Is God Enough?

Read this and it blessed me tremedously and I just wanted to share.

Is God Enough?
Melissa Taylor
"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19 (NIV 1984)
Is God enough? It's a question that my circumstances bring me back to quite often. Over a lifetime I've concluded not only is God enough, but He has to be enough.
It takes effort on my part to make sure my heart is staying in this truth.
As a young child, I didn't realize my need for God, but I did realize I had a need that was not fulfilled. I was sexually abused when I was seven years old. My dad left our family when I was eleven. Both circumstances left me devastated, and I didn't understand how God could bring healing at that time. I spent many years trying to heal myself and make myself feel better.
Nothing was enough to meet my needs. Nothing worked.

As I grew older, I moved from being a Christian who simply believed to becoming a Christian actively seeking and following Jesus. And my life began to change.
Because I was having direct conversations with God and consistently reading His Word, I was challenged. I learned that when the hard knocks came, and they would, I needed to ask one question in order to move on: "Is God enough?"

When a friend betrays me, is God enough?
When I need to forgive what seems unforgivable, is God enough?
When my child has issues out of my control, is God enough?
When my marriage is on the brink of destruction, is God enough?
When I am not forgiven by another, is God enough?
When my mom is dying of cancer, is God enough?
When others don't recognize my value, is God enough?
When I struggle professionally, is God enough?
When someone I love uses words to hurt me, is God enough?
When I am in debt and don't know how I'll pay my bills, is God enough?
When my past haunts me, is God enough?
When my health declines, is God enough?
When I am let down and disappointed in my life, is God enough?

WAKE UP CHURCH!!!!!!!!!

My friend @Billyb had a blog which inspired me to check out a video called Wake Up Church he had posted a few months back and I am inspired to write these words down to present how far the Church has fallen and the urgency to be Jesus' Church. This is about the 1st 2 minutes of a 10 minute video.

David Wilkerson: You will rarely find a message now on repentance. – Rather what we have now are prosperity messages, apologetic doctrines, massage people’s ego messages, feel good messages.

Keith Daniel: Look at what has become of the world Church of Jesus Christ!-through you-losing what you should have been. But God waits for His people. God waits for His people. When will they take the stepping stones God has placed in His word? – We need to take a good hard look at our lives in the mirror of the Word of God and examine ourselves if we are truly in the faith and make amends where necessary, we are living in the last days. We are to be like the 5 wise virgins having oil in our lamps so we are not at loss at His coming.

David Wilkerson: Church that has forgotten its foundations. A Church that has turned away from its foundations and becomes a harlot church. – We are preaching apologetic doctrines, trying to not offend the congregation lest they leave and the finances of the church takes a dive, forgetting that God should be our source and the not people. People pleasers and not God pleasers.
Carter Conlin: Just, just tell me how blessed I am. Just tell me I'm going to be powerful and popular and gonna have no trouble in my life-just tell me these things! – Just tell me I can give God a hundred and receive a thousand back because God is a money doublers, I don’t have to live a holy life since I am claiming and receiving His blessings so I can continue in my sins and not be afraid of retribution because I am a “tither” God is at my beck and call after all my tithe pays His salary right?

David Wilkerson: Watered down, half truths. This gospel says " Just believe and get saved"-There's nothing of repentance-nothing of Godly sorrow, nothing of turning from your sins-nothing about taking up your cross and following the Lord. But people who say a little prayer said "You're fine, you're good!" – Maybe the scripture that says we should “study to shew ourselves approved unto God a workman that needeth not be ashamed but rightly dividing the word of truth” or “ Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His and Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” 2 Tim 2: 15 & 19. Maybe these scriptures are not referring to us, are they obsolete?

Keith Conlin: People believe in any standard-even if it's the New Testament-is legalism and bondage and law! Any standard is law. "I'm under grace, I can do anything." No! That's from the devil! – 2 Cor 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  We are called out to be separate unto the Lord and not to blend in with the world; there should be a difference between those that serve the true God and those that don’t.  We are the called out ones and not the blended in ones. If you are under grace then you know grace is a continuing process and you need to align yourself with the will of God which is holiness and through the help of the Holy Spirit continue to live a holy life shunning all appearances of evil, looking unto Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of your faith.

Jim Cymbala: Now we've revised that and said " If you can get people for one hour on Sunday morning in the building-that's the Church". That's not the Church! " We can use every device we want to get people for 1 hour to keep it early and keep it moving and keep it going." But that's not the Church Jesus built. -  Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (NIV) As members of the body of Christ, we belong to each other.Romans 12:5 .. so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (NIV) It is actually for our own good that God want us in fellowship with other believers. We need each other to grow up in the faith, to learn to serve, to love one another, and to practice forgiveness. Though we are individuals, we still belong to one another.  We spend a lot of time watching unnecessary TV shows, playing games, doing things that does not edify but we can’t spend a few hours fellowshipping with our fellow brethren in the presence of God? It is a sad day when we are anxious to leave the presence of God. The multitudes were with Jesus every single day, sometimes neglecting their own well being or families, they followed Jesus everywhere he went even when he decided to retreat to a quiet place to pray and meditate, they still followed him so what excuse do we have, Jesus shed his blood for us, died a horrible death on the cross to redeem us back to the Father and we can’t even spare a few hours in fellowship together to share his word through songs and His word? We are truly living in the end times when men are lovers of themselves!!!

