“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” – Hebrews 8:12

 

 

If you die tonight, where are you going? How many good deeds does it take to make it into Heaven? Are you even keeping track? Did you maybe forget one or two bad things that may make the difference when you time comes?

 

 

God is a true and righteous God and not a single bad action will go unpunished. You can’t break His laws and get away with it, but we have broken His laws, haven’t we? You might say, “At least I haven’t killed anyone.” You might not have killed someone outwardly, but we sometimes commit murder in our hearts when someone cuts in line at the grocery store or calls us names in traffic. Well, how about honoring thy father and thy mother? Did you ever get punished as a child and said or wished some bad things on your parents? The Bible says thou shalt not covet, but we covet all the time when we see something or someone that gets our proverbial motors running.

 

 

After thinking about any of those things, go back to your little scorecard of good deeds and tell me how you are stacking up?

 

 

So how is it even possible for any of us to make it into Heaven. The Bible says that only the righteous shall see God, so how do we have a chance? Let me sum it up for you in one word. Jesus. Only Him alone is enough to pay for your debt. Jesus lived the sinless life that we can’t, but yet He took the punishment for sin that we couldn’t. Through His life, death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus Christ stamped “Paid in Full” on your debt. When you accept Jesus and what He did on the cross, you can stand before God when your time comes and know for a fact that He doesn’t see all of your bad deeds. When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, that list is wiped clean. God only sees the good deeds of Jesus from that moment forward.

 

 

Romans 10:13 – “for EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

 

 

This all doesn’t mean that we can go on sinning as much as we want. To accept this free gift of forgiveness we need to repent, or in other words, change our minds towards sin and bad things. You won’t always get it right, but now you are at least willing and trying to go down the right path. You don’t have to keep score of how many good things versus how many bad things you do. We can’t do enough good deeds to earn us a place in Heaven. That’s why we need Jesus to open the door for us. It’s not about our work, it’s about Jesus’s finished work on the cross.

 

 

 

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

 

 

 

God loves you!  So stop trying to work yourself into Heaven and don’t worry if it has been enough. Instead, call upon the beautiful name of Jesus Christ and let His precious blood wash away all of your sins. His arms are open wide on the cross; wide enough for you and all of your sins.

 

 

 

God’s blessings to you.

 

DH

“But God raised him from death to life and destroyed the pains of death, because death had no power to hold him.” Acts 2:24

Since it is Easter, we are reminded today more than most times of the year that Jesus was crucified and died for our sins. It was horrible for all who looked upon the face of the Jesus hanging there on the cross. It is where we get our word ‘excruciating.’ Many people at that time thought that it was the end of their hope of salvation, but Jesus rose again just a few days later. What started as a miracle birth could have been reduced to just campfire stories had Jesus not risen again after his fall.

That is what made all the difference. Jesus rose again after his death. This life that we know will pass away soon enough, but when we accept Jesus as our Savior and put our trust in Him, we are promised that we shall be raised again with Him. We no longer need to fear death, because our Lord has complete power over death and not the other way around. Over the years, there’s been many people that have said their way was the answer to life, but they all died; all but one, Jesus. Jesus backed up every claim He made through fulfillment of scripture prophecies as well as the miracles He did.  The biggest miracle of all was the empty tomb on Sunday, because in dying He destroyed our death, and in rising He restored our life.

I don’t need a dead savior. I can die on my own just fine, thanks. What I need is the risen savior. I need Jesus Christ. No other religion offers that or makes that claim, because it just didn’t happen with anyone else but Jesus.

You and I will fall to our sins, but the real tragedy would be if we didn’t rise again from it. Only one thing separates us from God and keeps us out of heaven and that is our sin. That is why our greatest need is to have our sins forgiven. Only then can we be reconciled to God and have the opportunity to be with Him for all eternity.  The Bible says in Acts 4:12, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”  Jesus is the ONLY way.

Happy Easter, my friends. It is not just the resurrection day of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it is the day of our resurrection as well.  As He was raised, so shall we be raised with Him forever.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

Jesus sent him away at once and warned him, “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, show yourself to the priest. Then offer the sacrifices which Moses commanded as proof to people that you are clean.” – Mark 1:43-44

In the Gospels, we see Jesus heal a man with leprosy. It says that Christ told the man not to tell anyone, but to go to the church and offer a sacrifice as was the tradition. That confused me, because if I was healed of a life threatening disease, I would shout it from the rooftops. But Jesus in His infinite wisdom didn’t want the people getting focused on the leper, but instead, Christ wanted everyone to focus on God’s grace that actually allowed the healing. That’s much like a child’s baseball game. When you see a child hit a home run, you don’t praise the ball for flying so far away. You instead praise the child for being a good baseball player. Jesus didn’t want people hung up on the body that was healed, but rather see the gift of God that made the healing possible.

