His Word Will Never Pass Away

Matthew 24:35 - New International Version

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Today I want to share a testimony that a friend shared with me. A few weeks ago, he stopped and filled up his gas tank on the way home from Bible study. As he was driving, he started smelling smoke. Being from the South, he assumed that someone was burning garbage. As he drove, the smell got stronger and stronger. He figured that he was getting closer to the fire. He had no idea how close he was. He wasn't far from home, but the spirit of Lord told him to pull over. So he did. Smoke began to rise from under the hood, so he grabbed his phone and got out. He didn't turn around until he was about 20 or 30 steps away from his truck. By the time he turned around, sparks were coming from under the hood. Then, the truck went up in flames.
The truck was consumed by the fire. The fire department rushed to the scene and put it out. The only thing left of the truck was the frame. The seats, gone. Personal belongings, gone. The fire fighters asked if he wanted anything from in the car. His response was, "There's nothing left". But, he was wrong. Only one thing survived the fire. That was his Bible. There wasn't a scratch on it. Not one pages was scorched or burned. Hallelujah! God's word never passes away.

God Bless

Can't Let Go

Genesis 32:24-26 The Message

But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn't get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob's hip out of joint. The man said, "Let me go; it's daybreak." Jacob said, "I'm not letting you go 'til you bless me."

The way of a warrior is to fight. Giving up is not an option. Ever feel like giving up and can't? Then you are born warrior. Jacob was a lot of things, but he wasn't a quitter. Jacob fought for what was his. He worked for seven years for Rachel only to be tricked and end up with Leah. So what did he do, did he give up? No, he worked another seven years for Rachel.

Then we see him in Genesis 32 wrestling for his blessing. A warrior always has the same attitude, " I'm not letting you go 'til you bless me." Your blessing as at hand. Daybreak is coming, don't let go until you get your blessing. The devil has peaked into your future and is trying to cut you off at the pass. But he is no match for God. You throw in the towel but ultimately pick it back up. Why? You possess the spirit of a warrior. The Holy Spirit is your driving force. He will never steer you wrong.

When you want to give up, this is what you do... fight.

Where Is Your God?

Psalm 42:10
As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"

In the midst of a storm, your adversaries always have a way of showing up and asking, "Where is your God?" They say things like, "I don't know why you go to church anyway. You are about to be evicted. Where is your God now?" You may be experiencing financial difficulty and are radical enough to continue to tithe. You get a notice in the mail that the lights are about to be cut off, here comes your adversary,"You are a fool to give your tithes! You should have payed your light bill!" Then, fear tries to creep in. Your adversary always comes with doubt and discouragement. Where is your God?, they ask. He is where is always is, right there with you. God sits high and looks low. He will perfect those things that concern you. He is involved in every detail of your life. He is an on time God and changes not.

When your adversaries come to you asking, "Where is your God?" Tell them where your God is. He's in control!

God Bless

Detours & Road Blocks

I WAS DRIVING TO A LUNCH APPOINTMENT WITH a Pastor when I came upon a detour. Because of the detour, traffic became snarled and I was barely moving. I checked the time and knew that if this traffic didn't clear up soon, I was going to be late. I almost fell into an irritated state, when God's presence came upon me. I sensed the Father saying, "I have placed many of My children on a Divine Detour and they do not know it."

SOME ARE FACING UNEXPECTED ROAD BLOCKS IN THEIR WALK WITH GOD...

Generally, everything seemed to be going smoothly for you. Most battles were easily won and temptations (although constant) didn't usually trip you (1 Corinthians 10:13). Then all hell broke loose. Those things that you used to handle with ease suddenly overwhelmed you and you wondered, Where did your strength go (Psalm 6:2)?

So there you are, called by God and following His plans the best you knew how, when things start to go downhill. Your spirit used to soar with enthusiasm, but now it is hard to get out of bed.

Fear not, God is preparing something new for you, but to bring it forth (here comes that word), pruning must take place (John 15:2). You didn't ask for this, but now you must fight the battle (Ephesians 6:11-12). You must bite the bullet and keep moving forward--tremendous rewards await you if you do not quit (Philippians 1:6). You decide to keep moving (Philippians 4:13). God nods His approval.

SOME THINK THEY ARE HARDLY MOVING AND SEE NO PROGRESS AT ALL...

