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Where You Lay Up Your Treasures

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As we go on in our lives going through the motions week after week, it gets very easy to get lost in the midst of everything that we get involved in. As we continue to do everything over and over again we learn that we must always make ends meet and to be responsible for our business, right?

This sounds like a motivational speaking lecture, but it’s not. I know that if anything. that people understand the concept of responsibility. What I am wanting to talk about today is the treasures and their worth that goes far beyond this earth: the treasures of God.

When we read in the bible, we read references to laying up our treasures in Heaven. As I read that, the words began to jump off of the page. I know that today that I only need to be driven to by my faith and willingness to serve God! Everything else that we fight for each day should be a priority, but not the top one.

Seek the Kingdom of Heaven and its righteousness first, and all the other things in your life will begin to line up for you! Let God be at home, church, and your business!

As Solid As Your Foundation

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We always read about the piece in the bible that refers to the people who built their houses upon the sand and the rock. And as we all know, of course it was the house that was built on the rock that was proven in the end, right?

My question is, how many of us have our houses built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ?

From a normal point of view on the outside, everything looks like God and sounds like it, but the house is not solid and could be blown over or fall at any time. In other words, we proclaim to be stable and have such great lives in God but at the sign of a first hard trial we begin to crumble beneath what we are really built upon.

Some contractors won’t even begin to build until they know they have a solid foundation! That should speak to us to let us know that we should count the cost of any actions in our lives and remember that we better make sure we are strong enough before we step out there where we think we can handle it! I’ve seen too often people that were not strong enough that had good intentions that failed quickly from the lack of being established with good wisdom and a solid communication in prayer! It really does matter!

You see, God wants us to be established on his foundation, the foundation of faith in him. He wants to endue to us that power and ability to endure! We can only endure by hanging to the promises of God. We can only test our foundation by staying on it! Stay true to what God has placed in you and do not waiver! God will not fail you, leave you, nor forsake you! Be encouraged this day!

Somebody Is Praying

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Psalm 6:9 – The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer.

Jonah 2:7 – When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

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I am sure that we all have read in various places the bible about how God never leaves us nor forsakes us and that He will be there always even until the end, right? That encourages me when I begin to think about that! It reminds me that there are angels encamped all about me, always watching over me and taking care of me each and every day. I have a word just for you: God has a special plan for you, no matter how you see the outcome of your life each day. The plan never changes, yet our perspective often does.

Whether we ever come to discover it or not, be reminded today that there is someone praying for you! Someone may have given you this to read. There may be a possibility that you may never grace church doors but that does not stop people from calling out your name in prayer! It might not be anyone that you even know; for it could be a friend or a complete stranger! Nonetheless, God calls people each and every day in the gift of prayer, and it is becoming a growing calling in the day that we are living. The question you may be asking is, how do you know? I would have to say because the needs of those around us are growing greater each day and the concern of Gods people is growing more and more.

Know that we love you and are praying for everyone out there! More than that know that God loves you unconditionally and whosoever will come can come to the Father for salvation and eternal life!

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Put Into Practice:

Take a moment today to pray for everyone but yourself. I know you may be thinking, “but what about all the things that I may need?!?” I realize that it takes a lot for us to put ourselves out of the way on the behalf of others, but God is really trying to get us to get to that place. Let me explain:

You see, the revelation that God gave me a long time ago was when I began to obey Him and to help others that not only their lives would be blessed but mine would be for the efforts also. I could very well only pray and praise for me at church, but there is so much more to give and use of the love of God that lives inside of you! Now? I may be in the altar working for an hour before I give my aching head any thought and by the time I am done my headache has passed with the virtue of healing. I may also be preaching or singing to encourage others and all of my fears and worries of trials in my mind just melt away. That is the beauty of when obedience meets the power of life and faith that is living inside of you! Let it come alive!

How Do We Learn From Our Mistakes?

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THE WORD

II Timothy 2:22-26 – Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

When we think we can take measures to prevent repeat mistakes, I offer this to you:

Change The Environment Around You – If there are situations that you come across that you can prevent in the future – or that put you in an awkward position, change it up! You can never be any different unless you surround yourself with an environment that will promote you to be who you are, especially a Godly individual.

Change Your Attitude – We want to carry a chip on our shoulder with rightful justification, yet this simply cannot be in every case. Remember that we have to put the Godly virtues into practice each day.

Practice Forgiveness To All – It may be the hardest action but it is the most effective. If you can forgive, you can lift what feels like massive weights off of your mind and heart! When I get upset about issues, I just remember that metaphoric analysis of how often we should forgive: 70 times 7!

Remember To Love Regardless – You can have all the gifts of God, know the bible from front to back, and have all the capital and resources at your disposal for your ministry, but without love it is meaningless.

