Author: daughtersofz

Good Morning,

     "The world is unprincipled.  It's dog-eat
dog out there!  The world doesn't fight fair.  But we don't live or fight
our battles that way —–never have and never will.  The tools of our
trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing
that entire massively corrupt culture.  We use our powerful God-tools
for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against
the truth of God,
fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure
of life-shaped by Christ.  Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the
ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into
maturity." (II Corin. 10:4-5 Message Bible) 
We must learn how to capture every loose thought that tries to
manipulate our lives.  For we know that our thoughts chart a course for
our lives.  We can actually be the gatekeeper of our thoughts and change
the course of our
lives.  It is what we allow to go through our thought life consistently
that frames our lives.  Warped philosophies are running rampant in our
culture today.  If we are not careful to guard our thoughts, we will end
up allowing the unprincipled thoughts of this world to be the master of
our destiny.

     Too many in the church have sought to
imitate the world in order to reach the unsaved.  That has never been our commission from God.  Our
example is Jesus, His holiness and obedience to God was the most
powerful and attractive pull for evangelizing the world.  He still is.  "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:14) 

     We are to be
separate and unique and we will be that if we stick to God's Word.  We don't need
to water the church down to become viable to this generation.  Churches
have almost become the world to win a few, who were probably ready for
salvation anyway, and didn't need all the theatrics to come home.  The Word is what will save and keep people
loving God.  I'm not saying that we can't be creative,  we serve the
Creator, and His DNA flows through our veins.  What I am saying is the Word of God must be what
we build upon.  Listen to what Paul says," For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers
together) with and for God; you are God's garden and vineyard and field
under cultivation, [you are] God's building.  According to the grace (the special endowment for my
task) of God bestowed on me, like a skillful architect and master builder I laid
[the] foundation, and now another [man] is building upon it.  But let
each [man] be careful how he builds upon it, For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which
is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)." (I Corin.
3:9-11 The Amplified) In other
words, my sisters and brothers, whether we are in full time ministry or a
layman for Christ, no matter what our station in life, we are
co-laborers with Christ and we are building the Kingdom, one stone at a time,
(people- stones).  Build means to form by ordering
and uniting materials by gradual means into a whole; to develop according
to a systematic plan, by a definite process; to be constructed.  Let's clear the ground of all that will obstruct the
building, all of the
barriers of this world's thinking, in order to lay the foundation
on Christ.  He said, My Word and I are one.  Therefore, we can't build
any stronger 'soul' than the one built upon the Word.  Let's make
everlasting gifts to the Father.  Come on, let's build ourselves, our
families, our churches, and every new convert, upon the Solid Rock.  Let's not
remove the ancient landmark.  The Word is a landmark that will never
change.  You can't be more stable than that.  All other foundations are
sinking sand.

Love,

Pastor D.

Good Morning,

     I want to be a delight to God, well pleasing to Him.  It is my
passion and desire to cause a smile to cross my Father's face every time
my name is mentioned.  I know that most of us who love the Father want
the same thing.  So this week I reminded myself again to place that
desire in the forefront of my mind, (we have to do a spiritual tune-up
regularly).  It is amazing that when you place the desire of pleasing
God at the front of your mind, how the course of your thoughts change
and your actions follow.  For instance, someone did something to me, that
would have normally sent my blood to boiling, but because I was
thinking only of pleasing God, I let it drop without giving it another
'evil and old' thought.  That is why the Psalmist said, "let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my
redeemer." (Psalms
19:14)  The meditation of my heart will birth the words of my
mouth, and the actions that follow.  Then all that I say and think on
will be agreeable to God and His Word.  Meditation is a
murmuring sound which denotes a close or continued thought; the turning
or revolving of a subject in the mind; serious contemplation; to dwell
on a thought.  Well, when we dwell on
pleasing God, we will end up acting and speaking according to His Word. 
To be a delight to God we must go down deep, to the root causes of our
outward actions, that are disagreeable to His Word.  What is revolving in
your mind most of the time?  Listen to the words of wisdom, "they who are willfully contrary in heart are
extremely disgusting and shamefully vile in the eyes of the Lord, but such as are
blameless and wholehearted in their ways are His
delight."  Contrary means
to be adverse, in opposition of; moving against or in an opposite
direction, not merely different but inconsistent.  We have to be sure that we are not trying to twist the
Word in order to move in our direction.  God takes delight
in those who delight in doing His Word.  This applies in every area of
the Word, loving, forgiving, changing our behavior and conduct, what we
do, as well as what we say.  After all we are to become like Jesus, who
said, "sacrifice and offering You do not
desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity
to hear and obey [Your law, a more valuable service than] burnt offerings and sin
offerings [which] You do not require.  Then said I, Behold, I come; in
the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight
to do Your will, O my God; yes, Your law is within my heart." (Psalm
40:6-10)  It is possible to do the will of God and bring Him
pleasure.  It is as we choose to do the Word moment by moment while we learn to let the
Word be what is revolving over and over again in our minds verses the
old thoughts of the old man.  We have the ability of God in us and upon
us, by the Word taking root in our hearts as well as the all powerful Holy Spirit.  When we
choose to let the old man reign, we are negating the power of God.  The
Psalmist said that God has given us, the capacity to hear and obey.

