God's greatest gift

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Here it is, Christmas Day, children everywhere went to bed expecting the visit from Santa Claus. They want to see what presents were left for them overnight. We should all take a moment of time before opening gifts to pray, thanking God for blessing our lives. We should also think about the fact that God gave us the greatest gift possible. He gave us salvation and all we have to do is ask.

Salvation is the blessing of eternal life with God in Heaven. Our life here is a temporary passing phase, from the moment we are born we become closer to death and we get to decide what happens after death. We have only two options. Do we spend eternity in Heaven getting to be in the awesome presence of God  glorifying His power and grace or do we spend it in Hell?

 Let's take a moment and look at the difference between Heaven and Hell.

Heaven is described in Revelation 21:10-27 as:

10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

11 Having the glory of God: and her light [was] like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

12 And had a wall great and high, [and] had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are [the names] of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred [and] forty [and] four cubits, [according to] the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

18 And the building of the wall of it was [of] jasper: and the city [was] pure gold, like unto clear glass.

19 And the foundations of the wall of the city [were] garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation [was] jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

21 And the twelve gates [were] twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city [was] pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof.

24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."

 

Hell on the other hand is a place of constant misery, pain, and suffering. Anyone who goes to Hell will be punished with fire and brimstone, there will be pain and the gnashing of teeth, it will be a place filled with darkness and smoke and the most severe punishment of Hell with be the complete absence of the glory of God. This means there will be NO comfort from the pain and torture.

Matthew 25:30 "And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth"

 

2 Thessalonians 1:9 "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;"

 

Revelation 21:8  "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death"

 

Mark 9:44 "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" 

 

Revelation 9:2  "And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit"  

 

It is our choice on how we want to spend eternity. I have my spot in Heaven reserved and God made it easy for anyone who would like to spend eternity with Him. All we need to do is:

• Acknowledge that we are a sinner
• Believe Jesus is the Son of God
• Believe Jesus came to earth as a babe and died on the cross to atone for our sins
• Believe Jesus arose 3 days later    

If you believe and accept the above statements you just need to confess you are a sinner, ask Christ to become your Lord and Savior and accept Him into your heart. Once you do this you will be receive the gift of Salvation and you should begin to study the Bible to build and maintain a close relationship with God. 


If you are not saved and would like to be but are unsure what to say, here is a good prayer of salvation that must be said out of a genuine heart. 

Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness.

I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin.

You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved.

Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved.

Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself.

Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.
Amen      

 John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

 

Romans 10:9 "That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

 

If you have been saved take a moment and pray that those who have not will find salvation and if you have not been saved consider Heaven vs Hell and where you want to spend eternity then take a moment to say this prayer and let Christ into your heart as your Lord and Savior. It will be the best decision you can ever make for yourself. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School Prayer and God's protection

The greatest weapon our schools have to protect our children, prayer and Bible reading in schools, was removed by the Supreme Court in 1963. The issue was devised and pursued, to its success, by an Atheist named Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who not only was an active member of the Socialist Workers Party but wanted to leave America and defect to the Soviet Union. She was disliked by many Atheists and described by a Ted Dracos, a Texas journalist who wrote the book "UnGodly: The Passions, Torments, and Murder of Atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair", as a "deeply corrupt, depraved human being". (Source: Beliefnet.com, freetopray.info) 

Madalyn Murray O'Hair - "No god ever gave any man anything, nor ever answered any prayer at any time - nor ever will."

She was an active Communist and at this time we were firmly in the Cold War with Russia. In fact, the Cuban Missile Crisis had occurred the year prior, there was a strong anti-America feeling within Russia and the members of the Communist Party. She was also a dedicated Atheist who wanted to remove God from our nation.

Now for the other side of the coin, let us see what some of our Founding fathers, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson have to say about God.

George Washington said, "While we are zealously performing our duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."

He was saying we should be patriotic and love our country but above all else we should love and revere God.

John Adams said,"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."

Eutopia means a place of complete contentment, wouldn't it be great to live in a place of complete contentment for everyone and our second President said all we have to do is follow the Bible as law.

From a letter written by John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, "The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general Principle? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty, in which all those young Men United, and which had United all Parties in America, in Majorities sufficient to assert and maintain her Independence. 

Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable , ans the Existence and Attributes of God; and that those Principles of Liberty, are as unalterable as human Nature and our terrestrial, mundane System."

Here John Adams is discussing Christianity and Liberty. He says the Christianity is eternal and immutable.

And finally, my favorite, by Thomas Jefferson, "God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that those liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event."

This statement by Jefferson is a unnervingly accurate about our society today. He says our liberties are gifts for God and if we turn our back to Him we will incur His justice and wrath and we will begin to see ourselves lose the very blessings he bestowed upon us.


How does comparing O'Hair to these great men show an answer to prayer in schools? Well, O'Hair's Atheist belief tells us we God is not real and therefore we can remove Him from our lives and our children's lives. That God has no power or jurisdiction on us and we have done all of this ourselves.

The founding fathers were talking of personal beliefs and values that our Country was founded on and it was clinging to these values that helped us become the once greatest and most powerful country in the world. Now we are taking God out of lives more and more by taking  prayer out of schools, taking Christ out of our Christmas, taking the Ten Commandments out of courthouses, etc; we are becoming a world that Madalyn O'Hair could be proud of.  I would prefer to be world that our Founding Fathers and our God could be proud of.

The shooting at Newtown was a tragedy and it tears my heart up thinking about all of those innocent children who perished, but God knew it would happen and God allowed it to happen. Jefferson said if we saw God's wrath we would begin to lose our liberties and blessings. As any parent knows the greatest and most wonderful blessing in your life is your children. The fastest way to get a parents attention is to hurt or insult their child, you invoke a special type of anger like no other. I am not saying God killed those babies, I am saying we took God out of the schools and by doing so we removed that level of protection upon them. If we truly want our kids to be safe and we want to have peace of mind we need implement the one perfect and complete security system for our schools and families, the WORD OF GOD!

Armed security is a means,but it relies on humans who are not perfect. Criminalize all guns and only criminals will have them, of course I don't see the need for a private individual to have semi-automatic assault rifles in their homes that can fire 400 + rounds per minute. Your home is most likely not going to be randomly attacked by 100 people or more and if you need that to hit a deer you should not be hunting.

But back to topic, the abundance or lack of guns is not the issue here. The issue is that we are getting farther and farther away from God and He is trying to show us that if we do not begin to close the gap our society is going to keep digging deeper and deeper until we eventually reach Hell.

Some scriptures to think about as a parting note:

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

2 Samuel 22:3-4 The God of my rock; in him I will trust; he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; thou saved me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Psalm 36:7 How precious is Your loving kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Thank God for what you have, don't dwell on your have not.

We should thank God daily for what He has provided us. This is the time of year that many families are struggling financially not only because of the economy, but because we feel we must spend crazily on family and loved ones. This causes some serious emotional conflict in most people as well. We feel the joy of doing for those we love, but we also feel the stress of other obligations that we have trouble meeting because of the additional expenses of these gifts. This gives us both joy and sadness at the same time, talk about an emotional conflict. God does not want us to be conflicted like this. We should appreciate what God has provided us, as well as, what he is going to do for us in the future. Everything we have is a gift from God that we could lose at any time either as a result of our action or as a tool by God to mold us into what we need to become to fit his plan for us.

Job is the perfect example of this. Job was very righteous and very blessed by God. You can tell he was special to God because while multiple times in the book of Job when God was talking with Satan He stated "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil." Job lived a life for the glory of God and he was greatly blessed because of this.

Job had seven sons, three daughters, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants. Job 1:2 states"...this man was the greatest of all the people of the east."

Based on a rough estimate of current prices Job would be worth approximately $12,275,000 plus the his blessed family that, I am sure, was priceless to him. The Lord took very good care of Job since he was so dedicated. Job was so dedicated that he would daily offer burnt offerings, even in the name of his children in case they sinned. (Job 1:5) His level of dedication and blessing brought him to the attention of Satan. In response to God's question to Satan regarding seeing Job, Satan told God that Job was so faithful only because of the protection and blessing of God. If God would lift His hand of protection and take away His blessings that Job would begin to curse the name of God. God, knowing the Job's heart agreed to allow Satan to test Job. The first testing had one condition, Satan was not allowed to harm Job's person.

