Pure in Heart

Jesus said "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" Matthew 5:8. The scriptures have a lot to say about the heart. Solomon the wisest man to live outside of Jesus Christ said "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" Proverbs 4:23. We are commanded to love God with all our heart. The heart of the physical body is the central focus of our physical health. It is vital to have a healthy heart if we are going to live a fruitful, productive life. The heart that the Bible refers to is our spiritual heart or the central focus for our spiritual health. This is why Solomon stated the most important thing in life in having wisdom is the guarding of our heart. Guarding our motivations, actions and thought life is at the core of guarding our heart. Let us not deceive ourselves in thinking that we have pure motives while our actions are contrary to good, healthy Christian living. As well do not deceive ourselves if our actions are good but we have a corrupted thought life. The prophet Jeremiah addressed this issue "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve." Jeremiah 17:9-10. Therefore how to I examine my heart? How can I have the assurance that I have a pure heart? The answer to this question may surprise some but if one will heed this they can prevent having a deceitful heart. First, make sure I am in proper standing is God, that all my sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ the only Savior and Lord of all life. Second, examine the heart by what you are doing with your time, talents and money. Jesus said "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" Matthew 6:21. Understanding our treasure is basically understanding what is important and in what am I putting my trust. I examine this area by what I am actually doing and not on what I say I want to do. Some people say that God is number one in their life but they rarely attend church, do not tithe, do not read their Bible consistently, do not pray often and are ungrateful people. By their actions it is clear that God is not number one though they have convinced themselves that is the case. A careful self examination before God would clear us this misunderstanding. I want to see God, I want you to see God. Jesus said that if I and you are pure in heart we will see God. Let us take the words of Jesus seriously and do whatever we need to do in order to be pure of heart.
May the Lord bless you and keep you in His love.

Pastor John

The Grace of God

The grace of God is often misunderstood. Far too many just equate grace with an incident in life that God protected them or the fact that their sins are forgiven. The grace of God is much more then that, grace is God's empowerment when we are weak, grace is God's strength when going through a difficult season of life and grace is God's anointing upon us broken vessel that the gospel will be known by others. The apostle Paul had what he called a thorn in his flesh. Many have debated exactly what that was but that is not what is important. What is important is that Paul was facing a difficult time and was weak. It is at this point God said to him II Corinthians 12:9 "But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest upon me." The desire that the apostle Paul had for the power of God helped him to keep time of weakness and the difficult times of life in their proper prespective. God is able to make all grace abound. God can strengthen and bring forth victory and give hope in the most difficult times. Whatever you maybe facing today I encourage you to pray for the grace of God to be manifested in your situation today. I acknowledge frequently that I am weak but then pray for the sufficiency of God's grace to come and strengthen me.
May the God of all power and love send forth His grace upon your life today.

Pastor John

The Old Testament ends with messages of the prophet Malachi. There is a verse that the Lord says, "You have wearied the Lord with your words. "How have we wearied Him?" you ask. by saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and He is pleased with them" or "Where is the god of justice." Whenever change what the Lord has already said is not received well by the Lord. There were times in school when the test was real hard and so as not to flunk all the students the teacher would grade on a curve. That is what was not a passing grade now can become a passing grade. Somehow we think that God is going to do something similar to for us. We do that by saying: it's really not that bad, everyone is doing it, it is just too hard so God is going to overlook some things or the thought that every is going to heaven. The standard of God is what it is and no amount of our words or thoughts about them is going to change the really that God is going to judge us fairly and righteously based upon His standard and His words and not our standard and our words. This means then if I am going to please the Lord then I must align myself up with him and not the other way around. Lord help us to understand You and Your ways that I will have a heart that pleases You in all that I do.

Pastor John

Divine intervention

The story of Esther is one of impossible odds if it were not God working out His plan to save His people. What are the odds of a young Jewish girl becoming the queen? What are the odds Mordacai would be elevated to second in charge of a nation that had a law on the books to wipe out all the Jews? In the natural these odds are so high that it would not be worth trying to figure them out. I thank God that He is at work whether or not I am aware of it or not. There are things that happen that are outside our control but as we trust the Lord we can have confidence that God is working out all things for our good as we love God. Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I do not know about you situation but I need God to work out some good, that is I am praying and looking for a divine intervention of God. What I cannot do God can do. What I cannot change God can change. The things that I am believing God for can only come about through the power and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord help us to believe what You have said because Your Word does declare Your faithfulness and Your love is everlasting.
May God's righteous hand be upon your life.

Pastor John