Tomorrow may be too late - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) August 1, 2023

It can be hard for some to believe that God could ever be inaccessible. In this day and age, many of us think God is like a streaming channel - turn it on when you want and ignore it when you don't. This attitude leads to so many believing they should 'enjoy life' or make money first, putting the need to enter into a relationship with God on the backburner. "Oh, I'm young and I've got my life to live. I'll give my life to the Lord later," they say.

However, what many fail to realize is that tomorrow may be too late.

That is not the message anyone wants to hear. We always imagine there will be plenty of time to turn to the Lord. However, consider Isaiah 55:6-7 - Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

This scripture makes it painfully clear that there is a time when God can be found. This being the case, the opposite is equally true - there is a time when God cannot be found. We must ask ourselves which of these options do we prefer? Wonder how the latter option could happen? Imagine a guy, living the life. He's got money, women, cars, homes and takes great trips. He's the dude every guy wants to be and the man every woman wants. His mom keeps telling him to make time for God but He promises her he'll do so when he gets married and has kids. Over the years people try to talk to him about Christ but he brushes them aside. He eventually gets tired of his mom's 'nagging' about God and calls her less frequently. His life of partying intensifies and he's soon doing things he never would have before, all because he can and nobody tells him not to.

One day, he falls sick and dies. At no point did he get to return to the subject of getting to know God or His son, Jesus Christ. His death was sudden, so there was no death-bed opportunity for someone to pray with Him and have Him give His life to Christ. Where do you think a man like that ends up? Heaven? Hell? According to the words of Jesus in John 14:6, this man will not make it to heaven because He never took that preliminary step of accepting Jesus as His Lord and Savior.

God does not want anyone to go to hell (2 Peter 3:9). And this is why the Lord wants everyone to turn to Him and leave behind the things that don't please Him, because these things negatively impact a relationship with Him. Jesus said in Revelation 16:15 - “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and who keeps his clothes [that is, stays spiritually ready for the Lord’s return], so that he will not be naked—spiritually unprepared—and men will not see his shame.” (AMP). The Lord wants all to be spiritually ready for His return because He has promised to come back and those who remained ready will go to heaven, while those who didn't will suffer an unpleasant fate in hell. Nobody knows when the time of His return will be, but is it worth it to leave things to chance and remain unprepared? If my experience is anything to go by, then making intentional choices to have a relationship with God is not easy. Many might not want to hear that either. Yet, I've seen God do things for me whereby I'm thoroughly convinced that the sacrifices were worth it. Plus, God is responsible for me and according to 1 Corinthians 1:8 - He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You may be wondering, how can you seek the Lord? How does one prepare for when Jesus will return? The first thing to do is to genuinely tell Him you want to know Him and have Him in your life. The next step varies from person to person but can look like any of the following: for many, finding a church where the Holy Spirit dwells acts as a great incubator for their relationship with God. Others open the Bible and develop their relationship through regular interaction with the word of God. Some are led to someone who talks to them about Jesus and helps them become familiar with who He is and what He offers. There are so many ways that God stretches His hand toward people so that a true relationship begins and is firmly established.

The point is, He wants a relationship with you and you should take the offer before it's too late. None of us know when that time will come but I pray in the name of Jesus that each of us will accept His outstretched hand and enter into friendship with the Lord, IJMN, Amen.

Stay in God's Plan and Timing - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) July 28, 2023

The Bible makes it clear that every person was known to God even before they entered their mother's womb to be born on the earth. The Bible also mentions that each person is predestined for a purpose God has determined. With that in mind, it is crucial to have some idea of what God's plan is for our lives. The lack of such knowledge can have damning effects, leading people to make choices for themselves and others that create problems instead of solutions.

However, just as it's important to understand God's purpose for your life, it is equally imperative to have a sense of God's timing of the plans He has for your life, so you can remain within it. The experiences of Jesus Christ give us some insight into how much we need to remain within both God's plan and His timing for us.

