we focus on problems instead of solutions.

Of course there is problems or there wouldn't be any work to do. But Jesus is the solution and He gives us stratagy on what we can do to overcome the problems.

God Offers Healing for All

Ex 15:26 Speaks of God not letting the Israelites have any of the diseases that Egypt had. I am looking for promises in the Bible that show that we are free from disease and sickness according to the promises of the Bible.

God promises are for our benefit. He will do His part when we do our part.

Deut 7:15 God promises to remove from us all sickness. This is a great promise that we have that what ever we come down with we can go to God and He will remove them. Some will say you are taking Scripture from the Old Testament. That is true but the New Covenant is better than the old and so what is in the old will also be in the new. And God will add to the new.

It says that all Scripture is for our instruction. We are healed at the cross and and so the Old Testament is still valid for our instruction.

Proverbs 4:20-22 is one of the most interesting healing Scriptures I have come across. It says:

“My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your sight;
Keep them in the midst of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them
And health to all their body. “

God's words and sayings are like medicine, except they don't have any side effects!

As we meditate on the Scripture promises we receive the benefits of what they say. Keep your mind on them and don't let doubt come in and destroy the idea you are contemplating.

The more I meditate on them the more I get out of them.

The Word of God changes things. God's word is not just ideas. The Scriptures are alive and can affect life in the here and now. Heb 4:12

Psalm 105:37 not one stumbled. This verse is talking about the people leaving Egypt and not one of them stumbled or to say it another way no one was sick or weak. NOT ONE. What a record! This God who kept all Israel strong can do the same for us.

God is not a respecter of persons. What he did for one person He will do for another. We can trust Him in all we do.

Jesus Lives - Live the Word

Jesus Lives. We celebrate the resurrection each year and go to church to worship Jesus and live for Him. That is half of the equation. The other half is to do what we say. That is to live for Jesus.

How do we live for Him? He wrote us a letter explaining life and purpose to live for God. In this letter this Bible we have many directions and promises that God said He would do. To live for Him is to start by folowing the directions of the Bible. As we grow in Him we will pray and get more spacific direction. This direction will not go against the Bible but will show us more spacificly the things we are to do.

Live for Jesus. This is not so easy in a world that is full of material temtations. Yet it is easy as we draw close to Him in prayer for strength and direction.

John 6:21 one of the basic verses in the bible for me. When Jesus gets in our boat of life we are at the destination God has for us. The point is not so much prep but is relationship. Relationship with God and relationship with others. The prep will come. Our life with Jesus in our boat of life will cause us to read and study the Bible to learn more about and from Jesus.

Verses of the Bible are much deeper than appear on the surface. Pick a verse or a few to meditate on. Don't be afraid of this word meditate. Use the word ponder instead. Ponder the meaning of a passage of Scripture. As we learn from Jesus the ideas of the verse will become real in our life and we will teach, share and live this idea.

The power of the resurrection will change us as we take the words of Jesus as meaningful and not just religious and nice.

To believe is to live. Let us apply our heart to believe and live. Within ourselves we are nothing. With Jesus we are spiritual and the Spirit of God will give life to us.

Praise God for His resurrection. Praise You Jesus. You are Lord and You are Powerful. You come to the lowly of heart and meet us here on this dirty Earth. Give us Your life. Give us Your direction. Thank you Jesus.

Misunderstanding Faith

You can't have faith 2nd hand. In other words, if a man has faith and doesn't need doctors and walks in victory. You can't just say, "ok he did it so I'll do it."

One must have faith for himself. And faith comes by hearing God, not man. Romans 10:17 Though God might speak through man.

 And faith is not learned when taught. It is learned when lived. Eph 4:15 For faith is NOW. Heb. 11:1 Faith is not fully learned when taught but learned with love Gal. 5:6 and love needs action.

 Many people hear faith teaching with their physical ears but not with the ears/eyes of their heart Eph 1:18 and so have hope but not faith. So there will always be misunderstanding. But if we have Jesus we have what we need. John 6:21

Believe, then You Can See

Proverbs 4:21 Let not God's word depart from your sight.

