One Goal for 2015: Read the Bible Everyday!

One Goal for 2015: Read the Bible Everyday!                      by Kelly Durant  12-28-14

Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. James 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

2. How many people do you know when they go to a buffet fill their plate until it’s over flowing only to discover that they were not able to eat but half of it? Go to Golden Coral sometime and look around at all the plates of people with leftover food and you might conclude that the majority of us as human beings always believe we are capable of more than what we actually are! It stems from pride and greed in our sinful nature. We really should never waste food, but many people are not taught the virtue of considering others. I try to not over serve, not overeat, and not waste food just because I can! The lesson: People should never commit to something and then not finish what they accepted.

This concept, of having eyes bigger than your stomach I am applying to the goals you set for yourselves this new year of 2015. Many people propose losing weight this time of year and gyms make a lot of money in January but by February the New Year’s resolution goals are totally forgotten.  I was reviewing the past goals that we had set for ourselves as a Corps in the past and it seems that even though we may have chosen 5 goals in 2014 or 2013, which seemed reasonable, in reality we all know we really only have been getting one done! So this year let’s make only one goal! The goal will be to read all the New Testament of the Bible in one year!

How many of you have read all the New Testament all the way through? It is a contradictory to claim to be a Christian yet never study the divinely inspired Word of God. It is our instruction manual for life. It is our light in the darkness of this world. It contains the soul of God himself so we are guided to understand his love, purpose, and direction for our lives.

3. I recall when I was a kid I had an aunt who had a big Bible on the coffee table. One time I asked her, I see this here all the time do you read it? She replied, “Well, not really, I have it there to bring us good luck!” Sounds crazy, right? That is like buying a new TV because all the neighbors say they are informative and then never turning it on! The Word of God is only as effective as it is put into use! In South America I recall many people saying, never start reading the Bible, it will make you crazy! What bad advice! The Bible can lead oppressed people out of government control, out of sin, out of poverty, but only if collectively everyone lives by it!

How does the Word of God work after you read it? It sticks in your memory and the precise verse needed comes to the front of your brain when you are in the situations life throws at you. For example, how many of you have ever been cut off in a line, or in traffic, or been insulted by an aggressive person? Knowledge of the Word could save your life! Reacting carnally and not spiritually can get you killed! Just last week two guys at a convenience store started arguing and one man full of anger turned around and did a surprise punch in the face to the other. The sad part is the punched man fell down knocked out cold and his skull cracked after he hit the floor and died soon afterward! So this 2^nd degree murder charge means the man who was an aggressive fool will spend the rest of his life in jail and another man’s life was sadly lost over foolish arguing. Had one of them been a practicing Christian, with emotions controlled, this would not have happened!

I can’t tell you how many times the Word of God has come to me in my head reminding me of verses, ones like Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. People are ignorant, arrogant and insulting at times but our mission from God is to respond in His way as taught in the Word, not in our own way. Always as yourself, what would Jesus do? Do you do what Jesus would? To know what he did, you have to know His story frontwards and backwards! There is a time to be silent and a time to speak up and God’s wisdom reveals what to do when you need it. Today, Biblical minded people are a rare breed!

4. There are so many things of wise counsel that people are ignorant of because they do not know God’s word. After learning God’s word you and I, are faced with the dilemma of changing our rough, mistake prone human nature way of doing things to fit God’s ways. It is hard but not impossible to practice Jesus’ words like in Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Some people argue that we only have 2 cheeks so on the third one you can get them back, but that is not how it works. It is the spirit of the statues that dictate. But before it getting to the point of someone getting hit we should recall, Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

What is the general point so far? That the knowledge of the Word will give you wisdom in dire situations, so that it protects you from adding fuel to the fire of evil, and when God’s Word with peaceful ways are practiced then you live in peace with God and with everyone else! Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

The practical part of following the Word of God is of great importance to live a blessed life full of wisdom but there is more to it than that. God’s word internally motivates us encompassing our emotions as well. The deep feelings we all harbor but have a hard time dealing with are the hard questions in life like, who loves me? Who really does love you anyway?

5. You should also ask yourself, who do I love? How have you expressed love lately? A real Christian will take in love and reflect it back to you like a mirror, but a person of darkness will just suck up your love like light disappearing into a black hole. So many people in life get burned out because they miss the mark of loving God and others with all their hearts, minds, and souls, so their love, energy, and time all gets wasted on worthless Godless fools! What frustration and depression people live in because they are ignorant of God’s word concerning relationships!

Many people say they love God and Jesus but they really know little about Him because they have read little of His teachings. Again, many people have never read the Bible even once in their lives, so how can God believe they love Him when they do not care to know much about Him? In this country of freedom where Bibles are everywhere there is no excuse either. I have discovered that when you love God and His Word, God does love you back by sending strange warm emotions to you through the Holy Spirit. When one studies the history of the disciples, their stories and lessons come alive in our lives and we get moved and awakened to be bold and do new things. The Word makes us wiser, more convicted to live right, and this brings us peace and blessings. Love, which we absorb through God’s word, is an emotion and it causes you and me to react and reach out and do something good! People then want to serve!  

Not being deep with God is not God’s fault but rather ours. Not spending time in God’s word is like having a friend that every time you want to talk about something of the heart they shut you up by changing the subject or leaving. How many of you know people like that? They are good for superficial talk but they are worthless for connecting with the things of the heart. Don’t be that way with God! God was the first to give you and me love, it is a recorded fact and written down, and He would like a whole hearted response of love back! So fall in love with God, Jesus, the Word, and go deep into the Christian life of walking in the spirit in holiness! You will start living above the clouds and be victorious! You may have bad days, but God’s word will lift you back up!

6. So, for your practical and emotional well-being, and maturity, each of you in the Corps must have one goal for this new year of 2015, to read the Word of God! And is this goal just my vision only? No it is not! I try to march in step with what the rest of the Christian world is doing so we have unity with our brothers and sisters in the spirit.

The Salvation Army has printed a booklet on guiding us through the New Testament in one year and every regular member here will get one of these. It is a part of the 150 year mark celebration of the SA and the General, and the people organizing the Congress, proposed this challenge to the SA around the world. Let’s do it, the rest of the world is doing it; just one goal for the year is doable! 

After all, to understand the whys of what motivates Christians, Officers, and volunteers worldwide about 3 million strong (1 million Soldiers, 2 volunteers) to keep doing what they do for the good of all and just for the love of God, with little or no pay, you and I must understand what the Word of God teaches. The Word of God changes hard indifferent hearts into beautiful loving compassionate ones!

