To Bring Him Joy

"And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty." - 1 Samuel 12:20-21 ESV I have been involved in a women's Bible study at my church and our preaching pastor has been preaching through 1 Samuel(Check out his sermons here: http://www.desertspringschurch.org/messages/ ) and over and over again I've been reading/hearing these words "do not turn aside" or "they turned aside" and those have stuck out and stuck with me.  Over and over God told His people: "You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your God has commanded you.   You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may l...

"So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And everyday of his life he dined regularly at the king's table, and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived." 2 Kings 25:29-30 In 2 Kings 24,Jehoiachin was 18 years old and had just become king, reigning 3 months when he and all Jerusalem, except a few who were left to care for the land, were taken into captivity by the king of Babylon. Jehoiachin was put into prison and we don't hear anything about him again until the end of 25 where Nebuchadnezzer's son has just become king and "graciously freed Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from prison."Jehoiachin is now 55 having been in prison 37 years! Don't feel too sorry for him. All of Israel and Judah had made a covenant with God promising to walk in His ways, keeping His commandments and observing His statutes. God had told them all the blessing they would experience if they kept their...

"The thoughts of the righteous are just, the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.   The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood but the mouth of the upright delivers them.   The wicked are overthrown and are no more,   but the house of the righteous will stand." Proverbs 12:5-7 A little over a week ago, on a Tuesday evening, I decided to stay over on the west side of town instead of making a drive back and forth after work as I had Bible study that evening. Of course, I hadn't finished my study and so decided I would get a bite to eat and work on it. I really felt that God was leading me to go to the McDonald's that was not to far from where I work. I wasn't really craving Micky D's but I went feeling that there must be someone that God wanted me to pray for as that is frequently the case when I feel strongly led to a particular place. So going in and when ordering I was on the look out for "the person" for whom I was to intercede. Then I go...

A while back, I was challenged by a young preacher, as were the rest of the Christians sitting in the auditorium, to share my testimony.  I was delighted to hear his story of how God drew him unto Himself. It is so cool that God saved a "hungover college student" and has so radically changed his life that he was sent out about a year ago by Desert Springs Church along with 50 adults and over half that many children to plant a new church, Redemption Church in Rio Rancho . Well, today God is saying remember that testimony blog that you barely started. It is time to finish it. Share your testimony. I am one of those people who sometimes thinks my salvation testimony is boring, especially compared to some of the dramatic testimonies of being saved out of drug addiction or alcohol abuse or right before they were going to commit suicide. For some reason, God, in His great mercy spared me from those things. He called and saved me when I was 6 years old. I grew up a Southern Ba...

  “ After all that has happened to us because of our evil deeds and terrible guilt—though You, our God, have punished us less than our sins deserve and have allowed us to survive...” Ezra 9:13 HCSB As part of my reading, in what I write down on my “to do” list as “twiG” (time with God-twiG to remind me that I AM is the vine and little I is just a branch. I've got to be attached to Him to survive.) I read Ezra 9 and verse 13 stuck out. I was amazed and convicted. Amazed that someone had this attitude and convicted that I rarely do. We had community group last night and were discussing how we struggle with believing that God loves us and I realized in thinking of this verse that true to myself I go from one extreme to the other so many times. Either I struggle with truly believing that God loves me. O, I know it in my head but how different my life would be if I really grasped how great His love is for me and for others-to see people as someone Christ gave His life to ...