You are wrong. If God would have allowed you to keep on the same old path you were on (Proverbs 14:12), you would have missed the opportunity (and blessings) He is about to show you. Often, God forcefully detours us so we will head into the harvest He has for us (John 4:38). Sometimes, more is accomplished in the spiritual realm when He makes us wait (Isaiah 40:31) then when we are "busy" for God.

Don't panic because nothing seems to be happening. He has pushed the "divine pause button" to bring you to Him and sit in His presence, something He has been trying to get you to do for some time now (Matthew 11:28-30). Yes, you are moving, only this time He is carrying you. Yes, progress is being made, but this time He is directing it. You prayed for this long ago, so don't fight it. You now relax...as He takes over.

BECAUSE OF THE DETOUR, DON'T THINK HIS PROMISES ARE POSTPONED...

Actually, the opposite is true (Psalm 138:8). Because God is taking you a different way, the promise will not only come to pass, but be fulfilled on a grander scale, because you allowed God to do it His way (Psalm 18:30). Oh yes, you meant well and your heart was in the right place, but God wanted to show you "a better way."

And because you decided not to panic and take a side road to avoid His detour, God can now speak with you about His plans and not yours (Jeremiah 29:11). Now you realize that you should have taken His detour long ago, but you couldn't discern the signs. You start to thank Him for the "forced detour" that He caused, because it will bring you into deeper communion with the King (Luke 24:15). You smile.

REJOICE, YOU'RE IN GOOD COMPANY AND ABOUT TO MAKE HISTORY...

God gave Paul a divine detour (Acts 9) and changed history. Jesus gave a few fishermen a detour and it turned their lives upside down (Matthew 4:18-19). God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary for the grandest detour of all--and because she accepted it (Luke 1:30-31), you and millions of others are now in the Kingdom of God. They and many others could have taken the "normal, beaten path," but they would not have changed history.

God's highway appears before you (Isaiah 35:8) and you need to start thanking Him for the interruption. Rejoice for the detour God has placed in front of you. Do not run from it. Many will be blessed because you said, "God, I don't recognize this path, I have never been here before, but because You say so, I will follow Your detour for me."

Remember, no one said you have to understand the detour God is making you go through...that will come later. As for now, take a deep breath, slow down and enjoy the view. Simply keep your eye on Jesus and He'll let you know which exit to get off (1 Samuel 3:10).

Al Thomas
Celebrating His Life Ministries
Email: a.thomas@myactv.net

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Continue On

Philippians 1:6 Amplified Bible

And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.


The enemy would like you to give up now but you must continue on. The is after that hidden treasure in you. You may feel like I never get a break. The enemy will always come with something. The more opposition you get, the more you should press. Opposition is an indication that you are on the right track. Keep going until you see the fulfillment of your promise. There is no time for doubt, yes, it was your God that spoke that thing to you. I heard a preacher give an analogy that I'm going to share with you. Thousands of people go through Central Park every day. Unfortunately, thousands of crimes take place there too. Many homeless people live in Central Park and no one bothers them. Meanwhile, businessmen are robbed. Children are abducted. Women are raped. But no one bothers the homeless. Why? Because people assume they don't have anything worth taking or that they're worthless. Henceforth, they're safe. Why is the enemy constantly planning his attack on you? He knows your worth.

Will you fight for your treasure or will you let the enemy rob you? Continue on!

God Bless

The First Vow of Success

Unknown

I was born to succeed, not to fail. I was born to triumph, not to bow my head in defeat.

I was born to toast victories, not to whimper and whine.
What happened to me? When did my dreams all fade into a gray mediocrity where average people applaud each other as excellent?

No person is ever so much deceived by another, as by himself. The coward is convinced that he is only being cautious and the miser always thinks he is practicing frugality. Nothing is so easy as to deceive one's self since what we wish is always easy to believe. No one, in my life, has deceived me as much as I have.

Why do I always try to cover my small accomplishments under blankets of words that make light of my work or excuses for my lack of ability? Worst of all, I have come to believe my excuses so that I willingly sell my days for pennies while consoling myself with thoughts that things could always be worse.
No more!

It is time to study the reflection in my looking glass until I recognized that the most harmful enemy I have is me. At last, in this magic moment with my first scroll, the veil of self-deceit is beginning to lift from my eyes.
Now I know that there are three classes of people in the world. The first learn from their own experience-these are the wise. The second learn from the experience of others-these are happy. The third learn neither from their own experience nor from the experience of others-these are fools.
I am not a fool. Henceforth I will stand on my own feet and my terrible crutches of self-pity and self-contempt have been cast aside forever.

Never again will I pity or belittle myself.

