Seek First The Kingdom of God and His Righteousness

 I recently listened to a mom speak about her teenage child who is in active addiction. This child goes missing often and wherever they go it is a rough place because when they come back they are all cut up. As this mother was speaking about this Mark 16:17a came to mind. “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons;. “ I don’t believe that casting out demons is listed first by mistake. Deliverance is supposed to be a normal part of every believer’s life.  Did you know that 12 step groups are only about 1 percent effective in getting people out of addiction? How effective has anti poverty programs been?  What if we started seeing things that are going on around us differently? What if we saw addiction as a need for deliverance? What if we saw poverty as a need for deliverance? What if we started seeing the demonic strongholds for what they are started casting them out?  Hosea 4:6 mentions that God’s people are destroyed because...

  Acts 4:13   Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.   I saw a clip from an interview with R.T. Kendall where he was asked this question, “After 70 years in ministry what would be your advice to a young R.T. Kendall?”  His answer was that though he himself has many degrees he would not recommend to young ministers to go to seminary.  He mentioned Acts 4:13. His recommendation was to do 2 things.  Pray a lot and know your Bible. He said that God wants us to know 2 things, His Word and His ways. He pointed out that how we know His ways or anyone’s ways is to spend time with them. This is not the first time that Acts 4:13 has jumped out to me. This time I ask myself the question do unbelievers know that I have been with Jesus?  The they that realized in Acts 4:13 wasn’t the church but unbelievers....

Psalm 91:1  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High  Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.   Psalm 91 is a beautiful psalm. So many blessings and promises are contained in its 16 verses. My grandparents for years before they passed would read this psalm together. It is probably one of the most encouraging portions of scripture in the Bible.  Today the Holy Spirit brought my focus to the 1st verse and showed me that all the rest flows out from this. Without verse 1 you don’t have the rest. When we dwell in the secret place of the most High and abide in the shadow of the almighty how can we not be blessed? How can we not be protected? How can we not be victorious and healthy?  I saw several castles and towers in Ireland and have seen several forts here in the states that were built for the protection of the people. Thing is that they didn’t always work. Some of those I saw were also in ruins.  What are the things that people put their trust...

  Peace and Stillness Mark 4:36-40 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Notice exactly what Jesus did. First He is sleeping in the middle of a storm. A storm that has experienced fishermen who probably had experienced a storm or two in the life to become afraid. In the middle of this very bad storm what awakens Jesus isn’t the storm but the disciples. Next let us focus on what Jesus said to the sea. “Peace, be still” He spoke what He had and was living in. Think about it. I...

  Matt 7:3-5 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say to not notice the speck or to ignore the speck in your brother’s eye. What He says is to first get rid of the plank in your own eye and then you can see clearly to remove the speck in your brother’s eye. If we think of sin as being something in our eye we would understand that none of us want that. I don’t want a speck let alone a plank in my eye. It hurts. I want it out. Of course I don’t want someone to help me who has a plank in their eye because they can’t see clearly to get my speck out PLUS they are going to cause more damage by hitting me in the head with their plank. On the other hand I do wa...

  Who is Like You Lord?   Micah 7:18-20  18  Who  is  a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights  in  mercy.  19  He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea. 20  You will give truth to Jacob  And  mercy to Abraham, Which You have sworn to our fathers From days of old.   Exodus 15:11-19  11  “Who  is  like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who  is  like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?  12  You stretched out Your right hand; The earth swallowed them.  13  You in Your mercy have led forth The people whom You have redeemed; You have guided  them  in Your strength To Your holy habitation.  14...