Heartlight Devotional

Be blessed as you read and meditate.
2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out reverence for God.
Thoughts on today's verse

In a world so full of distractions and temptations, purity is difficult. Even more than difficult, the call to purity often goes forgotten and ignored. Cheap grace is substituted for a call to passionate living. While we never want to give in to a "works righteousness," we also must remember that impurity through laziness, lack of commitment, or simple rebellion are contaminating to those claiming to be Christians and ruin our influence before the watching world.

Prayer:

Purify my heart, my life, my body, my influence, O God. May my words and my thoughts be blameless in your sight. I want to be holy as you are holy and honor you as only you are worthy of honor. You alone are God! Through Jesus I ask it. Amen.

WAITING ON THE LORD

In the NASB the word most often translated “wait” in the sense of waiting on the Lord is the Hebrew qavah. Qavah means (1) “to bind together” (perhaps by twisting strands as in making a rope), (2) “look patiently,” (3) “tarry or wait,” and (4) “hope, expect, look eagerly.” 

The second most frequently used word translated “wait” is yachal. Yachal means “to wait,” or “hope, wait expectantly,” and is so translated in our English Bibles. 

The KJV sometimes translates yachal as “trust” as in Isaiah 51:5, but the NASB has “wait expectantly” and the NIV “wait in hope.”

A third word sometimes translated “wait” is damam. Damam means “to be dumb, grow silent, be still,” but it is sometimes translated “wait, tarry, rest” (cf. Psa. 62:5 KJV).

A fourth word for waiting is chakah, “to wait, tarry,” or “long for” (cf. Ps. 33:20; 106:13; Isa. 30:18).

Waiting certainly plays an enormous role in the unfolding story of God's relationship to man. It is God's often repeated way of teaching us that His power is real and that He can answer our prayers without interference and manipulation from us. God does not need our help in fulfilling His promises to us, He is God Almighty and He is more than enough.

The waiting period, can seem to be a land where time seemingly stands still. It is a place where life is put on hold. When we are in the waiting room, it seems as if progress has come to a screeching halt. I have always said, "the longest period in a Christian's life is that space between when the prayers were made and the manifestation of the answer to prayers".

Our Lives are Meaningless with God.

What Grace is Not.

A few days ago I wrote on Grace and today I want to continue on the same subject by sharing my thoughts on what Grace is Not.

First of all Grace is never given out of fear. You show grace by living in fear in your relationship with God and your brother or sister because "perfect love always cast out fear". We should love in grace and not fear.

Grace is not a licence to sin. Romans 6:1-2 says "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Our lives in hid with Christ in God, so we should honor God at all times in our word, thoughts, deeds. We are bought with a price so we need to cherish the fact that we should no longer be a slave to what we have been delivered from.

Grace is not a licence to live a life thinking that all that is necessary is just to have faith in Christ and let him do all the work. Faith without works is dead. Phil. 2:12 says "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" Christ also said in Luke 13.24: "Strive to enter through the narrow gate". The Christian life is a race and everyone should strive to finish strong even the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim 4:7 said "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith". Even watching the modern day athletes, no one gets a medal without striving for it, so how do you think the Kingdom of God is different?

Politically correct statements- Food for thought.

Your bedroom isn't cluttered, it's just "passage restrictive."

Kids don't get grounded anymore. They merely hit "social speed bumps."

You're not late, you just have a "rescheduled arrival time."

You're not having a bad hair day, you're suffering from "rebellious follicle syndrome."

No one's tall anymore. He's "vertically enhanced."

You're not shy. You're "conversationally selective."

You don't talk a lot. You're just "abundantly verbal."

It's not called gossip anymore. It's "the speedy transmission of near-factual information."

AND FOR STUDENTS...

The food at the school cafeteria isn't awful. It's "digestively challenged."

No one fails a class anymore, he's merely "passing impaired."

You don't have detention, you're just one of the "exit delayed."

These days, a student isn't lazy. He's "energetically declined."

Your locker isn't overflowing with junk, it's just "closure prohibitive."

Your homework isn't missing, its just having an "out-of-notebook experience."

You're not sleeping in class, you're "rationing consciousness."

You don't have smelly gym socks, you have "odor-retentive athletic footwear."

You weren't passing notes in class. You were "participating in the discreet exchange of penned meditations."

You're not being sent to the principal's office. You're "going on a mandatory field trip to the administrative building."
But seriously isn't that what is going on in the world now and it's slowing creeping into the Church too, so called Christians don't want to pray in Jesus name anymore but in "your son's name" who is the son? Remember Jesus says anything we ask in His name, He will do it for us, so to whom are we praying when we say "in your son's name"? Jesus has a name USE IT!!!!!!!!!