Life’s Interruptions Are God’s Opportunities

Like most people, I  have a very busy life. I run a business, and my days are filled with meetings, closing deals, handling the day to day operations, etc. Sometimes it seems as if there are not enough hours in a day to get everything done. So my time is very valuable to me. But it’s usually in those times of my life where I find myself extremely put off and annoyed at being inconvenienced with my time, where the Lord speaks to me most powerfully.  This was the case in the Summer of 2011, when I was feeling extremely aggravated, as our plane sat on the tarmac still awaiting clearance for takeoff after an already hour delay.  My family and I were headed to Hawaii, my favorite tropical place on earth for a much needed vacation. So, yeah, I was a little upset with the delay.  But rather than staying in that state, the Lord led me to pick up my bible. I opened it to Genesis and my God began to speak to me through His word.  

“The serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For that in the day that you will eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. “

Genesis 3:4-5

Man was not created to handle the knowledge of good and evil, or to know sin.   That was not Gods plan for mankind. Genesis 1:31 tells us that God said His creation was very good. It was perfection, but ever since that day in the garden when Adam and Eve chose to believe the lie of Satan over God’s truth, man has been struggling with his sinful nature. We sin without even thinking about it. It's as natural as breathing.  On the contrary, walking in peace with God takes effort. It is a conscious choice that we must willingly make every day to stay close to Him and walk in obedience. We need to get up and seek His face daily, not because we are trying to earn our acceptance, but because we need to be filled, refreshed and poured into in order to walk this Christian life. When we seek God's face, we don't become sinless, we just begin to sin less.  It’s not a works thing, it’s an effort thing. We need to make the effort to spend time with Jesus. It comes down to what we value. And just like we value our time, our God values the time we spend with Him. 

One of the few things we have to offer our God is our personal time, everything else He already owns. It’s already His.  But our time on earth is ours until He decides to call us home. He loves us so much, that He just wants to spend time with us. After all, we were created for His good pleasure. That is the only reason we are alive today. What is the meaning of life? To fellowship and worship our creator – The Great I Am, Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 

As the Lord spoke these profound truths to me, my heart was moved to repentance, and my spirit was revived. What I had seen as an inconvenience was actually a God opportunity. God is always speaking to us but are we listening? Sometimes he just might orchestrate situations in our lives so that we will spend time with Him. Those times are always a blessing and may even be an opportunity to shine our light and draw others to Jesus. One of the flight attendants asked me if I was reading a good book. Talk about an open opportunity to talk about Jesus. Be thankful for interruptions.

by James Trent

Living Waters

“Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst."

John 4:13-14

Deep within every man there is an intense thirst for God. As David, said, “My soul thirsts for You: my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

Man tries to satisfy that thirst in different ways and through different experiences – Drugs, alcohol, or, like the Samaritan woman, relationships. But those things can’t quench the thirst for God. 

A Thirst In Man Is A Thirst For God

If you drink of the water from the wells of life, you will thirst again. It would be wise to write that over each of your ambitions. “Go ahead, drink of that water. But you will thirst again.” Write that over every material thing you hope to possess – the new car, new home, boat, or whatever. Write that over every goal of your life. Achieve it, but you will surely thirst again.

When Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman about the living water, He was talking about the only thing that can possibly satisfy the deep thirst of the soul—a relationship with God.

Are you thirsty today? Forget the world’s water. Drink deeply of the living water – and find the satisfaction you long for.

Lord, we thank You that You make a way for us to satisfy the deep thirst of our soul. May we come, may we drink, and find that satisfaction that our soul is seeking.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Pastor Chuck Smith "Wisdom For Today"

Tetelestai!

In the book of Acts we read that the Apostles filled with the Holy Spirit were turning the world upside down with the message of the Gospel, and those who believed were added daily to the family of God. It was the simplicity of the message that transformed their hearts….”For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whosoever  would believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “   (John 3:16) . They believed and were set free. They went from the power of Satan to the power of God. 

But it is so like the enemy to enter unto the scene and try to thwart God’s plan and add confusion. In Acts 15 what we see happening is that legalistic Christians began spreading a false message that a person had to keep the rites and traditions of the Jewish forefather in order to be accepted in the faith. Essentially they were adding to the finish work of the cross. 

Adding to the gift of salvation is something that has plagued the church and believers individually ever since.  Our flesh in us wants to add something to our salvation so that we feel we have a part in it, but the Bible teaches that the sum total of our righteousness is like filthy rags unto the Lord. (Isaiah 64:6) In other words, even on our best days we cannot merit being saved. There is nothing we can do to make God love us anymore than He already does and there is nothing we can do to cause Him to love us any less. His love is perfect, ours is imperfect: but the love of Christ indwelling us through the Spirit not only makes us His, it also makes us become like Him. 