Also, think about the leper himself. He was not used to people paying attention to him. People would run from a leper. It was a dreaded disease that claimed many lives in a horrible fashion. They would never get touched, but now that the man with leprosy was clean, people would be touching him just to make sure the miracle was real. The surprise attention would easily go anyone’s head. Christ knew this and that is why the book of Mark says that Jesus “straightaway warned the leper.” It was a warning for the man who once had leprosy to keep his focus on God who cleansed him rather than the cleansing itself. He was once a beggar, but now a celebrity. The leprosy corrupted the man’s body, but pride would corrupt the man’s soul.

There was so much more to the man than his leprosy. That’s something important to remember when we meet people, whether it be in good or bad circumstances. That leper may have had a brilliant mind or a well-articulated speaking voice, but no one would have known that because the average person wouldn’t have tried to know the person behind the disease. Now cleansed of his leprosy, the man had a new lease on life, so to speak. But it would be too easy for the man to take what God had given him and used it for the wrong reasons. He was free of the disease, but could have been susceptible to falling for pleasures of the same flesh that failed him in other ways just days before. The man could have easily let the anger of being previously disliked take control and lead him into vengeance. That is why Jesus told the man not to say anything. It wasn’t because Jesus was trying to keep it a secret. It was because the body had been healed, but the man was more than just flesh and bone. The man believed in Jesus as the Messiah, but all too easy would it have been for the man to start putting more faith into his new found body instead of keeping his faith in God.

Like Jesus says in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?” The man’s outside was not falling apart anymore, but who he was inside needed to stay intact. He needed to keep his mind and his actions focused on God so that he could lead others to healing in Christ as well. The man and his disease was what people clued in on before, but now that the leprosy was no longer a roadblock, people could see a physical reminder of God’s mercy and love. The man was crippled before, but now was a walking and talking billboard of grace. Had his entire life been good and easy, maybe the man would have gone down the wrong path. But instead, the man’s life was plagued with sickness and disease.  He had nothing, and it is in those times of extreme need that we find ourselves crawling to the Savior. He couldn’t heal himself, otherwise he would have done it already. This leper believed in Jesus and Him alone. A muscle becomes stronger when it is worked out and faith becomes stronger when it is tested. It was his faith in Jesus Christ that allowed him to be cleansed from corruption. Now healed, the man could begin to live out his faith and possibly lead others to Christ.

Your life shouldn’t be a show and tell about your abilities, but a showing of God’s grace. So please, give the credit where the credit is due and remember that actions speak louder than words. Don’t just tell people how holy you are, but instead, show people how holy your Savior is.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“And he said to them, Go you into all the world, and preach the gospel to all creation.” – Mark 16:15

It doesn’t take long for people to know where I stand with God, but with our “politically correct” world, it’s sometimes hard to share my faith with people. For the average person, the situation can easily become uncomfortable. You don’t want to offend people, especially at your place of business which can get you into hot water with bosses and others.  That being said, how much more uncomfortable will it be if you knew that the person you had the chance to share the gospel with went to hell and even took others with him or her?

That’s the chance we take when we know that someone doesn’t know Christ and yet we do nothing about it. There are so many people in this world who are walking in sin.  They are going down a bad road and don’t know how to stop.  It’s up to you and I as Christians to tell them about Christ.  There’s a part in the book of Acts where the apostle Philip meets an Ethiopian who is reading the scriptures.  Philip asks if he understands what he’s reading, to which the Ethiopian replies, “How can I if nobody explains it to me?”

No matter how far along in your journey with Christ that you are, you still can help show someone else the truth. We all have a story.  Start with what you know.  Tell that other person about your past and then how your life has changed after Jesus.  It’ll be enough.  And let me tell you, I’ve never saved anybody.  That’s not my job, it’s the Holy Spirit’s job.  I’ve simply pointed towards Jesus.  Sometimes they walk away with a new purpose and sometimes they walk away offended.  All you can do is pray that the seed has been sown and believe that God will give the increase.