PUT INTO PRACTICE

Take the time to correct yourself in one specific issue related to you being impatient with others. Use forgiveness and trust God to help you to forgive as He did you!

God Provides What Is Promised

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Proverbs 25:22 – For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee.

Matthew 16:27 – For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

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One of the key scriptures that we read in the Bible is that the “promises of God are yea and Amen”. In other words the combination signals a great big yes! When you begin to petition your needs and wants before God, you are backing it up by actually going before him through the works of obedience and living it. All the while you are continually asking and putting your faith into action by the experiences you have and the ones you believe is ahead. You see, the spirit of God in its own magnificent way will bear witness and start to speak to your heart according to the will of God. It may not always be what we want to hear, but sometimes that when God’s ways exceed our ways!

Sometimes I am sure that we could wish that God dropped in our laps millions dollars so that we could have lots of “stuff”, but that may not be in Gods will right? God’s promises to us are that we would not go without and as long as we are obedient that everything will be taken care of for us, even in the midst of uncertainty. There are many who choose to stick with what they can read, and that is fine. I want to encourage us to step out of the boat and try to be more faithful and start to believe in the spirit that bears witness in the depths of our hearts! I know it is a simple thought, but I just want to remind you that if God has spoken to you in your heart or through the ministry of others, heed to it! Be led by the spirit of God, stay close to the Lord and pray in faith for the good things to come. Water those promises until they grow to full fruition! I know they are on their way!

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Put Into Practice:

This is not an actual physical activity today, but I would like for you to consider an activity of the same. Imagine that someone was standing on top of a building and was about to jump. Bear in mind they are being faithful to the inflatable safety device that when they reach the bottom they are safe. What if there was just enough of a hole in the safety balloon to cause it not to function? The person has to know and consider all of these risks before they ever lift from the ground to jump, right? The faith that it takes to get a person to leap is just the amount that it takes to be enough. The amount of faith that it takes for us to be willing to be out of our comfort zone and be in risk sometimes may be the very thing that God is looking for from you. It may be one thing that you have been afraid of to do your entire life. Trust me, I would have never thought that I would be writing, singing, playing, or preaching! Trust God and take a leap of faith! And by leap I do not mean off of a building! Get out there and make a difference in this lost world!

Find The Good In What You Can

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Proverbs 12:25 – Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.

Philemon 1:4-8 – I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient

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With everyday shocks and surprises around the corner, it is very easy to get frustrated at everything going on. It is also easy to simply throw your hands up and give up on your walk with God. In fact, this is the behavior that we are seeing in churches right now in all walks of life. If I thought about it long enough, I am sure I could say that there are plenty of reasons for me to be justified about being upset at situations or even people for that matter. I (as we all have to at some point) have to remind myself that I definitely know better than that. We that are attuned to the leadership of the spirit of God know that we must be faithful even in times of peril and distress.

Consider those individuals in the bible who faced perilous times and that could have given up easily, yet you read that they continued on for the cause of God and made it through. It inspires me to realize what is of more worth to me now. People that get mad at you for no reason whatsoever are just upset people upset for a reason you cannot change regardless of what you do to alter it. Objects that break cannot be fixed are just objects broken regardless of the glue we use to mend them. Ultimately, we must realize that our emotions cannot fix everything and in an upset or distressed state leave our walk with God spiritually disabled. God can fix every circumstance and does not need me to get angry and try to always intervene on my own behalf.

I have to be reminded to be thankful for what I have, for what is going to come, and that things are not worse than they are. When I begin to do that, I take a deep breath and step away from the situation, and finally just let God have my emotions and let him transform me (via the comforter of the spirit) to a person he can use. Big subject matter, but useful if we only but apply it!

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Put Into Practice:

Get out of the habit of thinking of the negative first. Begin to think of the spiritual positives right off the bat, and allow God to unlock a witness through your faith and endurance through tough times. Every time you make it, it is another testimony to find out how good God is!

Time To Lose Some Weight

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Hebrews 12:1-3 – Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

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I know that you are thinking that this is going to be the top 10 tips to weight loss, but that is not what we will be discussing today. I will say that I thought that this title might grab some attention though!

I would like for us to keep that perspective of weight loss to spiritual burdens. When it comes to losing weight, sometimes we see that we need to and sometimes we deny it. Other times we see that we need to but refuse to see why we ever got in the shape to start with.

When it comes to our walk with God and the burdens we carry, we often treat it with the same perspectives; we do not know exactly how we got in the shape we did, but we arrived there nonetheless. There are scriptures in the bible that indeed point us to cast off the weights that easily beset us. When I put that into perspective, all the things that easily bother me should be immediately put off as needs to God in prayer. God understands every need, no matter how great or small it is to our perspective. There is another scripture that says that nothing is impossible to God, and is indeed but a small thing.