7. Christmas just passed and what do people do on Christmas? They share time together and give gifts to each other. Think of this, what did you give Jesus for Christmas? I know a few people went out to serve food to the poor, some visited the sick and some of you did serve the Lord recently, but what could you and I give Jesus anyway?

I want to reiterate that this year you and I must take the opportunity to give Jesus our time daily by reading His word. Just think how much better life will be if we all could just study, learn, and apply better what God has recorded for us. It is only a sacrifice of about 10 minutes a day to read through the New Testament. People who want to read through the Old Testament as well need to add another 10 more minutes to that. That is just an extra hour or two a week for God! Everyone should want to do that!

8. A finally, we should want to know the Word of God so we do not sin against God and get ourselves into reaping the consequences of retribution and suffering.  Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Whatever is in our hearts is what is going to govern our actions. People act out what they think about, and if they have a single mind with God’s light, everything they do becomes rewarding and meaningful. But if not, the contrary happens: everything turns into frustration and meaningless-ness.

Matthew 6:21-23 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! The things of earth bring darkness, God’s word is light!

One goal, one promise this year! Who is with me? Will your friends and spouses ask you if you have read to keep you accountable? Who will swear now to do it? If you do promise then recall as in the verses of James today that you must not be proud and loud and then not do it. Just say, “I will read the Word of God everyday”, and then just do it. Let your yes be yes and nothing more. By the end of the year 2015 you will have grown spiritually without a doubt.

9. If questions do arise from you Bible readings, then take note of them to ask us or a knowledgeable leader later. For those of you who are retired and have more time in the day, take time to study even deeper as Nikki Pantoja and several of you do. Get full of the Word to gain wisdom so you can teach it. When you give a Bible class, the Word impacts even more!

This time when you read the Bible, take into account the historical cultural setting. Try to notice details, like how and where the story is told, and notice what is being highlighted. Try to imagine the speaker’s emotions, being Jesus’ or Paul’s, and envision the crowds and their reactions. Do you see how it all can come alive? Jesus words are spirit and life!

But most of all this commitment to God of reading the Bible daily is for you and your own good! Don’t miss a day! Let the Word of God guide you like a light and mold and shape you into a new person! Read the chapters with your spouse or a friend when possible. Psalm 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. We all are too simple in this world where snakes govern and we all truly need more wisdom, love, light, and inspiration! This year, God’s Word is the priority! By each of you reading, growing, and connecting to God like never before, collectively we will all holistically progress and this year of 2015 will be great one!  

Christmas Controversies: It’s Been Scandalous from the Beginning!

Christmas Controversies: It’s Been Scandalous from the Beginning  By Kelly Durant  12-21-14

                                                                                                                    

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Luke 1:30-33 KJV

2. The recent news outlets make it known that many U.S. companies have created policies that do not allow greetings or signs with Merry Christmas in them anymore. More and more the persecution of baby Jesus persists! How does Satan attack God’s people? Quite often he uses the scandal tactic! Satan and his followers are the ultimate guilty hypocrites seeking always to scandalize all the things of God. Satan empowers demons in humans to create conflicts, commit murders, start wars, spread disease and immorality with the goal to destroy humanity through the lusts of the flesh with pride while accusing others of being guilty of his own game. He hates the pure and innocent as represented by Jesus birth. The people of the world are already in Satan’s pocket but his target is God’s men and women who are active, and sadly some fall from temptation due to their pride, adultery, theft, and scandal! Some abandon the Christmas tradition as well!  

Scandal is a violation of the society’s norms. Today the ruthless media uses a double standard to create scandal. For example, they steal information and then instead of paying for their crime of theft, they defame others with this scandalous information which often turns out to be outright lies. Both parties may be guilty and should be punished but only the one attacked gets condemned and that public condemnation comes with no trial or any proof of truth in the accusations. Satan is the ultimate hypocrite who accuses and condemns others while being totally corrupted himself! But God beat him at his own game by creating scandal for him with something wonderful, something we love and enjoy, Christmas!

The Nativity starts with an out of wedlock baby scandal. Who likes babies? Everyone, right? A baby seems to make even the hardest hearts warm and smile. Most people inherently want to give new life a chance in this world. Most everyone when they smile and talk to a baby will get a smile back! How controversial of God to send a baby to rid the world of evil! God controls countless legends of angels but instead of an attack on earth to right the wrongs he sends a baby! God’s attack on evil and Satan begins with innocence and purity in a body weak and dependent on the father and mother for survival. Our lives in Jesus must start there too, in a rebirth of purity of mind, heart, and soul, with a total dependence on God.

3. All of the elements in Christmas and in Christians are controversial according to the world’s double standards! Have you ever noticed that? Jesus was a shock to the world and the world has never been the same ever since! Christmas keeps surviving by the efforts of all Christians! 

The next controversial Christmas principle, that for many philosophical types is an illogical absurdity, is that God could claim to have a Son that is born from a human, of Mary the virgin. This premise, that God can be the Father of an earth born child, was scandalous when He was born and is scandalous still today with many other world religions and is considered heresy. People are getting beheaded and killed daily even today for affirming that God had a Son whose name Jesus is above all names! That name, offensive to some yet dear to us who love Him, is Jesus Christ the Lord! His life of miracles and resurrection prove He was God’s son, supernatural, glorious, and worthy of our sternal adoration!

The problem originates from the Greek agnostic line of thought that erroneously deducts that God is made up of pure good positive spiritual material, but that man and this earth is made up of all bad imperfect negative material so therefore the good and bad can never mix together for there to be a son of God. This is an absurd conclusion since the obvious is we as humans contain a spirit, a piece of the pure God, living in our degenerating material bodies.

No evidence supports this premise yet many hold onto it. All things are made up of positives and negatives and common knowledge taught in science proves that matter in our material world, as in atoms, contain negative charged electrons and positively charged protons. God, however, is not containing Himself within or without the material physical systems of our simple universe operating solely within harmonious duality systems. We observe that His material creation is one huge conglomerate of mixtures, of the light and of the void, yet purity is refined out of the material earthly mixtures as one refines gold. Our spirits must be refined as well.  

God’s person is in fact pure holiness but God’s attributes are not paralleled succinctly into to His diverse created worlds. God is above restricting Himself within the world He created because He transcends His own creation of weak and great physical forces and spiritual mysteries. Satan desires that all people reject the fact that it is possible for purity, as in baby Jesus, to have entered into our imperfect world but the scandal remains that it did! Another fact is that because Jesus came, you and I too can become perfected by holy living as Jesus lived full of love, grace, and truth. God’s purity of heaven can exist within this hell of a world within our hearts if we connect with the source, Jesus! Christmas with its pretty lights cause many to imagine how wonderful heaven must be where Jesus is preparing a home for us!