     Capacity means the power of containing;
the extent or comprehensiveness of the mind; the power of receiving
ideas or knowledge; active power and ability.  I keep hearing the word, power, we have the power and
the ability, both to hear and to do the Word.  We know what the Word says, "for if anyone only hears (listens) to the Word
without doing (obeying) it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his
own natural face in a mirror; for he thoughtfully observes himself, and
then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like." (James 1:23-24) Doing the Word, delights our Father and brings a
blessing upon us. (but he who looks
carefully into the faultless law, the law of liberty, and is faithful to
it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who
forgets but an
active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life
of obedience). Our lives of obedience,
can be achieved by our thought life revolving in the Word.  We can be
blameless and wholehearted in our ways, it is not impossible.  This is
the spotless, purified church, that the Lord delights in. 

Love,

Pastor D.

Good Morning,

     "I can't tell you how happy I am to learn
that many members of your congregation are diligent in
living out the truth, exactly as commanded by the Father. 
But permit me a reminder, friends, and this is not a new commandment
but simply a repetition of our original and basic charter: that we love
each other.  Love means following His commandments, and His unifying
commandment is that you conduct your lives in love.  This is the first
thing you heard and nothing has changed." (II John verse 3 Message
Bible)  "But we do [strongly and earnestly] desire for each
of you to show the same diligence and sincerity [all the way through]
in realizing and enjoying the full assurance and development of [your]
hope until the end, in order that you may not grow disinterested
and become [spiritual] sluggards, but imitators, behaving as do
those who through
faith (by their leaning of the entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and
confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) and by practice of
patient endurance and waiting are [now] inheriting the promises."
(Hebrews 6:11-12 Amplified
Bible)  Notice it is the people of God that show the same diligence
all the way through, from the beginning and until He comes or we go home
to be with the Lord, that actually inherit the promise.  It also
reminds us again, that living in the love of God, equals obedience to His Word.  We have talked about diligence before and we will go down that road
again.  Diligence means perseverance in carrying
out action.  The synonyms are activity, alertness, application, assiduity,
assiduousness, attention, attentiveness, briskness, care, carefulness,
constancy, earnestness, exertion, heed,
heedfulness, industry, intensity, intent, intentness, keenness,
laboriousness.  By these definitions alone,
we see that we have got to apply the Word on a consistent basis.  We must
labor with intensity and keep our attention on the Word.  This continual
activity in the Word keeps us from laziness and entering into doubt and
unbelief.  When you are busy doing the Word it will become all that you
are looking at.  Which will, in turn, make it easier for you to persevere
in it.  This will keep you alert and you will not be caught off guard
by the enemy.  Then we will become one of the many that live out the
truth.

     Remember, "we're
being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how
to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life.  This new life is starting
right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our
great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears."  Living in the truth, this God-filled life is what makes
us imitators of God.  "Therefore be
imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example] as well behaved
children, imitate their fathers." (Ephes. 5:1) Now we don't need to wait on those around us to rate our
God-scale.  If we live in the Word, we will allow the Word to reveal
what is truly going on in us as well as our behavior and conduct.  We
must be constant in relying on Holy Spirit's aid, to continue growing up
spiritually, never dwarfed by our circumstances.
  Every day we must look for the opportunity given by God to exercise our
spiritual muscles.  Looking into the mirror of the Word to see how much
we have grown and be grateful to God that He is not
finished with us yet, as we continue to mature.. "Test
yourself to make sure you are solid in the faith.  Don't drift along
taking everything for granted.  Give yourself regular check-ups.  You need
firsthand, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you.  Test it out. 
If you fail the test, do something about it."  (II Corin. 13:5-8
Message Bible)

 "Diligent, perseverance, consistent, alert, sincere"

Love,

Pastor D.

Good Morning, 

     Last night I spent two hours on a message for today and then I
must have pressed the wrong key and all of my work disappeared into the
abyss of computer-land.  I started to just skip this day, but the major
part of what God was ministering to me had to do with diligence.  Wow! 
Well, here is where we all can pick up our pace and put more wood on the
fire,right?  In order to have effective changes in our lives, we have
to make a shift by renewing or changing our minds, then the rest of the
man follows.  Yet, if we make a shift and then don't continue to work
at it, we will stop.  Listen to this Word.  "For God
is not unrighteous to forget or overlook your labor and the love
which you have shown for His name's sake in ministering to the needs of
the saints (His own consecrated people), as you still do.  But we do [strongly and earnestly] desire for each of
you to show the same
diligence and sincerity [all the way through] in realizing and
enjoying the full assurance and development of [your] hope until the
end, In order that you may not grow disinterested
and become [spiritual] sluggards, but imitators, behaving as do
those who through faith (by their leaning of the entire personality on
God in Christ in absolute
trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) and by
practice of patient endurance and waiting are [now] inheriting the
promises."  Now in order to grow more
interested in what God is doing through you, you must be diligent and
labor toward the goal.  Labor means toil;
toil means to work hard; it is expenditure of physical or mental effort. 
Christians, work is not a taboo word in
our faith.  We have to apply pressure within ourselves
to shift for
change.  Diligence means to dispatch
eagerness, earnestness, forwardness, and haste; persevering application;
devoted and painstaking application to accomplish an undertaking.  When we apply diligence to the labor God's grace will
be upon us.  He will enable you with His ability over and upon your
inability.  In other words, we can do what we could not do, with God's
grace to accomplish it.