How foolish I was when I stood in despair, by the side of the road, and envied the successful and the wealthy as they paraded by. Are they blessed with unique skill, rare intelligence, heroic courage, enduring ambition, and other outstanding qualities that I possess not? Have they been allotted more hours, each day, in which to perform their mighty tasks? Do they have hearts full of compassion and souls overflowing with love that are different from mine? No! God plays no favorites. We are all fashioned from the same clay.

Now I also know that the sadness and setbacks of my life are not unique to me. Even the wisest and most successful of our world suffer chapters of heartbreak and failure but they, unlike me, have learned that there is no peace without trouble, no rest without strain, no laughter without sorrow, no victory without struggle and that is he price we all pay for living. There was a time when I paid he price willingly and easily by constant disappointments and defeats first eroded my confidence and then my courage even as drops of water will, in time, destroy the strongest granite. All that is now behind me. No longer am I one of the living dead, remaining always in the shadows of others and hiding behind my sorry apologies and alibis while the years waste away.

Never again will I pity or belittle myself.

Now I know that patience and time can do more than even strength and passion. The years of frustration are ready to be harvested. All that I have managed to accomplish, and all that I hope to accomplish, has been and will be persevering process which builds the ant heap, particle by particle, thought by thought, step by step.

Success, when it comes overnight, often departs with the dawn. I am prepared, now, for a lifetime of happiness because I have finally recognized a powerful secret hidden in the years that treated me so harshly. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery we make of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterward carefully avoid. The path I walked, often dampened by my tears, has not been a wasted journey.

Never again will I pity or belittle myself.

Thank you, God, for playing your game with me, today, and placing in my hands these precious scrolls. I was at the lowest ebb of my life but I should have known it is at that moment that the tide always turns.

No longer will I look mournfully to the past. It will never return. Instead, with these scrolls, I will shape the present because it is mine and I will go forth to meet the mysterious future without fear, without doubt, without despair.

Never again will I pity or belittle myself.

Why Go to Church?

Author Unknown

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."'

This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"


Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!
Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

Now What?

Romans 8:35 Holman Christian Standard Bible

Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?


God will allow things to occur in your life to see what you will do.What will separate you from God? It seems as if you take one step forward and the devil knocks you back two. Here you are with a brand new car and you lose your job. You just found out you're pregnant and your husband wants a divorce. Now what? You go for a routine physical and the doctor says you have cancer. What do you do? You relay past victories in your head. Remember God has brought you out time and time again. You can't give up. You have to fight and watch, then watch and fight. Listen. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You my have lost that job so you can finally start that business. God has purpose for that new life, He will provide. Can may use this cancer to show you and the world that He still performs miracles. He's able.

Life has thrown you a curve, now what? You grow taller in the Lord on your knees.

God Bless

Just Ask

Luke 11:9-10
King James Version

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

I heard someone say that my greatest enemy is inner me. There is truth to that. There are somethings that we don't have simply because we didn't ask for them. You need a raise on your job? Just ask. Of course, you ask God first. But, we have a part to play too. Ask your boss. If you need a loan to start your business, just ask. Whatever it is, just ask. What is the worse that could happen? You are told no. Is that the end of the world? Of course not. Many times, the only thing standing between us and what we want/need is us.

Peter would never have walked on water without getting out of the boat.

God Bless

Ingredients of Anointing

Exodus 30:23-25
The Message

God spoke to Moses: "Take the best spices: twelve and a half pounds of liquid myrrh; half that much, six and a quarter pounds, of fragrant cinnamon; six and a quarter pounds of fragrant cane; twelve and a half pounds of cassia—using the standard Sanctuary weight for all of them—and a gallon of olive oil. Make these into a holy anointing oil, a perfumer's skillful blend.


The are five ingredients of anointing oil: myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, cassia, and olive. Some of the are bitter and some are sweet. In like manner, the ingredients of your anointing are bitter and sweet. You will have to endure trials and tribulations. A loved one may die, your marriage may end, you may be diagnosed with a chronic illness, etc. Those things are bitter. During the making of your anointing, there will be time spent in praise and worship, prayer, fasting, you will have intimacy with God like never before. You will have moments when you go beyond the veil and see God's glory. Those things are undoubtedly sweet.

Your anointing is unique. It was skillfully put together by a loving God. The ingredients in yours are not the same as mine. Exodus 30:25 says, "Make these into a holy anointing oil, a perfumer's skillful blend." You are a skillful blend.

God Bless