Just think about it. If you went to the doctor and they found out you had cancer.  Then, they knew that there was a cure, but didn’t tell you about it.  Once you found out, you’d be fighting mad.  You’d probably sue them or worse.  Well, sin is the cancer and the wages of sin is death.  The cure is Jesus Christ and all who call upon Him shall be saved.  How dare you keep that cure to yourself!

There are good people, maybe even people in your own household that don’t know the love of Jesus Christ. What would you do to stop them from being lost forever?  You don’t have to preach to them to tell them about Christ.  Do it simply and plainly.  To tell them about Jesus is to tell them that you love them.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

God’s plan is for peace in your life, but in this crazy, confused, and fallen world, it seems like all we have are difficulties and pains. Once one goes away, another takes its place. It is the furthest thing from peace, but we need to realize that being at peace is not automatic.

Our problem is that we are separated from God. We are strangers in a strange land and that becomes more apparent with each passing day. Sin abounds. It’s all we see around every turn in this world. After a while, we find we jump right into that sin with both feet. But don’t think that you are alone in that mess. In Romans 3:23, it says that ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. How right it is.

The words ‘sin’ and ‘fallen’ don’t need to be what define you though. God has placed a remedy before us to bridge the gap between Him and us. That bridge is the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection paid the penalty for your sins and mine. The bible says that “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24).

However, just because the bridge is there doesn’t mean that we automatically get saved. We have to accept that saving grace. We can’t just take a flight if we have a ticket. That plane will leave without us if we don’t climb on board. We have to cross the bridge and we do that when we accept and receive Christ through His personal invitation.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” – John 1:12

“Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” – Romans 10:13

To receive Christ you need to do four things:

1. ADMIT your spiritual need. “I am a sinner.” Just like in any problem, the first step is admitting you have one.

2 . REPENT and be willing to turn from your sin. You have to pick a path. One leads to death, the other to eternal life. You at least have to be willing to turn down the correct path, but make no mistake, you can’t do it alone. You need Jesus’ help and that’s what He’s offering.

3 . BELIEVE that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross. Romans 10:19 says that if you declare with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

4 . RECEIVE, through prayer, Jesus Christ into your heart and life. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in” (Revelation 3:20).

Whether you are a non-believer in search of peace in your life or even if you are a lifelong Christian who doesn’t feel like they have had that connection with Jesus, now is your chance to come to Him. He’s waiting for you. Please pray this prayer with me:

“Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died for my sins and I want to turn from them now and forever. I want You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as Lord and Savior.”

Friends, if you prayed that prayer with me, I believe that you have just been saved. If you didn’t, than what are you waiting for? The bible says that today is the day of salvation; now is the accepted time. I know that if I had a single doubt as to my eternal salvation, you couldn’t drag me away from here without accepting the peace of Jesus Christ.

Now, get into a good bible based church, if you are physically able, and come to know more about the God who loves you and wants to be with you forever. You are now no longer at odds against Him, but instead you have returned to Him as His child who was once lost, but now is found. His arms are outstretched to welcome you home.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!” – Psalm 66:20

 

 

 

When I come home from work, my wife Monica and I like to spend time together talking or maybe watching a little TV. After long days, it is nice to just relax and be together when we can. That relaxation is usually broken up abruptly by various children who seem to always need to come into the room and tell us something. Sometimes it’s to tattle on a sister or maybe to ask for a snack before bed. Occasionally, it’s just to say a few words to us about whatever is on their minds as the moment. Monica and I stay pretty active in the lives of our children and know many of the things the kids have a concern about before they express the problem or need, but we are always ready to listen to our children.

 

 

 

We have a Heavenly Father who treats us the same way. No matter the circumstances and no matter the problems, God is always there with us to lend an ear. Only with God, He already knows everything that is going on well in advance before we say a word. If we need for something, God has already identified that need and had set the wheels in motion for our provisions. There is nobody that is more actively a part of our lives than God and rest assured that our Father has an “open door policy” when it comes to His children.

 

 

 

The Bible teaches us that God always has time to listen to His children. We are taught to pray continuously and to call upon the Lord at any time, because He will answer. We can pray both with our mouths and our actions. God responds just the same to them both. The book of Romans says that even when we can’t speak, the Holy Spirit of God prays for us in groanings that can’t be expressed by words. God is always with us, ready to listen to us and take care of His children.