Job 1:12 "And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord."

In one day Job lost the following, in order of occurrence:

• All his oxen, donkeys, and the servants that were with them. Except for one servant to tell Job. (Job 1:14-15)
• All his sheep and the servants with them. Except for one servant to tell Job. (Job 1:16)
• His camels and the servants with them. Except for one servant to tell Job. (Job 1:17)
• His sons, daughters, and the servants that were in the house with them. Except for on servant to tell Job.(Job 1:18-19)

This news did not come to Job over the course of an entire day either, once the first servant arrived telling Job about what occurred there was another one interrupting with the next loss. I think it would be safe to say Job went from being having everything to having nothing in a matter of minutes, including the loss of ALL of his children.

Job's response to this life shattering loss was not to curse or even ask God why, he tore off his robe, shaved his head and fell to the ground worshipping God. He did not question or doubt God at the complete loss of all his livestock, his servants, and most importantly his children. He acknowledged it was all a gift from God that He had taken away.


Job 1:21-22 "And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong."

This was not the end of it for Job. He went through this test proclaiming God's glory and caring. This was not enough damage for Satan. He approached God again,(Job 2:1-6) and God again professed of Job's dedication to Satan.

 Job 2:3-4 "And the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although yo incited me against him to destroy him without reason"

Satan's rebuttal was that God had spared his person. If God would allow sickness to befall his body he would curse God. Again, God permitted Satan to impact Job's life, but Satan was not allowed to take his life.

Satan then cursed Job with sores and boils from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. Job was covered with boils so badly that he was unrecognizable to even his friends until they were close to him. Job took broken pottery and scraped the boils off his skin. Can you imagine the pain that was involved in blisters covering all of his body and having to remove them with broken pottery. After just losing all of his livestock, servants, and children the physical pain was minor in comparison to the emotional stress, I am sure.
His wife then said to him "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." Job 1:9 He refused. In Job 1:10 "But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips."

The next chapters discuss Job's conversations with his friends where they are questioning God's decisions, Job is question his entire life, and his faith is beginning to weaken. Job 42 is where Job realizes the error of his ways and repents asking God's forgiveness for his doubting and despair. God then rebukes Job's friends for not standing more firmly on the word of God when they were counseling Job and Job's fortune is returned twofold. Job was given 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, 1,000 female donkeys, seven sons, and three daughters.

In the beginning Job was worth $12,275,000 and in the end he was worth  $24,550,000 and his family was completely restored. 

Think about what the initial losses and struggles must have done to him emotionally and mentally. Think about how we handle things when our lives become hard. How many of us have a hard time holding onto the faith of knowing God has a perfect end result goal for us, even in bad?  How many of us have a hard time remaining faithful over something so simple as car trouble or being behind on a bill? I know I have, but we are not perfect and God knows this. If we find ourselves doubting God's love or protecting hand we should read Job and we will realize how well we still have it. God uses adversity to strengthen us and turn into a tool that will be used to promote His power and glory. As long as we do not doubt and cast our cares on Him, as we are told to do, He will take care of us. We need to thank Him for everything we have because it is provided by His power and love.

If you are having a tough time in life examine your relationship with God, I bet you will find some areas to improve on. Then begin to make time for studying, praying, and rebuilding that relationship. You will find if you will make time in your life for God, as hard as it may seem, the other things that you considered priority will work themselves out accordingly.

And above all thank God often for the blessings He has bestowed upon you and give Him the glory for them and you will not need to worry about what you don't have. 

Newtown

There are many people, including myself, asking the questions why would God allow something so tragic as 20 innocent children to be murdered? While we can ask ourselves this question it is not something we will have an answer for. Instead of dwelling on the why and what for we should focus on the prayer and concern for that town and especially those poor families who lost their children for no clear reason.

We should be improving our relationship with God and praying for peace and protection from events like this that could occur in our lives. I am currently reading a very good book called Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts for my own personal reflection, but it has some scriptures that really hit me since this incident has happened.

