Saturday, March 22, 2008

“And they Murmured”

The Bible says a lot about murmuring and complaining & the results of doing this. We look at the children of Israel and the disciples and we think how could they complain or doubt God. They saw the mighty miracles first hand. They walked with the one who brought them out of darkness. God provided for them in many ways. But every time something happened that might seem like a rough road they started to murmur and complain. Are we any different today. God has brought us out of a life of guilt and shame. He has given us hope and eternal life, yet when the hard times come we start complaining that it is not enough or it does not meet our expectations.

Many times the children of Israel looked back to Egypt (a type of the world) & started to murmur. They felt they had it good there, better than where they were at the time they began to murmur. They forgot the oppression, the Lack, the bondage, & the lash of the taskmaster that they had. Satan will always glorify the past as if it were some great thing. We watch movies and read love stories with happy endings and we deceive ourselves into thinking that our past was better than it really was. We were alone and had no hope without God!!

If we are not happy with the present we will glorify the past and start complaining about where we are. God is not happy with this. Being dissatisfied with what the Lord has provided leds to unbelief. Muttering of discontentment causes you to start doubting God’s word. (complaining hinders Faith)

Why meditate while continuing to let the dissatisfied heart continue to come out. When we are dissatisfied we start talking & focusing on that thing that bothers us. We must cast our cares on Him, focus on Him, Look to him, be thankful that we can go to him. He knows the end from the beginning. He has the answers. He knows how to get you through whatever situation you are in.

Murmuring breeds rebellious feelings, discontentment, disapproval, an unsatisfied heart, one who is not satisfied with what God is doing in their live and heart.

John 6:61 the disciples murmured
Ex 16:7-9 Your murmuring is not against man, but God.
Ex 15:24; 16:2
Num 11:1; 14:27

Phil 2:14 Do all things without grumbling & fault finding & complaining [against God] & questioning & doubting [among yourselves]

Matt 20:11 Jn 6:61 Mark 14:4 & 5 Ps 106:25,26 Jude 16 Is 29:23,24
Prov 19:3 I Cor 10:10

John 6: 43 Murmur not among yourselves... DO NOT bring others into your murmuring.

Remember where the Lord has brought you from. Don’t look at the things of this world. The things that are going on in you and around you do not have to cause you to murmur and complain. You can look to Jesus the author and finisher of your faith and can know that He has all things under control. He is not worried about what is happening to you or around you. He is the all mighty and He will accomplish in you what he has started. So when things do not seem to be what you want them to be, wait on the Lord and see His salvation and His deliverance!!!!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

“BE A READY LISTENER”


The bible talks a lot about hearing. This is not just a thing that you do with your ears. You do this with your heart. You hear many things that have no value and add nothing to your life.

James 1:19 (amp) Understand [this], my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear [A READY LISTENER], slow to speak(slow to murmur), slow to take offense & slow to get angry.

vs 22... Be a doer of the word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it...

vs 23 For if anyone listens to the word without obeying it & being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;

vs 24 for he thoughtfully observes himself, & then goes off & promptly forgets what he was like.

The only way a person is going to be able to hear is to put their faith in what Jesus did at the cross. When they do that, God gives His grace & the help of the Holy Spirit to work in your heart. That will allow you to be a doer of the word & not a hearer only.

Rom 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

By Hearing & hearing & hearing...

This is a continual process. Hearing and doing what the word says. Hearing God’s word & believing that word. You can’t just hear anything & have the God kind of faith . Only hearing God’s word can produce that.

Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door & knock; if anyone hears & listens to & heeds my voice & open the door, I will come in to him & will eat with him, & he [will eat] with me.


JAMES 1:25 Be no a forgetful hearer

People become dull in hearing, mentally lazy, blind, & unwilling to hear.

Some do not have an “ear to hear” because of a harden heart.

(to truly “hear” Jesus’ words is to believe them, to use them immediately in decisions & attitudes, & to base life on them...) (life application bible)
To hear Jesus’ words is to make Jesus your true Lord. (They shall know my voice)

James 1:22 Doers not just hearers.

Luke 8:18 Be careful how you listen...

Is 55:1-3 (amp) Wait and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy & eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing]. vs 3-Incline your ear [submit and consent to the divine will] and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with you, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David.

Incline your ear and hear. Be a ready listener!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

“WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART”


The bible talks a lot about the way we should live. It says that we should examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. (II Cor. 13:5) What we do on a daily basis really shows what is in us. It is not what we do when others are looking, or what we do at church, or even at work. You can tell what is in a person's heart by the way he acts daily.

Prov 4:23 Keep & guard your HEART with all vigilance & above all that you guard, for out of it flow the spring of life.

Many people look to the things of this world. Things will not make you happy.