“For by Grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)  

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1)

When we try to add to salvation we grieve the Spirit of God and are enslaved by trying to win the acceptance and the love of God. It causes us to continually perform for Him, never feeling good enough and never measuring up to an impossible standard that we erect. Then the grace of God is replaced by the shame of the enemy operating out of our lives.  That’s bondage. Jesus came to set us free. As our beloved Jesus gave up His Spirit on the cross He cried out…..”TETELESTAI.” It is finished! !!!!! 

Do we believe this? How we answer this question will establish the level of freedom we will experience in our lives as believers because the word of God declares……”So who the Son sets free is free indeed!”  When this truth resonates deeply in your heart, it will transform your life, and you will fall passionately in love with your Jesus causing His love to spill over unto all aspects of your life. So when the enemy comes to condemn ….you too can cry out…”TETELESTAI! “ It is finished!

by Cecilia Trent

Blind Trust

But Simon Answered and said to Him, "Master we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net."

Luke 5:5

Jesus told Simon Peter to let down his net. But they had been fishing all night and had caught nothing and he told the Lord as much.  Peter must have been exhausted and discouraged and may have even wanted to quit. But he didn't argue with the Lord. Instead he said, "Nevertheless, at your word I will let down the net." And because he obeyed blindly--- not because he believed that this time he would be successful, but because Jesus  told him to---they pulled up a net overflowing with fish that it almost broke. 

Our best efforts can lead to empty nets. But obedience can bring success beyond our wildest dreams. There were years in my own ministry where I threw out nets and brought back nothing. But when the Lord purposed to fill the nets, they were suddenly filled to overflowing. It had nothing to do with my own abilites or my own power. It happened simply because God purposed it. And all the glory goes to Him. 

God's command may seem contrary to your logic. But if you listen for direction and act in obedience, you will find the difference between failure and success. "Nevertheless, at Your word I will do it. "Let those be words we live by.

Father, make us such obedient children that at the slightest whisper from You, we act. Teach us to trust Your voice over our own and the voice of doubt from the enemy. In Jesus name. Amen!

by Pastor Chuck Smith

What Bread Have You Been Eating?

In John 6:35, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.”  With this analogy, He illustrates a physical need to explain a spiritual need.   The human body requires food for nourishment and sustainment of life. Without it, we wither away and die. The spiritual inference here suggests that we are always feeding off of some kind of bread.  However, there is only one bread that will truly satisfy our hunger. 

Every human being has an inward need and craving for love. We were created to know true love.  Not just any love but God’s undefiled, authentic, Agape love.  He is the source of that love.  His love is so complete that it will give us a sense of security, acceptance and value as precious beloved children of God.  If our need for love is not met, we will go through life trying to get our need met through people, places and things apart from God.  We will go seeking after the wrong bread and start to feed off that which never satisfies our hunger for love.  

Psalm 27 says, “A satisfied man craves the honeycomb, but to a hungry man even the bitter thing seems sweet.”  What does this mean in modern vernacular?  Bad love is better than no love at all.  It’s easy to judge those who stay in abusive or dysfunctional relationships and the young woman who cruises bars giving her body away freely. How about women, young and old, who dress provocatively and cheapen themselves because they do not know their value and worth?  The sad reality is that they are looking for love and acceptance, but like the song says, they are “looking for love in all the wrong place.” This cheap imitation of love is better than no love at all.  They probably have never had their love cup topped off, so they are getting it anyway they know how. 

The bible mentions unfailing love 33 times in the New Testament but nowhere is the source of that love found in anyone or anything other than the person of Jesus Christ. However, we keep running to people, places and things hoping they will fill our deepest need for love, but we are left continually unsatisfied. It is not wrong to desire to be loved, God created us for love, but it is desperately wrong for us to think that we can get our deepest need for love in anything other than the love of Christ. 

Psalm 107:9 declares, "God satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with goodness." In other words, He will not take away our craving for love; instead He satisfies it the right way.  Oswald Chambers wrote, "No love of the natural heart is safe unless the human heart has been satisfied by God first."

When this truth resonates deeply into our hearts and soul, it will change our lives. We no longer have to chase after the wrong  bread that never satisfies because we will be feeding off the best bread of all, the right bread….The bread of life, our beloved Jesus! He is the only one that satisfies completely with His unfailing, unending love. What bread have you been eating?