 

 

 

That’s not to say that He will give us whatever we want; quite the contrary. God is not a genie and we can’t expect to rub the Bible to get three wishes for whatever we want. The Lord truly does answer every prayer, but sometimes it’s not a yes. Sometimes it’s a no. Other times the answer might be a “not right now.” Those kinds of answers don’t sit well with us much, but that’s due to our greed and impatience. We may want everything, but we don’t NEED for everything, no matter how much we may think otherwise. God does hear us nevertheless and as shown over and over throughout history, God will go to great lengths for His children if we only ask, even to the point of parting a sea, calming a storm, or far beyond our wildest expectations.

 

 

 

So, how can we have our prayers answered? By coming to the cross of Jesus Christ. We can’t live in a constant state of sinfulness and expect good things to come from it. We have to admit those sins and turn away from them, but it’s never too late. The Bible in the Gospel of Luke shows two thieves hung on crosses next to Jesus. One of them admitted his wrongdoings and asked Jesus to remember him in Heaven. Jesus replied to the man, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus through all of His pain and torture on the cross, heard that man’s prayer. Think of it, even despite all that the thief did to get nailed onto his own cross, his prayers were still heard by his Savior. Let that rest your mind and heart, the fact that there’s nothing you could do that would ever be bad enough to have God not hear your prayers.

 

 

 

My kids know that they can come to me anytime and I will do all I can to help them. Our Heavenly Father is no different. In fact, He is not only listening for us to speak to Him, He is hoping we will speak to Him. It is especially nice now and then when my kids come to me just to say they love me. Our Father loves us and feels immense joy when we clasp our hands in prayer just to say a quick “I love you.” I know that my children need food, clothing, and a roof over their heads, and I will provide those whether they ask or not; but I do enjoy doing special things for them if they ask for it with love. That same statement can be said of God, who is willing to do exceedingly and abundantly for the sake of His children if we only ask it out of a kind and loving heart.

 

 

 

If you’ve come to the cross in humility and repentance, you can then take advantage of God’s open door policy and come boldly to His throne. As Jesus said in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” God loves us and He is ready to listen when we are ready to speak. Come to Him today.

 

 

 

God’s blessings to you.

 

DH

My wife Monica and I just tried that baby foot peel thing. If you haven’t heard of it, it is a pair of plastic booties with gel in them that you put on your feet. You wait an hour, take the booties off, then in 3 or 4 days, the outer layer of skin peels off just like you’ve just had the world’s worst sunburn. It doesn’t hurt, but wow, does it ever look bad. The end result is feet that feel like baby’s skin. Just by doing this one thing, you are able to get rid of all the damage that the world has left on your feet over the years.

This world doesn’t just take a toll on your feet. Between all the stress, anxiety, anger, sadness, and evils of this world, your soul takes quite the beating as well. We start off good enough. There’s an innocence that babies and young children possess that just can’t be found in adulthood. Everyday life knocks it out of you and leaves you damaged. Don’t you wish you could just turn back the clock and go back to a time where sin didn’t leave a stain on your soul?

Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, but suffered and died on the cross and was buried. Then, He was raised from the dead so that you and I could have our sins forgiven. He took our punishment so the stain of evil would never stay on our souls. We have been completely forgiven. All we need to do is repent (which means to turn away from our sins) and accept Jesus as the Lord of our lives. Through the punishment of the cross, He saved us from an eternity in hell. Where we once followed our sinful nature and desires, we are now able follow God and live with Him in Heaven forever.

You might say that it is impossible to hold those harmful desires back. You’re right. For us men and women, it is impossible. You just can’t do it alone. That’s why we need Jesus living in us and through us. The Bible says that with God, all things are possible. It doesn’t mean you will never have struggles, but it does mean that things will get easier to handle, because it’s not just you handling it, it’s you and Jesus together.

I love my wife and I am very blessed for the time we share. You never know when that time may be up, so enjoy the time that you have available with the people you love. I’m honestly glad we tried that foot peel thingy, it was fun and interesting. If you try it, it’s sure to heal your soles. That being said, if you haven’t tried walking with Jesus, I highly recommend it. I promise it is sure to completely heal your soul, and that’s the best kind of healing you could ever ask for.