4. The next scandal that many cultures have a hard time accepting is that God chose not a noble person but a humble woman, a simple pure person, a virgin, through whom to manifest Himself and fulfill all prophecies through in order to establish a righteous kingdom forever. God found only her to be willing and worthy enough to become the mother of the future savior of the world. It is obvious that this world is filled with evil, but for God to choose to combat evil with the weapon of a simple, respectful, obedient woman is too humiliating for many men of distinct cultures to accept. In general 9/10ths of the world’s men are macho with little regard for women and what they can do in the things concerning God’s mission.

Imagine, Mary was told not to fear over the fact that she would become pregnant by the Holy Ghost and she, contrary to an average person, actually trusted and did not fear! She knew that by trusting God she was risking rejection from her future husband, rejection and maybe a death sentence from her own people for a perceived fornication, or the possibility of living the rest of her life as an outcast in shame. Yet she obeyed and trusted God. How many people have this kind of trust in God today? In her shoes, would you accept a challenge similar to this one and be found worthy for your willingness gaining God’s favor on your life?

So the scandal hitting Satan in the face was the fact that a pure, humble person. Mary, honoring God would actually accept anything that God wanted to do in their life. Satan lost this same battle with Job (trying to prove that humans will betray God if subjected to adversities or seemingly unfair requests). Satan is persistent and what he wants is for everyone in the world to believe that it is unfair and unreasonable to accept the controversial things God wants you and I to believe or go through for His high purpose. The truth is many Mary’s do exist in the world, and humble sweet, obedient to God people do suffer rejection by the world but God protects them supernaturally as He protected Mary! Take note: Mary did not fear rejection; she preferred God’s will above all! Are you close enough to God to not fear but to trust and accept whatever God wants to do with your life?      

5. Here is a detail we must not overlook in the verses of today, what is implied by the part of the verses of today in verse 33? “And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Certain Jews were familiar with this prophecy and the local ones would also have known that Mary was from the house of David, a bloodline descendant. But the spiritual leaders of the Jews, the ones chosen of the 12 tribes to teach and live exclusively in service to God were the Levites. You had to be born within that family to grow up to be a leader, teacher, or guide.

David was from the tribe of Judah so what do we conclude? The Levites must have been scandalized to discover that God would choose his Messiah from the tribe of Judah and not from their refined hierarchical spiritual ranks.  So Jesus came to establish a kingdom like David’s. Didn’t a form of this kingdom already exist within the Jews? The verses here indicate however that Jesus would reign over all the tribes of Jacob forever. This is in essence inferring a new kingdom that would be established over all people and His kingdom will be forever and ever.

6. Referring to a new kingdom presenting itself, scandals occur when the envious controlling people of Satan in this world get threatened by someone hinting that they may suddenly lose their power. Herod was scandalized when he found out through the wise men that a king was born in his region so decided to kill all the babies soon afterward! What a horrible way to prevent a new king from rising! In the 1980’s they found a mass grave of baby skeletons near Bethlehem in Israel confirming this account of what is recorded in God’s word.

Imagine Roman soldiers pulling the babies from the arms of their mothers and fathers and killing them! The entire region of Bethlehem was scandalized by the fact that their despotic envious leader was killing all their babies over a jealous rant believing the prophecies were true, that a new king was born. But the infant king was protected by God and escaped to Egypt. Imagine Herod, a despotic man with absolute power to kill anyone and yet he was in fear of baby Jesus!

7. So Christmas began with several scandals and true Christians that worship Jesus Christ still draw ire by those who will not accept the celebration of Jesus birth. When you declared that you had received Jesus Christ in your life and that you would serve Him did some of your friends or family get scandalized by your announcement? Mine did! Most everyone’s does!

The message of Jesus birth communicates that one who accepts Him must have a total change of mind, heart, and soul. The mind programed by the world, by Satan’s indoctrinations, refuses to accept the fact that God did send his perfect Son and that He is the savior of humanity in this disastrous world. It goes against our logic to believe in the virgin birth, but faith confirms to us it is miraculously possible.

Human hearts have to get over having pride to understand Christmas. Most people are shocked at how rich wise men and poor shepherds alike contained so much humility that they bowed to worship Jesus even when he was just an infant. To connect with Christmas one’s soul must merge with God’s spirit in obedience to become touched by the innocence and holiness. Mary’s heart was holy, so we get the message that it is imperative we too must submit to God’s will to bring about His plan for a new kingdom. The implication is that God expects that we let our lives get totally interrupted by Jesus birth and this creates an internal controversy that all of us must resolve. Scandal and all hell breaks loose when you speak up and serve Jesus!

Accepting God’s kingdom means we leave behind our petty dreams of grandeur in order to adopt the kingdom dreams of Jesus, to bring about a new world with new loving people with hearts converted made new full of joy and love for God and their neighbor.

8. Jesus said that offenses (scandals) would come but he also said in Luke 7:23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. And imagine today some people refrain from even pronouncing the words Merry Christmas because it offends some people!

Concerning Christmas and its original message that some deem offensive we can conclude that the people without faith, that people with mental confusion concerning the mechanics of God’s creation, that the people who reject God’s miracles, that the proud jealous people in high places, that the people governed by their own close minded cultures, that the people who believe they run God’s kingdom or Jacob’s house already… all collectively are rejecting Jesus until this day! Christmas to them is an offense! Christmas to us who love Jesus, however, is a beautiful wonderful time to celebrate and remember the fulfilment of prophecy that a savior was coming and He did. It is a story of dedication and humility. It is a happy celebration that reminds you and me to be thankful, humble, pure, giving, and loving. Christmas is where our salvation began! Culture has jazzed it up with lights and decorations, but each year there is a new chance to tell the wonderful story of Jesus to others!

We Take On Wrath, Yet Have Peace

We Take On Wrath, Yet Have Peace      12-7-14  by Kelly Durant

2 Tim 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid

2. The prophets of God in the Bible, the Christians in historical times, the true pastors of today, and any sincere Christian who will speak truth from the Word of God to others will suffer persecution!

Frequently in my past I would take my 4 children out with me to pass out gospel tracts. We would go into stores, laundry mats, beauty salons, and anywhere where we could give a salvation tract and even pray with people. But on the streets you will get attacked and I recall a very ugly incident one time.

