January 6, 2010 The Journey 24

And a voice from heaven said:

Salvation Wednesday, my dear brothers and sisters... Salvation Wednesday is the day we pray first for our own souls, and then for the unsaved and that their heart becomes open to receive Jesus. Today I am asking you to pray for salvation for our President and his family and that God opens his heart to receive Jesus. Also please pray for all of those who belong to the ACLU and who might be non-believers. I am sure there are members of the ACLU who are saved, I am not judging them, but it is a good place to lay some prayers.

Please pray today for Ruth and Willie Sanderson (Bridges Flock). Also please keep praying for Vicki and her family and for Ronald Leidigh who is going through cancer treatments. Also, please keep praising God for answered prayers, even if we do not see the answers at this time.

The Journey 25: Matthew 3:17 - And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased." (NIV)

Brothers and sisters, I want you to first put your feet into the shoes of a pastor who is baptizing people from their flock. One by one those who had asked to be baptized filed in and walked out into the water, be it in a baptism tank in the church or in a river as John The Baptist used. One by one the folks were walking into the water and one by one we as the pastor were putting the people under the water and pulling them back up. Then it happened, we looked up for the next person and Jesus was standing there and He tells us, "I would like you to baptize me." What would we think? Would we pass out and fall into the water and need pulled out? Would we be lost for words? Pastors, I would love to hear from you on just how you might feel.

And now brothers and sisters, after we get ourselves collected up and we put our arms around Jesus, what would go through our minds? Oh my gosh, what happens if I can't get him pulled back up and he drowns? I could see people talking about me... do you know Pastor Dan, he drowned Jesus in the river this morning. Now we just know that would not happen, but what was John thinking that day? And then You hear a voice from Heaven that says... Pastor Dan, you better not drown my Son. Listen, I am having all too much fun with this today, but I want you to think about it and I want you to think really hard about a few things...

What would you really think? What might have John been thinking? And then there is the voice from Heaven saying "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased." Here is my question about that... How often has a voice from heaven spoken to us and we were not paying any attention to it? Maybe we do not hear this loud voice falling on our ears, but do we listen when God speaks to our hearts? Brothers and sisters, all too often God speaks to us and it does fall on deaf ears or a dead heart. We pray about something or ask God about something and then do not take time to be still and listen.

Now I want to bring one last thing up about this scripture and it is this... God said from Heaven, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased." And I ask all of you who have children would we not all like to say that about our children and be able to say it each and every day? This is my son whom I love and am well pleased. Let me before I answer that wish I could go back in my life and change a few things so that my parents could have said those words. Oh, I am sure my parents, like me, could answer the very first part. This is my son/daughter whom I love... But there were times I am sure my parents could not say and with Danny I am well pleased. Oh yes, there were days my mamma could say that, but I am sure there were days when she would not be able to say it... 99% of the time I could say that about our kids but not all the time. Do you see where I am coming from?

Now let me wrap it up... We are children of God, what does God think about us? Would it be something like this... This is my child whom I love very much and with whom I am well pleased about half of the time. Can we improve on this? I think we all can, and I think we should. And folks, it works one other way also. I would love my kids to be able to say... This is my dad whom I love very much and with whom I am well pleased. You know I think I have room for improvement on all those levels. Today I ask you to join me in trying to please God more and more, to try and raise that percentage higher and higher... Will you join me?

Dear Father in Heaven, I know I can do better in pleasing You, I know it, but it will take some help from You. It is hard down here some days and I confess that as I want to please You I sometimes slip and slide. I fall down and You pick me up. Help me, Lord, improve on that percentage so I can please You more and more each day. In the name of Jesus I also ask You to help me work on the salvation of others by telling them the Good News of Your Love and Saving Grace. And Lord, please heal the cancer in the body of my dear friend Ron. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

Go forth sharing your blessings which will really help please God, and try real hard to please Him more and more each day... Love ya, Dan.

Carry The Light Ministries
16 Dewalt Drive
Mechanicsburg, Pa 17050
Home 717 691 8200
Cell 717 991 0754