"For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men." Lamenations 3:31-33

"I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things." Isiah 45:7

"He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matthew 5:45


These scriptures are telling us that although we experience tragedy and loss they are all part of God's master plan and everything that occurs is by his choosing for our benefit. Events like this make it  hard to feel this is ultimately for our good, but we have to maintain our faith that God is looking out for us and has our best interest at heart and mind.

This also to me says we need to bring God back to our schools.

"Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." Psalm 127:1

I am not saying that prayer in school would have prevented this from occurring, I cannot speak for God's master plan. I do feel safe in saying by removing him from the schools we have prevented blessings that were in store for our schools and children.

I will close by saying although we will never be able to fully answer why we need to pray to God for peace for this community, these families, and our families and that God never raises his hand of protection from our lives. We should be focused on God and he will provide the words to our hearts that he wants us to take away from this tragedy.

We Need To Get Over Ourselves

Disclaimer: This is not directed to any one certain faith, congregation, or person this is just my observation of what can happen anywhere. 

People are selfish creatures always looking for the personal glory in everything we do. While it is necessary to have confidence in your abilities to really be successful at anything you do there is fine line between what is necessary to succeed and what becomes boastful or overly proud. 

Overconfidence in our abilities can make our worldly life more difficult because it makes people uncomfortable around you , but I want to focus on how this impacts the body of Christ. 

We should be going to Church to be with fellow, like-minded believers who want to glorify and learn about the works of God. We do not congregate at church to showcase our abilities or to satisfy our desires to be the seen or be the one in charge. There are many roles and duties that are necessary to the functioning of the body of a church and you will find people of all personality types filling these positions. The only way to keep  personality conflicts from occurring is to put our personal feelings to the side and focus on God when working with others. 

We need acknowledge our abilities are not OUR abilities. God gave us the ability to learn and grow in each of our strong areas and we are not the ones who deserve the credit. Anything done for a church should be done for the church and God. He blesses us all with gifts and we should use those for Him, not for ourselves. If someone comes along with a greater knowledge or ability it should never be a competition about who is above who or why is this person getting more attention. It should be looked at as God blessed the church with another person who can help in this role to glorify Him and help grow the body. If God moves someone into a similar or like position we should get over our personal pride and not let it hurt our feelings. If they are better for the church in that role than we are we should let it be. No matter how much we sulk or stomp around if that is not the role God wants us in we will not have it and if that is the role God desires for us then ultimately no one will be able to change that. 

I know there was not any scriptures in this post, but it was on my heart and mind so I wrote about it.When we are doing something for the glory of God, which should be everything we do, we need to step back from ourselves and our selfish pride. We need to be humble in the spirit and let God use us (which can be a leading role, a supporting role, or a spectator)to do what is going to be best to spread his works and word because that is going to be the end result regardless. If we let Him lead from the start things will go much smoother for everyone. 

Children

Children are an amazing blessing from God. Parents know they are one of the greatest gifts that you can have in your life. You never know what they are going to say or do from one minute to the next and they can so easily possess a level of faith that us adults should strive for.

We, as adults, do not have time to believe in such things as the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, etc. Children accept these creatures or people who only appear when they are asleep so they know they will never see them, but they still eagerly await their visits when the time is right. The years they can easily accept these things is the best time to get them in church becuase this raw faith gives them opportunity to be completely open to God's word without the world's questinong of Him impacting their perception.

I am in no way comparing God to Santa, the Easter Bunny, or anything else. God is real and the others are tools parents use to give children hope and something to look forward to. But they have faith that these others are real without question and if taught the word of God they will accept it as the truth and believe without a doubt God will take care of them, how many of us can honestly say we have never questioned God.

A great example of how a little teaching goes a long way is my son Jackson. When we started taking him to church I was worried about how it would go even over the long term becuase not only young, just turned 6, but he has Asperperger's Syndrome which causes him to have a very literal interpration of everything. He has to know the whats and whys for any situation which makes some things difficult for him. When we started church he could not understand why we go, he wanted to know who God was, why we could not see Him, and where he was. This is hard concepts for someone who if who does not funtion well with the abstract. Now he loves going to church, looks forward to it, and even blesses the food from time to time. This shows the power of God and how just a little of His word can imapct our children.