A homeless type man with the most vulgar mouth I have ever heard got in my face and started pronouncing curses on me and my children. He said things I cannot repeat here but he claimed he had power to send do good Christians like me to hell that my children would grow up to be perverts living in misery and poverty that I would be cursed the rest of my life for sharing about Jesus with my kids! It was an ugly battle I will never forget! Not all homeless people are sweet and victims of society; some are demon possessed crazy violent people who are very evil!    

3. We live in times when it is dangerous to speak the truth of God because the offended people go on to inflame the mainstream media, the social media, and they seek to destroy you. God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus are pure truth and light and Satan and his demons are empty of light and they are all about manipulating as many as possible with a lie. Satan’s people hate God’s people because they expose them so they cannot carry out their destructive agendas. 

There will always be a time when you will need to rebuke someone with truth from the Bible to guide them in love, but what happens when instead of that person accepting it that it was from God for their good they reject you and God’s word? What happens when they take it that you are being personally intrusive disturbing their agenda, criticizing them for an obvious major sin and morally calling them out?

You get the blunt of their rage and blame for what God convicted you to share with them! They want to kill the messenger over the message! And more than that, some people are so ignorant of the ways of the Lord and they are so evil that at the first insinuation that they could be at fault over something, suddenly you change from being a friend to an enemy they want revenge on! Christians most often get persecuted by those whom they are trying to love and trying to help!

3. I have experienced the loss of many dozens of so called friends throughout the years and it does hurt deep inside! It hurts when you discover that a person was only your friend for their own self-interests and not because they really were your friend in the love of God sharing your ideals of love and salvation in Jesus!

Where do you think the devil does his dirty work to destroy as many souls as possible, in bars and clubs? The truth is he already has most of those people in his bag so he doesn’t even worry about destroying them! They just keep giving into temptation after temptation because they have no power to overcome it and they destroy themselves! Life on earth is a misery for them and they inherit that as their eternal punishment for not repenting due to the fact they hurt many people and dishonored and dissed their Maker that loved them!

The people governed by their own greed and inordinate out of control passions not living Godly are not suffering persecution. They will suffer judgment when they die though! On the news today it seems like the violent people and unjust ones are praised and the ones conserving good are attacked. But despite good people and Christians being attacked, the Christians have power to gain great victories with our prayer partners! We will be saved from the hell that is to come as well!  But we must be faithful to the end to get a crown of life and never go back! Satan spends a lot of his time in the church and uses a lot of weak people to bring the good ones down and depress you! I have seen how some people go on their knees and pray for long periods of time, who are always there at the Bible studies too, but because they are weak, Satan uses them as a mouthpiece to persecute the ones doing good for God as they stand on the sidelines doing nothing!

4. The Word even states that Jesus went to get the church to face the demons and get them out of the church.   Mark 1:23

23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit;

Why is it that in so many churches there are many divisions and some so called men or women of God suddenly fall into sin? It is because Satan spends time in the heads of Christians and wants to destroy them! Those that fall prove some were true to the faith and some were not! The devil does his best to make Christians dead, compromised, and carnal critics of others. Satan, the accuser of the saints, wants us to imitate him (not Jesus)! If a person of us has their eyes on their own self, Satan takes advantage of one’s envy, pride, and weaknesses and the words or actions generated brings on serious consequences!

Knowing we would have to stand persecution and attacks from demons either within our own thoughts, or from without, Jesus sent his disciples in twos. Mark 6:7

7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;

5. Why did Jesus send his people out in twos? Because when one falls the other one can lift him up. We all need to be accountable to another person. That means that we need husbands, wives, children, parents, or Christian friends aware of all the private areas of our lives that are weak to be sure we are not falling into sin. Satan does hate you and he attacks you in horrible ways but when someone is there to encourage you, they become your God sent protection.

We need to be confessing our faults one to another as the scripture commands in 1 John 1: 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

As human beings, we can get into a lot of wrong, unchristian habits, as many of the people of the world are doing today. If we do not have someone there to stop us when we are wrong then, we are at risk and in danger of leaving the way the Lord has taught us and don’t think it won’t happen to you. You and I have seen it happen to some people we thought were strong and inspired in the Lord’s way.

6. Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly.

Many people do not take it serious enough to be Holy and to not be into the sin the world offers but it is a command to “be ye holy as He is Holy”

We want to see others pure in God but do you realize what happens when you correct people, even gently with love with God’s standards? Often they will interpret that you are a holier-than-thou fanatic person, and you get labeled a traitor for not defending them!? Have you ever corrected someone only to find they hated you and persecuted you (gossiped behind your back) for it later?

Think about it, Jesus was the most loving and kind man who ever walked the earth, yet he only had 11 who choose to follow him. At one time He had 70 but when He told others they would need to eat His flesh and drink His blood (symbolic, of course meaning they would need to partake of His body that heals & blood that forgives sins) he lost hundreds of other followers right there because they did not have faith to believe there was an explanation for His words. They only reasoned with their carnal minds and that told them to forget Jesus. Too many do not have the patience to absorb and adapt to Jesus ways and His ways include accepting the uncomfortable, the corrections of our past understandings, and it includes trusting in Him totally which goes against the trends and popular ideas of the world!

7. Jesus taught, healed, and helped thousands, but only a handful appreciated Him and His purpose which was to get others close to God with a new vision of the kingdom of God within us that needs to be shared to save the world. Jesus rebuked Peter in public when he was out of line in his way of thinking but Peter stayed with Him as a friend and later even died a martyr’s death for Him! Only those that are sincerely close to Jesus understand and stay with Him! Wrath, hate, and persecution from others always falls on Christ lovers!

Today, ask yourself, do I suffer persecution and rejection because I offered Jesus love and salvation to another? If you have lost a few friends in the past, if certain family relatives avoid you because they fear you will start talking about Jesus, if the truth of Jesus has been a disturbing issue in a conversation, then maybe you are doing it the right way! John 14:27

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” A true Christian still retains his peace despite being rejected, persecuted or even while facing death!

God’s people always take the brunt of the wrath of those who hate God and Jesus! People are very cruel with their words and even violent to attack those who will not stop proclaiming their faith in Jesus. We face this fact, Satanic people hate Jesus and His followers! Having Jesus means having eternal life and no one will take that from us with their words!  

If you have been hurt, abandoned, or rejected by family or friends and it hurts you still, today is a good time to ask God to heal you from those wounds! Come and pray, and trust prayer does change and heal the wounds others have inflicted! 

Don’t Eat Drink and Be Merry, and Forget God!