     Listen to the benefits that those who are diligent will have
and at the same time what will happen to spiritual sluggards or those
who are slack.  "He becomes poor who works with a
slack and idle hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.  The
hand of the diligent will rule, but the slothful will be forced
to labor.  The slothful man does not catch his game or roast it once he
kills it, but the diligent man gets precious possessions.  The
thoughts of the [steadily] diligent tend only to plenteousness,
but everyone who is impatient and hasty hastens only to want." (Prov. 12:24 & 27; Prov.
21:5) Slothful, slack and sluggish is to be lazy,
idle; it is apathy and inactivity; slowness and tardiness; disinclined to
activity or exertion; lacking in vigor; and slow to respond.  We
can not afford to become disinterested in the calling of God on our
lives as well as in our daily living. We must stay spiritually, mentally
and physically fit in order to be the most effective in our walk with
God.  As Christians we must be diligent in our labors and in our
relationship with God and to His people, and to whatever God has caused
our hands to be put to.  God will not forget or overlook it!  Now the
choice is ours, we get to choose whether we will be sluggards or the
diligent ones.  Come on let's imitate the Father in our lives!

Love,

Pastor D.

Good Morning,

     Today my friend and sister in the Lord went home to be with
Him.  She was a great
prayer warrior and a lover of God's Word.  Shirley was a worshiper as well. 
I know that after the great homecoming that she received when she got
to heaven, she was overjoyed to worship our Great King and God the Father.  While we
know that we are not to sorrow as those who have no hope, we will
still miss her.  God prepared my heart by getting me to fix my eyes on
studying about heaven for two months prior to her going in the
hospital.  I know that God has been telling us to come up higher, and the
most important part of coming up higher is actually being a doer of the Word.  It is
high time that we as believer's do the Word and not only hear it.  Our
lives should be lived as if at any moment we might go home.  If so, we
would always treat people with kindness and love building our foundation
of faith.  We would be
pleasing to the Lord, by keeping or doing His Word.  Walking in love
with the most difficult person would be a little easier.  We must always
keep uppermost in our hearts this admonition: "And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and
the Father by Him." (Col. 3:17) "Knowing [with all certainty] that it
is from the Lord [and not from men] that you will receive the
inheritance which is your [real] reward. [The One Whom] you are
actually serving is the Lord Christ (the Messiah). (Col.3:24)

     We all must
learn to "set
our minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on things that are on
the earth." (Col. 3:2)  This is something that will help us as believer's stay
on course with our walk of faith.  The words keep
and set means the same thing here.  The words mean to place in a sitting position or attitude; to stay in
place with care or deliberate purpose; to fix in a proper position or
condition; to establish to the highest level.  So if we live our lives set on things above, heaven, and
the Kingdom of God,
then we will always live and walk above everything that goes on around
us and in us that is earthly.  Conscious of the fact that one day "we must all appear and be revealed as we are before
the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay]
according to what he has done in his body, whether good or evil [considering what his purpose and motive have been busy with, and given
himself and his attention to accomplishing]."  (II Corin. 5:10) Striving to do everything that is righteous would be
our highest level.  As we know that Shirley's body did so will ours, unless
we are caught up and caught away, like Enoch.  "For we know that if the tent which is our earthly home
is destroyed (dissolved), we have
from God a building, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens.  Here indeed, in this [present abode, body], we sigh and groan
inwardly, because we yearn to be clothed over [we yearn to put on our
celestial body like a garment, to be fitted out] with our heavenly
dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked.  For while
we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply
(weighed down, depressed, oppressed) not that we want to put off the
body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we would be further
clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by
life [after the resurrection].  Now He Who has fashioned us [preparing
and making us fit] for this very thing is God, Who also has given us the
Holy Spirit as a
guarantee [of the fulfillment of His promise]."  (II Corin. 5:1-5) God has given us a Helper in preparing us for our
heavenly abode, the
precious Holy Spirit.  We can keep our minds set on those things above
and we have aid and assistance to see to it that we do.  Now, let's get
about doing it and we will end up representing our kingdom and being
heavenly ambassadors to earth, just like our sister Shirley did!

Love,

Pastor D.