Thursday 3/6/14 Burdens 3

Dear Father in Heaven.  I love You, and thanks for another really great day. Thanks for the bread for the food pantry, and thanks for sending help this afternoon.  Please, Lord, please be with all those on our prayer list from yesterday.  Heal them, please, heal them, please.  Lord, help me now with a message, and then help me dispatch it.  Oh, and Lord, please clean me of my sins, and Lord, please touch my short-term memory.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Hi, brothers and sisters, what a great day here at the Southern Location (I think) of the North Pole.  You know, if we would just follow  our Bibles, we can find all we need to know about how to live, and even what brand of undies to wear.  No, I am not talking about the leaves that Adam and Eve used.  Anyway, we know God loved Hondas because everyone came in one Accord.  Do you know the brand name?  Okay, moving on, I did not receive any updates on our prayer lists, but I did get to hold onto "Little Luke"'s hand today and give God the glory for healing him.  There is power in prayer, brothers and sisters, but so often we do not get back to God and say thank you.  For years we have been praying on our driveway before we leave our home for any reason, but so often we come home safe and forget to say "thank you, Jesus."  Time to get to the message, Burdens.

Thursday:  March 6, 2014, Burdens (Day Three).

2 Corinthians 5:4 - For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  (NIV)

Folks, we are not talking about being out camping here, our tent is our body here on earth.  And the Bible tells us we groan and are burdened.  And that is a fact, but the Bible tells us we do not wish to be unclothed.  Meaning, and this is what the Lord is giving me, we do not want to let go of those burdens.  However, we who are saved wish to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, meaning to me we know when we get to heaven we will not have burdens and we get a new body, and speaking for me, I am ready to go to the Lord, BUT I DON'T WANT TO GO YET.  I am still willing to groan and hurt, just wish I could hand over the burdens and not pick them up.  I am working harder on that each day.  Also when the Bible tells us here "swallowed up by life."  That would be the eternal life that we get from loving and bringing Jesus into our lives.

2 Corinthians 11:9a - And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden on anyone.  (NIV)

Yes, I just typed out the first part of the verse, for I wanted  you to see, and this is Paul writing this letter, that he was not a burden on anyone.  The scripture goes on that "brothers" supplied everything he needed.  What this is telling me is we are not to be a burden on anyone.  I am sure most of you understand this, but we should try hard to handle things on our own, but there will be times that we need help from others.  Dolores and I have reached that stage in life, yet still, while we appreciate all that others do, we do not want to burden others, so when we have something that must be done and cannot do it ourselves, we have different folks we can call on to help.  I find that if we take our time and really pray and pray about it, we can get things done.  Often by just praying, God will help us figure things out or will send help.

Galatians 6:2 - Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  (NIV)

When I tie this together with the last scripture it is telling me that when I am over-burdened, of course I give it to Christ first, but then as others help me, I should be helping them also.  It talks about fulfilling the law of Christ, and to me that means loving our neighbor and helping them.  Most of all this scripture is talking about sin and when someone falls into sin, we need to help them get back on track, but we need to be careful we do not fall into the sin while helping them.  Please, to understand this better, read Galatians 6:1/10.

I am falling asleep and going to stop for tonight.  Please go forth, help others carry their burdens and also share your blessings.  Love ya.  And please pass on that love.

Pastor Dan