Don’t Eat Drink and Be Merry, and Forget God!                    by Kelly Durant  11-30-14

Luke 12:16-21

16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then

whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

2. In Caracas, Venezuela, I had a frightful experience one time in our apartment on the 4^th floor. We started smelling smoke and we thought maybe someone was burning trash in the neighborhood next door, but it got worse and we decided to open the door and take a look and when we did the entire hallway was full of dark thick smoke! It was so thick, you could not see the stairs, and for sure we were not going to go on the elevator from the 4^th floor! We put wet rags on the bottom of the door and prayed!

I thanked God that at least the kitchen window did not have bars on it so we could jump out but I thought I could throw out my kids one by one if need be! I thought it better to have a broken bone and yet survive, than to die by being burnt up! It turned out to be a car that was on fire and the firemen arrived on time to control it!

Later they said that if the fire in that car in the lower garage would have spread to all the cars then there would have been no chance to save the building! It was a sobering experience and once again we were brought face to face with the reality we could all die at any moment. In life I think everyone experiences many close calls and each time it makes you reevaluate what you value. God has allowed me to be scared and intimidated many times and I get His message; honor me, thank me, and love me for my mercy on you! Any one of us could die at any time!

3. No one talks about it, but many immigrants worldwide die every year, in the ocean on rafts, in the desert dehydrated walking to the border, and from premature stresses and illnesses. The recent past years have been difficult ones for the hundreds of thousands deported every year. Deportations have been the highest ever in the past decade and it is true, some people invite pain on their selves by getting into unplanned danger. My wife and I were involved in the middle of the lives of suffering families in the past and we have seen firsthand the pain of parents and children that had to split up. People deported form any country usually lose all they have worked for, which may include a car and a few thousand dollars worth of furniture which gets left behind for another person nearby who appropriates it. There is so much unseen suffering in our communities that no one talks or hears about, but how are the rest of the people responding?

The majority of the people are living like there is no tomorrow partying and living wild! Stand by the Costco front door sometime and see how many thousands of dollar’s worth of liquor is sold per hour! Go to the beaches and see how many people are eating, drinking, and being merry. In other stores on any given day you can see shoppers with flatbed carts full of cases of beer! And ironically almost no food! One might conclude from the affluence of the clubs and restaurants that life and the night life in this country is crazy and nothing but a big party! But being reminded of reality of all the suffering and death happening daily, one should conclude that life is not as secure as we think!

4. So what do we have in society at large? Few people seeking to live holy lives, attending a church, or living ready to die and face God! Bad behavior, debauchery, and living as if there is no judgment tomorrow is our reality in this life and this goes on despite many warnings!

The scripture today addresses how wrong it is for any of us to think that there is no need for concern of tomorrow and no consequence for our actions! Some people get a little prosperity, a little apartment, a car, or a few electronic toys, and they think they have arrived on top of the mountain! They can now be proud because they are invincible! There is nothing uglier than knowing a person who grew up poor but then later obtained wealth and became cold to the needs of the poor. Comparing ourselves to others in the U.S.A. may make one appear very modest or very rich (depends how your see it), but compared to other countries most all of us here would be considered very rich! The issue illustrated here is more about the attitude of the heart towards God than the prosperity. Prosperity can deceive and badly influence the pride of the heart to over indulge!

What did the scripture say about this man who got a little prosperity and was now rich? He got greedy and wanted even more! When he was advancing, when God was good to Him, what became his attitude? Did he go to the temple and thank God for his prosperity and become generous with the poor? No! He became more and more selfish! He wanted to build bigger barns! And what provoked God’s wrath on his life? What caused God to decide to not only let Him loose everything but cut his life short? His pride in forgetting that it was God who gave Him life and all his blessings in the first place!

5. Read verse 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

He had a heart that only could think about him self, no one else! He wanted to enjoy life without the bother of seeking or thanking God who gave him his life and his prosperity!

He had no fear of God, but imagine now he has to face God; now he is in the predicament of having lost it all and losing his soul go to hell as a punishment for dishonoring God!

This is a wake up call and everyone one of us should have a sense of urgency; we are in a crisis in this nation and in this community! God is allowing tragedy, persecution, and suffering in all the diverse communities to sober people up so they will stop all their selfishness and foolish living, and for their lack of living thankful lives in obedience to God. Sadly, when in judgment they will realize how they did nothing with good intentions offending God and others!

6. People who never let their heart be converted to be like the heart of Jesus, people who never want to hear and learn the Word of God to practice it, people who could come to church to worship but instead mock the people in the church, who reject Biblical thinking and view all things from their carnal, selfish, corrupted by the world mindset are potential ones to lose all. The ‘I got to take care of myself cause nobody else will’ attitude,  puts people in spiritual danger and they are exposed to God’s wrath the same as like the man in these verses.

Where else does it mention in the scriptures about the sin of being shallow with God? Or another way to look at it, how does God deal with people who live life as if they are the almighty powerful ones, calling the shots and in control? People who want their selves to appear to be a great somebody by intimidating other people? People who believe that because they have a little more than others, they have the right to judge and mock and put down others? What happens when even in the churches some people put others down? Words of pride bring on serious consequences!

7. Luke 12:45-47

45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

Always there will be people in the world and in the church who are drunk on their own pride of self-accomplishment despite all the horrible suffering of those of their own community around them! They are as the blind who do not see! Why is it some people, and include yourself if it applies, always having their minds on their own self-interests and they do not have the capacity to have compassion on others and love as Jesus did? Some people always tear down and attack others in order to make their selves look good but pride, things, and a greedy attitude destroys! Sin brings on death and suffering!  

8. In the church, in our Corps, what happens concerning attitude? Some people benefit from our love, God’s love and mercy, yet some people have been known to say offensive and ugly things about our church members. Why?

People who forget God may be allowing their own death at any time due to an unrepentant heart! They lie to themselves that they will always be on top and they also lie to their selves that people in the church are bad as they are in order to justify why they will not seek God desperately as they should.  

People who criticize compassionate Christians, who hurt others with their words are like the ones in the verse 45 who attack and beat up others. And where do these people who do the works of unbelievers spend eternity? In the lake of fire! Not because God wants that for them, but because they don’t want to be with Him.

9. Not everyone who comes to church should think that they will go to heaven. Death can come any day! Only those who repent and honor God and do his will will go! Only those who show love and compassion to others, only those who consider the poor and suffering, only those who sacrifice their pride and forgive and do the works that Jesus did will make it to heaven! Believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection is by faith only, but if you believe your lifestyle will reflect it! No person can think they are a real Christian and then live and speak in an unholy way! The pride of wealth, of boasting, of thinking you are superior, of putting others down is very offensive to God and judgment often comes quickly for these offenses.  Our mouths should not be used for our own self glory but for the glory of God!

