Good Morning, Dear Father in Heaven. Thanks for another day here on earth, and thanks for sending Jesus to the cross to save my unworthy soul. Lord, please be with our brothers and sisters in Israel and bring peace to the land where Jesus walked. And Lord, please be with families of those lost in the airliner crash when some evil-minded people shot the plane down. Lord, please help me now with the message and please then help me to dispatch it. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, our nation is in trouble. Our homeland is under attack, and a private airliner was shot down yesterday. Warriors, we need to be praying and praying. We need to be getting nearer and nearer to God each day, and we need to be hugging and loving on each other and our family. We need to contact God before each decision we make, and again I want to talk to you today about decisions and why talk it over with God first. Sorry I missed yesterday, but I'm at it early today. Let me get going on the message.
Friday: July 18, 2014, Decisions, Decisions, Decisions (Day Three)
2 Corinthians 9:6 - Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: "He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor, His righteousness endures forever." (NIV)
I believe that throughout life a lot of decisions that we make or need to make are based on finances. I wonder how often we go to God before we get out the credit card, or if we go to God after we get the statement from the credit card company? Again I tell you that each morning we need to get up and go to God and ask Him to help us through the day and help us in all the decisions that we are going to make that day. Some decisions we make are automatic, like getting out of bed, but there are days when I need to go to God and ask Him to give me strength to get out of bed. Sometimes we even need to ask Him to help us in decisions about going to the bathroom. One of the things we talk to God about in our making decisions is when we leave the Southern Location of the North Pole and hit the road. We need to make a lot of decisions as we drive and they must flow without delay. The light is stale green and we know it is going to change to yellow and then red. We make a decision to stop. We pray about those decisions in advance, before we leave home. We do not say, "Dear Father in Heaven, the light is about to turn red, should I stop? In Jesus' Name, Amen." Now this prayer might get answered in a hurry, you don't stop, you get killed in the crash, you go to heaven, and God greets you by saying, "You should have stopped!"
In our scripture today it talks about our giving and how "God loves the cheerful giver." We should decide this before we pay all of our other bills. In fact, we should have decided this before we made the bills. The bottom line should be that you talk it over with God, then you donate to His work, and you pay your bills. If you pay your bills first, you will find that often there is nothing left to give to God. So go to God and ask for help. When you give to God from your heart, you will never not have your needs furnished. That is in our scripture from today, go back up and re-read it. Also, God never will get tired of hearing from you. In fact, He loves to hear from all of us. He loves to hear from us in prayer. He loves to hear us as we do Bible Study. He loves to hear from us as WE TAKE TIME TO PRAISE HIM. And I for one love to sing and sing to God. I sing all day long, when I am outside working, when driving, I just love to make up little gospel songs and sing them to Him. Look, don't tell me you can't sing, for God has you covered on that one also. Yes, it is in the Bible. Look!
Psalm 100:1 - Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the Lord He is God; it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is ever-lasting; and His truth endureth to all generations. (KJV)
So as you pray about decisions, you can sing to Him about it, sing the prayer you are praying. Do you know that one of this nation's most loved songs is a prayer? The song? "God Bless America." So just think, as you sing your prayer request to God, God might really get a good laugh out of it. While I might sound like I am joking some on this, I am serious. You do not need to be along side your bed on your knees to get God's attention. I am sure He would love to see you on your knees praying, but I am just as sure He would love to hear You singing and being happy as you ask for things and also take time to sing PRAISES TO HIM for great things He has done for you.
So as I end this short series on decisions, please take a minute and tell me about any one decision that you will need to make that is not worthy of asking God to help you with. As for me and our house, we will serve the Lord and "Any decision worth making is WORTH TALKING OVER WITH GOD FIRST." And you can quote me on that saying!
Also, please remember that first scripture I gave you today. In short, you only reap what you sow. That is true in all you do, folks. In all you do. Not just in your giving, but in the way you raise your family, the way you treat others. If you want someone to smile at you and be kind to you, smile at them first and be kind to them. Sometimes it takes more than once.
Dear Father in Heaven: I love You, and I pray You have a nice day, and I pray that we here on earth will sin less today and more people will come to You to be saved. Please be with all pastors and others who will be going out working for You this weekend. Thanks, Lord, for hearing our prayers and answering them according to Your will for us. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.
Now go forth, have a great weekend, and please share your blessings, and share your love with others, and by all means remember that love is your greatest blessing. Love ya. Please pass on my love to others.
Pastor Dan
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