Now this is interesting. If it was up to me I would write let not God's word depart from your thoughts. But it wasn't written that way. It says let God's word not depart from your sight. What's the difference? Well we are not just to think of what it says but to see the results of what it says. Or envision the results of what it says.

Matt 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Yet if you look with your eyes in many cases there is no indication that God is moving in power in your life. But if we unite Proverbs 4:21  With Matt 5:3 we have a man that is poor in spirit with the kingdom of God.

He needs the kingdom of God. But is not experiencing anything at present in the physical. But if he cries out to God and believes in God, (by the way he has no choice but to believe in God, because he is poor), it will be granted to him. Mark 11:24

There is an old saying that says seeing is believing. Well that is backwards. It is the believing that alows us to see. If we keep our eyes on the Word of God and the promises instead of our problem we will see the answer to our problem in the spirit and then in the physical.

Or we can be like Shadrack, Meschack and Abendego, who said if God does not come through we will still obey God. To be poor in spirit is to live for Jesus no matter what the cost. Not because we don't care but because we are looking to Jesus and not to ourselves. To truly be poor means there is no choice but to trust God.

Look to the word and Jesus is the word. Look to what He said and take Him at His word. Trust Him to keep His word. Believe Him that He is worthy to be trusted. If we live we are the Lords and if we die we are the Lords. Romans 14:8 If you are poor you have nothing to lose.

We can't live for Jesus if we are not poor. I'm not saying you can't live for Jesus if you have money. I am saying we live for Jesus when our ability is nothing and we rely on Jesus and His word. And we have nothing to lose. Walk with our eyes on the Word of God and not our ability. If we have something we can look to ourself. But if we have nothing we can only look to Jesus.

Is Jesus a man of His word? Most woud say yes but act as if He wasn't. You got to be real if you want to get anywhere.

Minister to God by Helping the Poor

Matt 25:40 To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even to the least of them, you did it to Me.

Proverbs 19:17 One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for  his good deed.

Matthew 10:42 And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

Deut 15:7 If there  is a poor man, don't harden your heart or close your hand from you poor brother.

Prov 14:31 He who is gracious to the poor honors his maker. Contrasted to to taunting his maker.

Eccl 11:1,2 Cast your bread to 7 or 8 places, the return will be later,

2 Cor 9:6-8 Sow with good attitude, you reap what you sow, God will give you what to sow.

Hebrews 6:10 God will not forget you work.

1 John 3:17 Giving to the needs of the poor shows God's love.

A Heart after God

What are your plans to keep your heart from growing cold?

Rehoboam had been unfaithful to the Lord. 2 Chron. 12:2 Many times I find myself distant from the Lord and sluggish in doing the work of the Lord. I don't want to be like this. I want to be a servant of the Lord and follow Him fully. Yet I get sidetracked in the mundane things of life and get off the track of living for Him.

Not only that but major problems will come to me at times. Will I fall during these hard times?

Later in this same chapter of 2 Chron. 12:14 it states that Rehoboam did not set his heart to seek the Lord. I think this is the key to a walk with the Lord. Are we going to make Jesus Lord of our life? Or are we gong to make Jesus just a part of our life? How we respond to trouble will show if Jesus is our lord or just there, so we will look good to others.

Life presses us at times. And when we are squeezed, what is in will come out. David set his heart to follow God through thick and thin. Psalm 57 speaks of real trouble. Yet David has decided to have his heart steadfast in God. Ps 57:7

Let us not be of those who shrink back to destruction Heb. 10:39, but those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

Lord I know in my heart there is no good thing if I don't make a place for You. Let me always look to you both when life is good and also when life is hard.

Psalm 57:7-11

7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!
8 Awake, my glory!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
9 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
10 For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens
And Your truth to the clouds.
11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.

Third Day I Have Decided To Follow Jesus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpE2cLdVsk8&feature=related