Matt 12:36-37

36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Who wants to change in how they live enjoying too much of a good time thinking it is forever without ever thinking of thanking God? Who wants to call their family and friends and warn them, telling them that they could lose everything today? Every day is a new chance to get right with God! The final reality is God is angry with those who become greedy and insult Him and others by overconfidence and pride!

Help me warn the community! Help me wake people up that an early death could happen as it has befallen thousands in Miami and around the world. The wrong attitude, the wrong words could cause anyone to lose all in shame, so we must urgently examine ourselves to be sure we pleasing God in our love and service living a holy life! 

Thanksgiving Days & The Sacrifice of Praise Is God’s Idea!

Thanksgiving Days & The Sacrifice of Praise: God’s Idea  

By Capt. Kelly Durant  11-23-14

Ps 107:22

22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

Ps 50:14  

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

Jonah 2:9

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

2. It’s our Thanksgiving Day Sunday! It is obvious from the verses of today that giving thanks to God by sacrificing was God’s idea a few thousand years ago, long before the forming of this country! The verses of Psalm and Jonah today are almost 3,000 years old so we conclude that God wants His people to take special days of sacrificing reverencing Him doing it together with others.

Do you know how the U.S. Thanksgiving Day began? It began with a group of Christian Immigrants, immigrants just like you and me! Plymouth, Mass. 394 years ago was inhabited by Native Indians, and then one day a ship of Englishmen landed to set up a colony. This happened in 1620 as they were escaping religious persecution in Europe. Under the tyranny of King Henry VIII just a few decades earlier and even afterwards an estimated 70,000 lost their heads for not submitting to the abusive dominating monarchy that imposed their church hierarchy system on them as well. Are you thankful you have not lost your head due to an abusive authority? In history and even today millions have lost their heads over religious and governmental persecution!

The problem is these desperate immigrants arrived too late in the year to have a harvest of food that would keep them alive throughout the cold winter. But thank God the Indians had compassion on them and gave them some food in a festival. One of the most common foods then was turkey, along with corn, and other vegetables, it was fall harvest festival. Historically most cultures celebrate the beginning of spring and this coincides with Easter and Passover; and celebrate in the fall as the Jews celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and the Torah, while Christians celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

Thus the tradition of eating turkey! Many more of those immigrants would have died if they had not been helped! Half the colony later did die of hunger anyway! It was Sqanto, a native slave of the English who taught them how to raise corn and fish ell. He sacrificed his time and food to help these immigrants who were ignorant of living from nature since they came from large European cities. God bless the natives!

3. But many people have immigrated to many different lands throughout history so what makes this thanksgiving festival so special?

These Christian immigrants took the time to rejoice, and have a party and celebrate, and praise the Lord and thank Him for freedom, life, and new friends, that’s what is special! It is a sacrifice to create a big celebration, many of you here sacrificed to make our lunch special, and sacrificing your self is what pleases the LORD! Psalm 54:6 I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.

Before it was common that the government authorities, and all the townspeople, would get together to celebrate expressing their faith and thanks to God in the public square. Never succumb to secularists that in this country that insist you must keep your faith private and secret! To the contrary, celebrate as is traditional, show God your thankfulness and be public about it anywhere, and everywhere! Be generous and share with others! How ironic that in this country today some people even get arrested for sharing food publically with the needy. Christians traditionally have fed the needy in shelters and on the streets and we should not allow lawmakers make our traditions un-compassionately illegal.

Over 200 years ago congress recognized the importance of the Thanksgiving Day observance, and President George Washington issued a national Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789. He wrote, "Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country”...

He understood the basics of being Christian and he recognized the need to set aside a day to show God that we as Americans are thankful for this land under God!

Ps 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

4. Thanksgiving Day in reality is all about thanking God for maintaining your life and for sharing with others your thankfulness! (repeat)

In the verses of today we observe that David and Jonah, and we know well that all men of God, have always made a special event out of praising God for victories, protection, and supply! The problem in the world today is there is not much of an ‘attitude of gratitude’ anymore! For the past few decades unthankful Godless people have been rudely drowning out the thankful polite people! There are many sins in this nation and many people in the media are like rotten apples that incite bitterness over the past, and they promote hate between races, and insult the goodness of God’s people. But on the first Thanksgiving Day the natives and the Pilgrims were both good people being good to each other!

In our community you would assume people would come to worship and thank God for their blessings but instead often they offer only negative comments (the opposite of praise) about personal frustrations or situations and this makes God very sad and angry! God allowed a whole generation of Jews who escaped Egypt with Moses to die in the desert because they were unthankful to Him! 1 Corinthians 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Thankful people are happy people who recognize God as their provider and they are blessed by God and they make others feel good nearby them! Unthankful people disturb the peace and bring others down and they are on the path to their own destruction!

5. Just think, this country now has 50 million Hispanics, and about 30 million have arrived within the past 30 years. I personally have a hard time understanding why most all of them are not going to the church of their choice giving thanks to God?! I think I read about 15% do start going to a church of some kind but that is too few! In their countries about 80% go to church! You and I need to awaken more thankfulness in these new immigrants! We already have too many arrogant, Godless, unthankful people in all sectors of society! Let’s encourage new ones to thank God!

Most immigrants, like the first European ones, recognize that they are strangers in a strange land and they could literally die if they were not having God on their side providing, protecting, and guiding! I know when I moved around in South America I literally cried out to God every time to provide and protect my family because arriving somewhere not knowing how the system functions, not having friends, not speaking the language, and arriving with almost no resources is a situation that will make one desperate and thankful for every place to stay and every plate of food!

You who are here today to thank God are special to God!  I am thankful to God for you, and always we must be thankful for our Christian brothers and sisters, because you are the special ones of God! Being here to thank God today is comparable to being with the one leper that was healed that came back to give thanks. Ten were healed but only one returned and expressed thanks! Eternally we praise God and Jesus in recognition of thanks. Sadly, in infamy, there are the unthankful nine others. Never be one of them!

6. In order to show you are thankful, you must sacrifice something for God’s work from time to time. You must make a commitment and then keep it.

If you are thankful in life in general, you are always praising and happy, you are willing to do anything, and willing to give up anything to show God your love and appreciation, and thankfulness to Him!   As David the Psalmist words it, Ps 50:14

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

We should all be dedicated to God’s work and to God’s people to have a proof of our thankfulness! Some people serve in shelters and some give food to their hurting neighbors during these holidays, but really you can show thanks anytime!

