Wings as Eagles

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint
~Isiah 40:31

Exodus 17: 11-13
11. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon: and Aaron and Hur stayed yo his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
13. And Joshua doscomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Ever feel like Moses in the above scripture? You try your best to stay in the fight, and you get tired? We all do. We all get discouraged.
We can renew out strength as said in the version from Isiah at the top by waiting on the Lord. He can give us to strength to pull through whatever life throws at us. If we let Him. Even in the worst of circumstances, we can keep our joy. Joy is one of the fruits of the spirit, and God grants every Christian the ability to be joyful. Just because one is a Christian, however, does not mean that they'll automatically be joyful. No, they have to reach for it. In my experience, the way to be truly joyful is to have your heart fully yielded to God. It's a happiness--joy--like none other. Through joy, God enables us to keep up the good fight, to keep on keeping on.

Another way to be encouraged is from others. That's one reason for church. Church, the people there, the sermon, the congregational hymsn, can encourage you in your walk down the straight and narrow path. Encouragement is also what this blog is intended for.

Last but not least, praise God. Praising him for what He's done for you, giving credit where it's due, will encourage you. It reminds you that of what God has done and what He can still do. It'll help your heart stay yielded.

Serving God Whole-Heartedly and Guarding Your Heart

If you lose the wonder of your salvation, your heart can quickly become cold, and the enemy will have the advantage over you. Be careful; guard your heart for your King.~
from, The Terrestria Chronicles: The Sword, the Ring, and the Parchment

Once again, I have come to share my musings on following the straight and narrow path. This post's topic is serving God with all of your heart. When serving God, it is oh so easy to get side-tracked and start doing things, even following morals, for your own glory. A Christian's duty is to give glory to God, not self. It's fine to be proud of our accomplishments, but we shouldn't get a big head over them. We should recognize that God helps us and give Him His due praise.

Many things can get in the way of serving God. The devil has many traps. He wishes to slowly influence our thoughts and feelings. He does this through TV programs, the internet, individuals, etc. These things are not bad, they can simply be used for bad. They can be used for good as well.

After hearing a message for long enough, whether we realize it or not, we often start to believe it. For example, people I've talked to over the internet kept telling me things contrary to what the Bible teaches. At first, I argued strongly with them. Then I started giving in and wondered if their words were true. (Eventually, it got me into that pit of doubt that I was in not long before my first post in this blog.) Indeed, I almost started believing it before God called me back to Him so lovingly.

How can we keep ourselves from slowly turning away from God and doubting His Word? The best way is to have good influences. Read wholesome books, watch wholesome programs, listen to wholesome music, have wholesome friends, and most importantly--read your Bible daily. And keep in close communication with God through prayer. We cannot rid our lives of satanic messages completely, but remember: We have two natures. A good nature that wants to please God. And a bad nature that wants to please self. Whichever we feed most is the nature that will influence us most. If you find yourself doubting God, seek advice from a good Christian friend in addition to Bible reading and prayer.

Walking the straight and narrow path is not easy. It's tough, but God helps you through it if you let Him. And just imagine how glorious it will be once we all get to Heaven and we hear God tell us, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Oh, and if you'd like some examples of wholesome books, I know of a few. A series that I got for Christmas--The Terrestria Chronicles--are especially excellent. They have been an immense sense of encouragment to me. I can give you a list of some others if you wish to ask.
God bless.

Merry Christmas

Today, I'm going to share a poem that was shared at my church. I know it's not Christmas Day or even Christmas Eve yet, but I wanted to put these up this morning.

T'was The Night Before (Jesus came)
Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house
Not a creature was praying, not one in the house.
Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care
In hopes that Jesus would not soon come there.

The children were dressing to crawl into bed,
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.
And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.

When out of the East there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash!

When what to my wondering eyes should appear?
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray
I knew in a moment this must be The Day!

The light of His face made me cover my head
It was Jesus! returning just like He had said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth
I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself.

In the Book of Life which He held in His hand
Was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word as He searched for my name;
When He said, "It's not here" my head hung in shame.

The people whose names had been written with love
He gathered to take to His Father above.
With those who were ready He rose without a sound
While all the rest were left standing around.

I fell to my knees, but it was too late;
I had waited too long and this sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight;
Oh, if only I had been ready tonight.

In the words of this poem the meaning is clear;
The coming of Jesus is soon drawing near.
There's only one life and when comes the last call
We'll find that the Bible was true after all!

-Author Unknown


Merry Christmas everyone and God bless you all!

Taking it to God

I've been having some rough times in my life. Sometimes I feel like ranting. And that's what I was doing on a forum that I was in. But then I realized, why rant to other human beings when I can take it to God and let Him help me?
God does more than help me. He encourages me. He draws me closer to Him.
Like one of the hymns says:
Come unto me. I will give you rest. Take my load upon you. Hear me and be blessed. I am meek and lowly, come and trust my might. Come, my yoke is easy and my burden's light.
That hymn describes it perfectly. God doesn't want us to be overwhelmed by life's problems. He wants us to trust in Him.
I Peter 5:7 - Casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.

Listening to God

Most Christians that I know sing hymns. When you sing a hymn, do you just sing it or think about the words and the hymn's message while you're sining it? It's easy to sing a hymn and not pay attention to the words. But I prefer to think about the words while I'm sining a hymn. After all, sometimes God is trying to encourage me or tell me something through a hymn.
We've all have heard the hymn "Oh, How I Love Jesus", but do you really love him like you should? We were singing that in church today and God put that thought into my mind. Do I really love Jesus like I should? Admittedly, not always. I get caught up in the things of this world sometimes. Funny, that's what the pastor's sermon this morning ended up being about too. God was definitely speaking to me about that.
God has several ways of telling us something. Sometimes it's from a sermon on TV, sometimes it's from a song on the radio, sometimes in a book that we are reading, sometimes through a hymn or other song, or sometimes in your pastor's sermon. You just have to listen. I don't know if it's like this for everyone, but when God is talking to me it's like a thought but I know that it's not my thought.

Encouragement

In today's world, being a Christian can be very discouraging. The devil knows that not much time is left, so he's tightening his grip and having "them" twist the truth about Christianity and Christians. Just the other day, my dad told me that he was flipping through the channels and he came across what looked like a spoof of Bibleman on the comedy channel. They had the characters do and say things that a Christian in God's will would never have done, for example shocking someone with a Bible when that person said something that "Bibledude" didn't agree with.
They are really trying to make Christians look like hypocrits. Some Christians are hypocrits and that makes worse for us and from a lost person's point of view it confirms when the world is trying to tell people about Christians.
How do we fight back? As the Bibles says, be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. In other words, try to keep a decent attitude no matter what. It isn't easy, but God can and will help you do that if you are a willing vessel.

This was in last week's church bulliten

9/11 Survivors
As you may know, the head of a company survived 9/11 because his son started kindergarten that morning.
Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.
One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
One of them missed the bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One's car wouldn't start.
One went back to answer the phone.
One had a child that dawdled all day and they didn't get ready as soon as they should have.
One couldn't get a taxi.
The one that sturck me the most was that the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. This is why he is alive today.
Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an evelvator, turn back to answer a ringing phone, - all the little things that annoy me; I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.