So when we think about it like that, repenting and relinquishing ourselves of tough burdens should not be like the pains of dieting and exercise that we make it out to be! We can simply pray to God and ease the weight that we carry! Simple as that!

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Put Into Practice:

This will be an interesting task. I ask you to give it a try! Take a couple plastic bags and put one within the other to give it a little more strength (add 1-2 more if you want to). Begin to fill the bag up with objects until you begin to think that the weight would exceed the bag. At this point, pick up the back and try to simply hold it for a minute. After that, perhaps you can try (without actually hurting yourself) to walk around while carrying the bags around.

When doing this in practice it is easy to see how easy it would be to begin to feel weighted down without continual prayer and communication to God each day. Without the casting off of the weights that would beset us, I am bold enough to say that eventually we will begin to beset others; especially those that need to be led to a relationship to Christ! Get rid of anything weighing you down and draw closer to God! Let the lightness by the strength of His spirit encourage you!

Hold Fast To The Foundation

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2 Samuel 22:2-3,33 – And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.

Psalm 31:3 – For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.

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In my personal life there have been so many things that people have passed on to me through wisdom and knowledge. I will always be grateful for each and every one of the things that have helped me along the way. Some of the values and thoughts may bear more significance than others (do not touch a hot eye on a stove vs. refusing drugs). I wish that I could say that there was a token of wisdom for every situation, but there will always be cases where you are searching for guidance through confusion.

What I want to remind everyone is about the spiritual ground that you stand upon. The grounded foundation of God is always solid, is never wavering, and will always be there for you; even when you feel as though all have forsaken you. You can always pray to God when everyone else has stopped listening or think they have given you something that should suffice (personal advice). What we often forget is that we can always read in the bible and seek for deeper understanding for situations in your life or even areas you were not aware of!

Host fast to the only thing that will keep you! Hold fast to God, His spirit, and His word!

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Put Into Practice:

There are many different substances on this earth that carry many different malleable properties. Some can be bent under pressure easily while others require a great deal of force. When I consider this, it makes me think about how solid my trust is with God. If I am stable with God on Sundays and forget about Him on Monday, I would imagine that my Godly faith and backbone could be snapped in two. I would fall quickly, right? Go ahead and feel the example in your hand of what we could walk around as. Take an empty plastic water bottle, remove the cap, and begin to squeeze the bottle. Do you feel how easy it succumbs to the pressure? To me, this is the easiest illustration of how we are when the first sign of pressure attempts to weigh upon us.

So what can we do to improve? We need to have a stronger material within. We must build within ourselves the power of God so we are stronger for each and every trial that is ahead of us. I assure you the more work you put in to getting stronger the less you will regret the effort.

Why Are We Ashamed?

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There is one thing that I can take pride in for sure: my work. I feel like that what I do that I do the best that I can to the best of my ability. For that, I am not ashamed of it. I would let it speak for itself to five people or 5,000 people. We’ll do this for things we are proud of, people we are proud of, or even principles or standards that we have in our lives. What I want to ask today is, why are we so ashamed to show God in our lives to others?

Just because people try to force God out by what is considered practical laws and procedures doesn’t mean that you still cannot proclaim a Godly life and live by a Godly example. If you live it close enough, people will know what you stand for. Rules and guidelines about why God cannot exist in a place, facility or group to me is simply a declaration of fear of what is simply misunderstood.

People always make it out to be a battle about your right to carry a bible and shove the word of God down their throats. That sounds harsh, but the truth hurts. It should never be about being prideful in something or the battle for being justified; it should simply be that God is the “I am” in your life, and that you do not have to prove anything to anyone. If they say “you are not allowed to speak it”, that’s fine because you can live it!

Don’t be ashamed of what you have inside, for it’s the only light that draws others to Christ!

Consider Your Daily Habits

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We have things that go on each day: tasks, to-dos, routines, etc. Whatever you would like to call it is fine, but there are things we always have each day that we always do. What I would ask you to consider is to think about where God is in your day. I would highly encourage you to try and include Godly activities in where you have time, and if you do not do it now to make time for it.

Here is an applied example: If you cannot do it (by it I mean any Godly works) at work, do it BEFORE work. If you don’t want to read the bible or pray when you get off because you are too tired, read BEFORE you go in the morning. If you are not a morning person, read during your lunch hour while you eat. I’m not trying to be picky, but we have to be more considerate of where God fits in the midst of our busy lives. And just because I am using an example of doing something once doesn’t mean that I’m not recommending doing them more then that!

Always remember: seek the kingdom first, and all the other things will be added. In other words, make God a top priority, and the other things will come through God and not via a struggle through your own hand. Have a great day!