Serve others with a need! Invite them to eat and tell them about your love for Jesus!

It is the tradition of many countries, even here, that when someone has been nice to you and done something special, you invite them to eat with you. Everyone likes to eat, right? What a great way to get to know someone and learn to love and like them!

7. Jesus commanded his disciples to travel and basically immigrate or integrate as they preached. No one can understand the full extent of being thankful for a bed and food unless they have had to be at the mercy of others for it! I have been in this situation many dozens of times in my life! Matt 10:9 Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. 11 “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 12 And when you go into a household, greet it.  In other words, bless those that bless you!

Back to our U.S. lesson in history, imagine these defenseless Pilgrims in a new land with no homes except the ones they could build before winter, and no with no food stored for the winter either! Just think if right now I were to tell you, you are condemned to die in two months! In two months your life will be over, you will die a slow death of starvation!

But then if suddenly there appeared a group of strange people of another race unexpectedly putting food on your table, just think how happy you would be! The reality is some of them survived in that Plymouth colony throughout the winter yet quite a few of them did die!

We praise and thank God this time of year (but we should every day!) and celebrations are good for all of us! And let’s also recall we must thank the native people for supporting the immigrants because your great-great grandparents were able to arrive here and work and have a life! All of us should thank all immigrants here including Latinos, Blacks, Irish, and Asians all of which helped build America’s major cities, railroads and farmlands. The ones before us suffered painfully through extreme hard work and hard times, and their great grandparents suffered as well! People use to die at age 40 something, remember?  We have a super nation full of prosperity with wealthy cities, super highways and mega factories all due to the labor of the many races that make up the population of The United States!

8. Thankfulness to God involves being thankful to those different from you, by accepting and loving them, and respecting them. God’s glory invokes praise for His creation of the entire diverse human race, and the maximum thankfulness we can show Him is to love Him and love one another as Jesus commanded!

Because the lives of those few hundred immigrants that were saved almost 400 years ago, we now have a great nation today with many millions of immigrants who are Christian! This is still the most generous nation on earth because many thankful people still have faith in God and want to give back to their communities.

Did you know Jesus said He would celebrate a meal with us sort of like Thanksgiving? Let’s look up, Rev 3:20-21

 20'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Even Jesus offers to eat, fellowship, and celebrate with us! But the food Jesus is offering is not physical food, it is spiritual which is more important!

It is sad to see people with hungry bodies but we must also see that many people are dying of starvation spiritually! Many of your friends and family are weak and dying inside due to not understanding the roots of why we give thanks to God! Tell them the story of Jesus and take opportunity to emphasize the story of the Pilgrims. It is your and my job to tell everyone about God’s food, this bread of life, that He offers so ‘whosoever will’ can live forever! It is our job as Christians to teach others to always be thankful to God for even a cup of water! We must be a light to others in this work of feeding the sick and the suffering! Physical food is just a temporary aspect of life but spiritual feeding is what will keep us motivated to be alive!

Now, let us conclude that as we are thankful today, that we will recognize that it is by God and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit through which comes our Salvation. Any of us can die at any moment so being alive today let us, as in the book of Jonah, do our part to be fair with God and honor Him for his goodness and be sacrificial; Jonah2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

Ask yourself right now, have I shown thankfulness and sacrifice to God lately as I really should by being loving and doing something kind for someone else in need as happened on the first Thanksgiving Day?

Dreaming of Your Perfect World? Not in this life!

Dreaming of Your Perfect World? Not in this life!         11-16-14 By Kelly Durant

A study of the life of Job, Elijah, John the Baptist    Jesus said: Matthew 21:44 “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

2. How many of you have sadly laughed when you have heard speakers, preachers, or read in books, that anyone with faith can speak into existence the dream reality they want! These erroneous ones claim that you can command God to give you the wealth and the material blessings you deserve! Just demand what’s yours from God! I pray the Holy Spirit protects you from such misguided ideas and theologies! Jesus had no place to lay His head and life here is not easy!

Our reward is in heaven, so why should any of us worry so much about what we have while on earth? Everyone who has read the Bible knows well that Jesus was not rich! He exposed the rich young ruler as loving riches more than God’s will. Many parables of Jesus express that in this life we will have no security, and while building bigger barns we may die in the night! In the end we are all just unjust, undeserving servants and the perfect world we dream of is only going to be in heaven! Many people communicate with God according to their own ideas, premises, and demise of how they want the world to function around them, but this is not how God’s plans come to be a reality in our lives. This is my warning to you, life may not always be as you want it to be!

People, even believers, often forget how easily their selfish sinful human condition often influences their dreams and they live by their illusions to avoid the reality of seeing who they really are or in accepting their lot in life: It all is because of our fallen world. Throughout the Holy Scriptures it is clear, not one of us controls God, and God does not even control us if we don’t want to let Him! Did you pray for His will to be done in your life today? We pray, ‘thy will be done’, right? If so then this implies you leaving behind your plans, and your expectations and yes, your dreams as well! God provides for you and me, giving us contentment despite our surrounding conditions, as long as we worship Him and are obedient. Luke 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. This includes what’s in our dreams in the future as well!

3. Jesus said: Matthew 21:44 “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Jesus is the stone. It is God’s plan for you and me to die to ourselves, to become like a dead seed so that you and I may blossom back to live again. You and I are just worthless rocks, but if we willingly accept getting broken and smashed open, then the beauty of the crystals (like in the Brazilian stones) inside will show for others to awe and wonder at. Those who never want to accept God’s broken-ness through Jesus will one day be broken beyond recognition and usefulness; made powder in His judgment.

I am addressing this because too many people lately have a misconception of God, that God is there to serve you and me, and in their minds God should be providing for each of us our dream world. The ultimate dream world will only happen in heaven! In the meantime this world is headed for a crash course! God has us temporarily here in this terrible place to be learning how to love Him, His Son, and others, learning obedience by the things we suffer, just as Jesus learned. Hebrews 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Everyone must willingly fall on the rock (Jesus) and be broken apart and get humbled and remade and reshaped in life. Actually, just living out life’s circumstances as you wind on down the road will be enough to break you! But all the lessons and suffering will all be for nothing and wasted unless you capture the soul reshaping lessons God has in it for you.

4. Consider this, due to our mental blocks, due to our living in our own idea of what the world should be like influenced by media and culture, and due to our resisting of God’s breakings, many of us may actually be living in a bubble or in an artificial world. Ask yourself, am I honestly being sensitive and open to God letting His mysterious plans work in me? Have you signed a blank page for Him to fill in?