If you haven’t gotten that weight and the damage of sin off of your soul, then please pray this simple prayer with me. “Lord Jesus, I confess and repent of my sins. Please come into my heart and my life to be my Lord and Savior.” Friends, if you earnestly prayed that prayer with me, then I believe and declare that you have been forgiven of all of your sins and born again as a Christian. No more sin and no more stain on your soul. They have all been handed over to Jesus and nailed to the cross. Keep Him first place and live the life of joy He wants for you.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.” – Genesis 45:8

In the book of Genesis, we see a man named Joseph who’s brothers got so jealous of him that they sold him into slavery. You would think that was the end of the story, but God had something different in mind. Joseph was so blessed by God that he not only prospered, but he eventually became the second to Pharaoh and in charge of all Egypt.

This story goes to show that even your worst situations can be used for God’s best work. The Bible says that God works all things for the good of those who love Him. Joseph loved God and followed His word, and that helped him use a string of bad situations as a springboard to a life of great abundance. Was it the best of times, certainly not, but Joseph trusted God and he was generously rewarded for his perseverance.

How many times do we try to control our own lives and destiny, only to get stressed and upset when things don’t go our way? We think we have life figured out and we may even get a little cocky for it, and then all of a sudden life smacks us down a peg or two. The truth is that we will all experience some highs and some lows in this world, but rest assured the God loves His children and has our best interests in mind.

For instance, I remember the funeral for my brother David Lee. He was active in the church and a member of a successful touring gospel quartet. There’s not too many people I know who are any more in love with Jesus than my brother was. And yet, God decided to take my brother home to glory at a young age. It was an incredibly sad time for our family, but yet, in a sense, we were happy for him as well. We trusted God that his passing was for the greater good of things, and it was indeed. The day of his funeral, our brother-in-law Stan was touched by Jesus in a big way. Stan is a really good man, but just being good isn’t going to save you. He had jumped around in religion throughout his life, but never really got to know the real Jesus. That day, the day of my brother’s funeral, Stan was fully introduced to the love and fellowship of Christ thanks to David Lee’s gospel quartet buddies. Stan was moved by God’s love and demanded to be baptized on the spot.

What’s more than that, since my wife Monica had not been baptized but was close with the Lord, she felt it was the right time to express her love for Jesus and to be baptized after our brother-in-law Stan. I know without a doubt that if my brother knew he could help save a soul or two, especially the souls of our brother-in-law Stan and my wife Monica, he would have cheerfully agreed to passing away so it could happen on that day. It’s a good thing to save a life, but the true miracle comes in saving someone’s soul. God is a God of miracles.

It’s impossible for us to see things from God’s perspective, but if we could, we would agree to some of the bad things occurring because we would know that a greater good would come from them. All the proof I need is in the cross. The worst evil and yet, without Christ’s crucifixion, we would never find forgiveness of our sins. We would never know eternal life without our Heavenly Father who is ready to make those tough decisions for the good of His children.

Praise God each and every day for His blessings. Praise Him for the blessings we know as well as for the innumerable blessing that we don’t even recognize. Everything in your life, good or bad, has been expertly placed by the Master. It may look a little rough now and then, but I promise that when we get to Heaven, we will see the whole picture for what it is. We will know that each thread had to be in a specific place in order to weave the grand tapestry of life. It was all for the greater good and it all came together to make a beautiful life worth living.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“He told them, The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!” – John 9:11

A little while ago, a man asked me to pray for him. He said that he didn’t feel like he was close enough to Jesus and that he needed help becoming more humble. I promised him that I would pray for him. A couple of days ago, he came back to me saying that that I must not have prayed for him. I told him I kept my promise and prayed for him often. The man said that since he last saw me, his life was turned upside down. He was humiliated at work and that he felt like nothing went right for him at all. I asked him how he was handling it, to which he replied that he was praying all the time, because that was the only place left to which he could turn. I said, “Prayers answered then?” He thought a minute and said, “Well, yes I suppose, but I didn’t want it like this.”

We all face troubles in life, but how we react to those troubles makes all the difference. In the book of John, we find Jesus healing a blind man with some mud that Jesus made from dirt mixed with His spit. I’m sure that the blind man heard all of that happening. Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud, and wiped it on the man’s eyes. It’s almost adding insult to injury, in that not only is the man blind, but now some joker is putting some spit-mud on him. However, Jesus was more than just some other guy and the blind man knew it. The blind man trusted Jesus and that was what made the miracle happen. I’m certain that the blind man didn’t ask Jesus to spit and make mud to be healed with. Frankly, if it was one of us in that situation, we probably would have asked if there was a cleaner, less spit-filled way of healing us. The blind man wasn’t like that. He believed that he would be healed and that Jesus had his best interests in mind, even thought maybe it wasn’t the way the man would have chosen first. He didn’t question the methods, he just believed in the outcome.