Proverbs 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Isaiah 54:13  All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Luke 18:15-17 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”


Another thing you have to consider when raising or even seeing others kids is discipline. Discipline is one of many things that are going to help your child grow up to be a respectful, contributing member of society. Discipline is probably one of the most debated of them, spank vs time outs, scolding, grounding, etc. I personally believe spanking, when used correctly, can be beneficial. I am not saying beat your child, there is an obvious line between discipline and abuse and anyone who cannot tell the difference does not need to use corporal punishment. It also depends on the child, each kid is different and you have to figure out what types of punishments are most effective for each. This is a huge challenge, but it can be done.

Proverbs 29:15  The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.

There are more and more new stories of parents or adults harming children before and after birth. Yes I mean abortion. From the point of conception we are human and we are a person. God is the reason for every pregnancy and He has a plan for each one of these souls.

Psalm 139:13 For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Cross references:

1. Psalm 139:13 : Ps 119:73
2. Psalm 139:13 : S Job 10:11
3. Psalm 139:13 : Isa 44:2, 24; 46:3; 49:5; Jer 1:5

For those who harm their children, such as the woman in Missouri that suffocated her child in the trash bag. We are not to kill in general, but children hold a special place with God and harming them will result in a special punishment from God.

Matthew 18:10 See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 18:2-6 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Mental Prosperity

Mental prosperity is simply clarity of thought and and focus without worry or stress. I know without worry and stress I would have much more clarity and focus. Eliminating worry and stress can be done you just have to let God have the worry and stress by focusing your thoughts toward God, especially if you feel yourself being overwhelmed by stress. If you can read the Bible or just say a small prayer to cast the cares upon the Lord you will feel relieved.

Remember what the Bible says about worry:

Matthew 6:34 (CEV)

 Don’t worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.

Luke 12:25

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?

Phillipians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

These scriptures tell us that God is with us and that we should not worry about tomorrow. What we should think about is God. We should strive to study and learn the word and God will bless us with peace and knowledge.

Phillipians 3:13-14
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Faith

What is faith? In Hebrews 1:1 the Bible describes faith as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen".  I approach faith as a two part process. the first is the substance of things hoped for and the second is the evidence of things not seen.

 "the substance of things hoped for" means we need to tell God what we want not just what we need. He knows the answer, but He desires open communication with us and that comes from praying, studying, and talking to Him about our wants, needs, and goals. The first part of faith is hope. This is the easy part, we are always happy to talk about what we want and present it to God. The second is where most people fail out of this process.


1 Peter 1:7
These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

"the evidence of things" means we need to accept that God will grant our prayers in His time and according to His plans. Our society has made us think that we should have everything we want ten minutes ago and so the concept of being on a timeline besides our own is very frustrating to most. God does not work on our timeline. He knows everything that we are have and will encounter in life and will give His gifts at the time He chooses. We need to accept that and once we present our list to God we MUST stand on it as coming to pass. If we begin to doubt God we will delay or cause us to miss a blessing.

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Matthew 17:20

 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Another to remember is that when we are waiting we cannot just set by the side, wait and say "OK God where's my stuff?" without doing anything. We should always be looking for a way to help others or spread the word because we may be the blessing that someone else is waiting on. Whether it be simply a kind word or a shoulder to cry on.

James 2:17
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.


Faith is necessary on the path to an eternity with God in Heaven. When we accept Jesus as our savior we are going completely on faith that He is the way to Heaven and that He will present us to the Father when the time comes.

Galations 2:20
²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Jesus is, in fact, the only way to get to Heaven. Living a good life and being a good person is wonderful but no one will get to Heaven without putting our faith in Christ and accepting Him as our Lord.

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Galatians 2:16
 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Love

One of the defining things of being a Christian is love. We are commanded in several places in the Bible to love one another and to put other before ourselves. There are too many people that do not do this, or do it hesitantly. We, the body of Christ, need to come together and be there for others out of a genuine heart. 

God's love is perfect and of the greatest gifts He gives us. He loved us so much that He allowed Jesus to be put to death on the cross for us. 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

How are we repaying the Father and  Son for such a selfless sacrifice? We are taking them out of every aspect of our lives we possibly can, then when something happens we wonder why they are not there. 