Here are 3 quick case studies of God’s servants in the Bible. These are 3 people of God that suffered tremendously and it cost them but they surrendered to accepting God’s will. These great men of God had to give up different things such as their position, wealth, health, freedom, and loved ones. They were glorious and superior to other men for a season but then they suffered some severe losses. The life of Jesus is paralleled in these lessons as well. He was glorious healing the sick and raising the dead, but look how He was hated and crucified in the end! How he suffered with only a lasting handful of followers when dying! But all of these and millions live eternally in glory because of Him being faithful!

5. What does everyone know about the Book of Job? That Job had incredible riches but lost them all suddenly, that the devil wanted to tempt Him to curse God and die, but in the end due to his faithfulness God, he got returned to Him double of what he lost! Not everyone in this life gets back the things they lose!

This is a great story with a great lesson on faithfulness but remember Job did not know how it was going to end: to him in the middle of the trial it was the very end! Job lived in his own perfect world where he loved God and God loved him back, and God permitted him to be superior to others. Everyone knew God favored him because he had great riches, and a big family and a perfect world!

Many people live in this type of modern illusive world where they think nothing will ever go wrong but when it does, what a faith crisis and dilemma it is! It can cause a complete nervous breakdown! Isn’t God supposed to provide and protect? He always does, God wins in the end but only if we are willing to give up our idea of what He should be doing and submit to learn humility and love.

6. Job’s friends could not console him in his extreme pain! He had boils all over his body, thieves had stolen all of his thousands of camels and animals, and the worst of it was it seemed God had abandoned him! He had done no sin, but he was put to the test. What poverty and horrible circumstances! His pain was unbearable!

Listen to this cruel statement, Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” When your or my world is coming apart what happens? Instead of getting support from those closest to us, we quite often get criticism and cruelty, and as the saying goes ‘people make firewood from the fallen tree’. Jesus had compassion on the broken ones, we should too!

Isn’t that what happened to Jesus? How can you or I expect any better in our life? Prepare yourself, life is long and you and I have no clue of what sickness, or loss of home, freedom, and wealth is to come. Just praise God to know that like Job that if you are faithful you will be blessed in heaven and maybe on earth as well: Blessings will happen beyond your own imagination and dreams one day!

7. Now take into account a man that was so close to God he called fire down from heaven on Mt. Carmel! Elijah was not only a righteous man but he must have been quite strong as well because he killed 450 evil Baal worshippers in one day! The evil Baal worshippers sacrificed to false gods and Elijah wanted justice.  

I Kings 18:22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 1 Kings 18:40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there. Never forget despite its unpopularity, we play a role in stopping evil!

After this great moment he had to escape evil queen Jezebel’s command to kill him!  I Kings 19:4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

8.  God provided for him food by the ravens bringing it to him daily by the stream where he lived alone in the woods. In Elijah’s mind he was supposed to be the great new leader of Israel. He just proved how God is victorious so how did his world fall apart so quickly? Once again we see that God’s plans do not always happen within our ideas of expectations. God deals with all things His way.

Reflect on what we just read here in I Kings 19:4, a prophet of God is asking God to let him die! Have you ever felt that way that you want to just die?! I know I have about a half dozen times! I have prayed like Elijah on a few occasions when I have felt like life is enough already. I have complained, “Lord, these people in this place where you have me now are horrible and do not genuinely convert, they are two-faced, I have wasted my life, time, love and effort on so many unthankful abusers, I don’t want to live and keep on doing this anymore!”

But in the end God wins me back to the right compassionate attitude! Everything is a process and conquering evil takes much time so each of us must be patient when God has us in a time out. Jezebel was killed not long afterwards and Elijah lived to do more miracles! Encouragement comes, we have to pray and just wait!

9. Now the last person we will look at who reached the bottom and was disillusioned with reality and what should have been while rotting away in a shattered world was John the Baptist. He was truly brave and countered the corrupt system, even telling Herod it was unlawful for him to have his brother’s wife. In a time when the Romans would kill you for anything, he certainly had audacity to start up what would be considered a “holiness sect” today. He had a few faithful friends and followers in the desert who preached with him about repentance and holy living (as we Salvationists preach) and they water baptized as an expression of a desire to live for God with a clean spirit. Remember John made it known that Jesus would baptize His followers with ‘spirit and fire’!

He was God’s man for that hour but his mission was short lived. Jesus even said that he was one of the greatest! Matthew 11:11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

But when John was in prison he was not living in the world he thought he should be living in! He asked himself, “Was Jesus real, was it all in vain?” Matt 11: 2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples. 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” What an absurd question! John saw the heavens open and the Holy Ghost spoke, Matthew 3:17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

John was human and became confused and discouraged in the loneliness and isolation. It can happen to anyone of us! John had no clue he was going to lose his head over an exotic dance as a revenge on him from Herod’s wife. An early promotion to glory in heaven was what God knew was best for him! We must all be willing to accept God’s will, and actually we must accept God’s will as in Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

10. I get encouraged when I read these types of stories of the lives of the people of God! No person of faith has ever had life easy, and if your life is easy, and you are not suffering persecution for Christ’s sake as most have, just accept it as a blessing because may happen one day! John Westley, the first Methodist who preached over 40,000 sermons in his lifetime came to the U. S. in Georgia for a time, but he failed to convert anyone after a few thousand sermons in America and be able to start a mission! How discouraging after being so successful in England! Only after his death did his Methodists churches really take root in Georgia and everywhere else in the USA. I am sure he dreamed to see America convert to Christ, but he suffered sadly to not see his dreams come true! I can relate to his suffering as a disillusioned dreamer who has frustratingly not seen enough people in the world follow Jesus and obey His mission of love & salvation!

The reality is the world will never be as you and I want it to be! All of us are subject to the will of God and often the evil ones in this world changes everyone’s plans! Having reviewed all this, don’t you agree that none of us should create in our minds dreams or plans for a perfect world, of a perfect Corps or church, of perfect leaders, or of a world getting better in general as it may not happen?

It is better to just not dream for anything! God will give you more than what you could ever dream of in heaven! Another reality on earth is that not all is suffering; there are happy fulfilling times as well! Many of them!

How much obedience do you and I have, how much of our dreams are the dreams of the Lord? Are you letting God break you open so you are useful? The dreams in your mind for the future need to be laid on the altar of sacrifice! Are you willing to give up your world in God’s hands today? Every person of God, even Jesus, had to give up all, and now He and mega millions live in eternal glory! Come, forget the past and don’t worry about the future, confess your weaknesses, fears, and dreams, let God’s will be done in you!