Too often, we pray for everything to go well. We want nothing but peace in our lives with no struggles. I’m not saying that praying for good things is a bad thing, but just like a muscle, we can’t grow unless we are put under stress sometimes. You don’t become a runner without running. Just the same, you can’t have humility without being humbled. Thank God that there are some trying times, because they give us a chance to exercise those virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Like the story of the blind man, the disciples asked Jesus who sinned to make the man blind. Our Lord replied, “This happened so the power of God could be displayed in him.” It’s not the ideal situation and not something we would ask for, but if it meant being saved for all of eternity and helping other souls to become saved as well, then it was well worth it.

You might ask, “But isn’t there another way?”

God’s ways are so far above our ways, as the heavens are above the earth. I promise you that the plan that our Creator has is better than anything you or I could come up with. The Apostle Paul spoke of “a thorn in his side,” meaning Paul had some sort of medical condition or something that kept plaguing him. He asked God to take it way, to which God replied, “My grace is sufficient for you.” It is when we are weak that we are strong in Christ. If we think that we can change our own ways and live a blessed life, we are only fooling ourselves. Men and women will fail, but with God, all things are possible.

Jesus died on the cross to save our souls. God could have done it any way He saw fit, yet He still chose to save us through the pain and anguish of the cross. He took the punishment we couldn’t. God has a plan for our lives and it’s not for us to second guess His ways. If the blind man would have slapped Jesus’ hands away from his eyes, the blind man would still have been blind. God wants you blessed. He wants you to see the greatness of what He has in store for you. If you think, “But that’s not how I would have done it,” then get your so-called plan out of the way of God’s perfect plan and watch Him turn your life into something extraordinary. Trust in the Lord and He will take you higher than you could imagine.

God’s blessings to you.

DH

“Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”- Matthew 19:26

In the Bible, the book of Luke chapter 5 shows Jesus telling Peter to take his boat out and cast the nets into deep water.  Peter complains a bit, saying that they’ve tried all night and hadn’t caught a single fish, but agrees to it declaring, “I will do as you say.”  When Peter does what is asked of him, the fishing net caught such a large amount of fish that Peter called for some of his partners to come over.  They all had so many fish that they were able to fill both boats, almost overflowing them both.

There are a few points to be taken from this story.  The first one is that no matter what the circumstances look like, trust in what God says.  Peter and others had been fishing all day with no luck. Their chances for success that day looked dim, but that didn’t stop the goodness of Jesus Christ.  Your situation may look dark, you may think there is no way possible, and you may have tried as hard as you could with no result.  Realize that God is bigger than your problems.  He is the God of power and plenty.  This is the same God who empowered David to defeat a giant with a sling and a stone.  He’s the same God who led Joshua to tear down the walls of Jericho.  He’s the same God who even now offers us victory over death through the cross of Jesus Christ.  There is nothing our Heavenly Father can’t do and that also includes helping you with your problems.  Focus more on God rather than on your circumstances.

The second point is that when you follow the Word of God, you will be blessed in ways you don’t realize and in amounts you can’t yet comprehend.  Peter did what Jesus told him to do and he was blessed with more fish than he had ever caught before.  Peter could have given up and disregarded Jesus, but he followed Christ’s directions and got the catch of a lifetime.

Lastly, Peter did something that is worthy of a special note. The nets were overflowing with fish, so much so that the nets were breaking.  At that point, Peter could have let the excess fish loose and think that it was enough. Instead, Peter called his friends over to share in the blessing. Together, they worked hard on the nets and hauled in enough fish to almost sink both of their boats.  We need to actively pursue this principle in our own lives.  Whenever we experience God’s favor and blessings, we must not forget to include those around us.  Don’t just take the money and run, so to speak.  Invest those blessings in others as well.  It’s easier to give blessings such as money or even your time when you realize that those blessings are God’s to begin with. It all comes from Him. Through our blessings, we need to become a blessing to others.

If you follow Jesus, no matter what the situation may look like, God’s blessings and abundance will soon follow you in amazing ways.  Even when it looks like there no possible way, God will make a way. An empty net today could be the catch of a lifetime when Jesus is with you.

God’s blessings to you.

DH