We are becoming a very judgemental society, I just did this as a matter of fact without realizing it. My wife had a picture of a dad spanking a child with some thug looking kids underneath it and the caption basically said if there was more spankings we would have less of those types of kids. I said I didn't want my kids to end up like that and I was judging those kids based on their appearances. That was wrong. Now back to topic.

We should focus on loving each other as family out of a genuine desire to help and follow God's guidelines. We should not be rude, disrespectful, or hateful toward others these things not only make us feel bad mentally and physically but the create a distance between us and God. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 John 3:1

See what kind of love our Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Romans 14:19

So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding. 

Ephesians 4:2

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 

It's Only Words

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  While we want our children to believe this when being taunted, we as Christians, should always remember words are one of the most powerful weapons for our eternal souls.  Genesis chapter 1 shows us how powerful words can be spoken when God created everything by simply speaking it. While we are not as powerful as God, coupled with faith in the power of God we can overcome any obstacle in our lives. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus talks about the power of faith and speaking to an obstacle. It says:

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

I don't believe He was speaking of a literal mountain, but it was a statement that with the power of God we have the ability to overcome any obstacle or challenge that occurs in our life.

The words we speak are not only responsible for determining how people respond to us, but they can guide our relationship with God. Matthew 12:34 - 37 is a perfect example of how words can postively or negatively impact our lives.

³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ³⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶ But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

These scriptures bring up some things to consider every time we open our mouths. In that, our mouth will convey what is truly in our hearts and that a heart that follows God's way will produce goodness and blessing, if you are not living by His will you will produce evil. When we go before God in judgement we must account for EVERY word spoken.

When speaking we must keep some scriptures in mind, such as Colossians 4:6.

⁶ Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

We should always speak from a God-fearing mindset and if we keep God's word in mind and heart we will be able to talk to anyone about Him. We should also consider Proverbs 8:6-9.

⁶ Hear, for I will speak noble things,and from my lips will come what is right,
⁷ for my mouth will utter truth;wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
⁸ All the words of my mouth are righteous;there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
⁹ They are all straight to him who understands,and right to those who find knowledge.

We should speak honoring God with truth and avoid lies or deciet.

Cross references:

1. Proverbs 8:6 : [ch. 22:20]
2. Proverbs 8:6 : ch. 23:16
3. Proverbs 8:7 : Ps. 37:30
4. Proverbs 8:8 : Deut. 32:5
5. Proverbs 8:9 : [ch. 14:6; 1 Cor. 2:10]

We should also always keep in mind the things that could hinder our relationship with God such as  vanity, profanity, ungodly,  judging, or gossiping about others.

2 Timothy 2:16
¹⁶ But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness

Psalms 12:3
³ The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things

James 4:11
¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[a] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.

Family Prosperity

Family prosperity is a family that is close, counts on each other, and follows God's ways. To clearly define what makes a propsperous family you must look at God's plan for each of the roles within the family.

A marriage is a man and a woman coming together as one and promising to support and care for each other as long as they live. Marriages have both smooth and rough patches but if the husband and wife truly love each other, love God, and follow His ways there is nothing they cannot overcome.

Husbands should be caring and respectful to their wife. She should be more important to them than themself. Although they are biblically the head of the household the marriage should be a partnership and the wife his equal. He is responsible for ensuring the family is learning about and following God. He is responsible for the education of God in the family and guiding the family unit in the right direction. Husbands should never be mean and abusive toward his wife and should teach his children right from wrong and never abusive with them.
He should be willing to help his wife and do whatever he needs to take care of her.

Ephesians 5:25-32
²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing^[a] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸ In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰ for we are members of his body. ³¹ “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

Colossians 3:19
Husbands, love your wives and be not harsh with them. 

Ephesians 6:4
 Fathers,do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Wives should also be supportive of thier husbands and help them as necessary. They should be respectful and caring for their husbands. They should work with the husband, and he with her, on things such as discipline of children, education about God, and anything else that is a family impacting decision. Husbands and wives should submit to each other.

1 Corinthians 7:13-16
If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Proverbs 21:9
Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.


Children should honor and obey thier parents and learn God's ways from an early age.

Ephesians 6:1-4
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³ “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”