Matt. 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your HEART be also.

You can tell what people believe just by what they say.

Matt. 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the HEART; and they defile the man.

Matt. 12:34 ... for out of the abundance of the HEART the mouth speaketh.


Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his HEART bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his HEART bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the HEART his mouth speaketh.

Matt. 22:37; Luke 10:27; Deut 6:5; Josh 22:5- Love the Lord thy God with all thy HEART

John 14:1 Do not have a troubled HEART

Ex. 35:5 Have a willing HEART

I Sam 16:7 God looks at the HEART, men look on the outside, but God looks at the HEART

I John 5:21(AMP) Little children, keep yourselves from idols (false gods) - [from anything & everything that would occupy the place in your HEART due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life]. Amen (so let it be)

Heb 3:10 Don’t be led away in your HEARTS

Heb 3:12 do not have an unbelieving HEART

Heb 3; Mark 16:14; John 12:40 Do not harden your HEART

Ezek 18:31 & 36:26 have a new HEART, and not a stoney HEART
Ps112:8; Ps 34 - Have a steady HEART

We must protect our hearts. Guard your heart, keep it loving, & keep it pure. Never let it be troubled. I liked the way my husband put it, “do not lose command of your own heart”. We must not let others take from our hearts what God is doing in us. Keep your faith placed in what Jesus did at the cross. When you do that the Holy Spirit will work in you. You do not look at others. You do not know what is in their HEART. You only can look to Jesus for who you are to be. It is the will of God that we are conformed to the image of Jesus, not the image of this world. So Guard your HEART!!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

“FORGET NOT!”


The Lord delivered you, now will you forsake Him?

How many times has the Lord forgiven you? How many times do you forget Him? Do you give Him glory for bringing you through life’s trials?

The Lord has said He would not leave you nor forsake you, but what about you? Do you go through your day without Him?

Ps 103:2 - ... and forget not all His benefits:

Jer 1 & 2; 1:16 They worship the works of their hands.

Forgetting God is: A characteristic of the wicked: Prov 2:17,
Is 65:11

Backsliders are guilty of it: Jer 3:21,22

Forgetting:

His covenant: Deu 4:23, 2 King 17:38
His works: Ps 103;2, 106:7
His word: Heb 12:5 James 1:25
His law: Ps 119:153, 176 Hos 4:6
Past deliverance: Jud 8:34, Ps 78:42
His Power to deliver: Is 51:13-15
Is encouraged by false teachers : Jer 23:27
Prosperity often leads to it: Deu 8:12-14; Hos 13:6
Trials should not lead to it: Ps 44:17-20
Resolve against it: Ps 119:16, 93
Caution against it: Deu 6:12; Deu 8:11
Exhortation to those guilty of it: Ps 50:22
Punishment of it: Job 8:12,13 Ps 9:17; Is 17:10,11; Exe 23:35; Hos. 8:14

Don’t forget where the Lord has brought you from. Many people start out for the Lord because of some kind of trouble they are in or they are down on their luck. Then they turn to God for forgiveness and for help. But when the Lord has mercy on them, forgives them, and helps them, they turn back to the world and the ways of the world. Beware lest you Forget!!!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Satan’s Final Assignments



These notes and thoughts are taken from a message that my husband, Len Paxton preached. This message is so important, because in these last days many will fall away and be deceived. We must learn and know the attacks of the enemy. He wants you to fall and to turn away from the truth of God’s word. Just as he got Adam and Eve to question what God had said, Satan is still working the same today. Has God said?

1) Satan attacks truth: There is no truth in Satan, He speaks lies. He wants you to think that there are many ways to God.
He takes the truth and mixes lies in it to deceive many.

There is no other way to be saved but through Jesus (Jesus Christ & Him Crucified, through the shed blood of Jesus only) Jesus speaks the truth (John 8:42-47)

2) Satan attacks the message of the Cross - The object of our faith. Satan tries to tell us there is another way of victory. The only way of victory is to place our faith in Jesus & what he did at the cross. Satan’s main objective is to take our faith. Many people have their faith in their faith, or in their works. That is what satan wants. He wants to distract you and keep you from hearing the message of the Cross.

3) Satan attacks our Testimony. Rev 12:10 says he accuses us before God day and night. Our testimony should be what Jesus did for us at the cross. Not what we can do in our own strength and might.

4) Satan tries to put fear on & in us. Many times in the bible God says DO NOT FEAR. Satan works through fear. Just as the Holy Spirit works through faith. (Only when our faith is placed in what Jesus did at the cross)

Satan is a deceiver (Rev 12:9), he is a liar (John 8:44), he is an accuser (Rev 12:10), he is a thief (John 10:10), he wants to devour you (I Peter 5:8)

Satan will prevail not!!! (Rev 17:8)