When satan attempted to tempt Christ in the wilderness, it made three requests. One of them, however, was a thinly veiled attempt to get Jesus to step out of God's plan for His life and ministry. It is contained in Matthew 4:6 - "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

Although it seems satan wanted Jesus to prove He was the Son of God, in actuality, the request was a bid to get Jesus to put His life into His own hands. That was never God's plan for His Son. Nor was it the Son's plan for Himself. In all things, He was submissive to God the Father. John 5:30 - “I can do nothing on my own initiative or authority. Just as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just (fair, righteous, unbiased), because I do not seek My own will, but only the will of Him who sent Me (AMP). Obedient to a fault, whereby He even endured torture, disrespect, and death because that was God's plan for Him. At no point was the plan for Jesus to jump off a mountain so as to satisfy the whims of the devil. Now, imagine if Jesus had fallen for that stunt? Imagine if he'd succumbed to the pride satan wanted him to feel and thus had done what satan wanted so as to prove He was the Son of God? I shudder at the thought.

Jesus also paid attention to God's timing for His life. At the wedding where wine ran out, His mother asked Him to take care of the problem. His initial response, however, was “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4). Yet, to honor His earthly mother, He obeyed her request and promptly turned water to wine so great, the Master of Ceremony gushed over how good it was. The Bible further highlights the importance of God's timing in Jesus's life in John 7 when He taught at the temple courts during the Feast of Tabernacles. The rabbis and people were incensed that He would assert He was God's Son, and they seized Him in order to kill Him. However, we are told in verse 30, "but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come."

Each of us must seek the face of the Lord to learn His plan for our lives. We must also focus on His timing, desiring that His plan happen at the pace He selects. In this way, we shall achieve the prize God has in store for us. We must also be open to God's plan and timing for our family life, our work life, for the lives of our children. He told us to ask in Matthew 7:7, for those who ask will receive, and what better question is there than to know what God wants each of us to accomplish on this earth? He promised to answer us when we ask Him questions in Jeremiah 33:3 and He committed, in Philippians 2:13, to help His children do the very things that are pleasing to Him.

Today is the day to inquire of God as to His plans for your life. Today is the day to submit to those plans and His timing. May the good Lord help us all, IJMN, Amen.

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) July 25, 2023

In Matthew 14, Jesus instructed Peter to walk upon the water and come meet Him a distance away. Peter got out of the boat, leaving the other disciples, and made his way to the Savior. The wind picked up, however, and Peter became scared. And for good reason, as he started to sink. Can you imagine walking on water? Personally, it seems like an exciting feat to accomplish. I like to believe that even in the time of Jesus, the disciples were amazed to not only see Jesus standing on the water but to watch Peter walk out to Him. Certainly, Peter must have been excited as well. Alas, Peter couldn't hold onto that great victory - being the only other man to walk on water - for too long. Once the wind picked up, he took his gaze off Jesus and fear set in. To be fair, Peter's experience is no different from what many of us go through. With the help of Jesus, many believers accomplish something astounding but then the devil shows up with a lie to suddenly make the victory rocky and possibly bring it to an abrupt end. Nobody should be surprised by this because satan comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10). Its objective is to punk God's children out of their blessings and wins. It couldn't stop Peter from stepping out onto the water in faith but it kept him from getting to the finish line, thereby snatching complete victory from him.

God doesn't want any of us to falter the way Peter did. He wants us to keep our eyes on Jesus even when the wind picks up and makes it seem like our victory is rocky and might not happen. When the devil shows up and flings the weapons of its warfare at us such as the spirit of doubt, fear, and insecurity at us, we are to not to focus on the weapons. We're to focus on the source of our strength. We can't afford to take our eyes off Him. We need tunnel vision so we don't get thwarted on the way to complete victory. This requires us to cultivate the habit of ignoring and challenging satan's lies (James 4:7). None of this is possible without listening and allowing the Lord to help us process our thoughts with His word. This, in turn, requires letting God fully prepare us for the challenges that seek to limit our victories. He knows the many ways the devil will attack and if we submit in humility, He will show us and teach us how to overcome. By the grace of God, we shall guard our hearts and keep them guarded, for out of the heart stems all the issues of life. Our victory won't be corrupted by the enemy, IJN, Amen. See you later at Noon EST for fellowship. God bless you!