A lot of people are doing spring cleaning right now. Perhaps you finally moved the couch to clean out the dust bunnies, or finally got the old cheese smell out of your son’s room, but no matter what, when you go through and clean out all of that garbage and throw things away, it makes you feel good. Being clean is a very important part of being healthy. If you eat off of a dirty plate, chances are, you won’t stay a healthy person for a very long time.

It’s the same way with our souls. Our Souls need to be healthy too. Unlike our physical bodies though, Spinach and Brussel Sprouts won’t do the soul any good. Our Souls need God’s Word and a solid prayer life to keep it healthy.

On top of this, we need to keep our souls clean too. While soap and shampoo are a great start for our bodies, a good self examination is better for our souls. Some things that clutter our souls are lies, hatred, and bad habits. If these things crowd our souls for too long, our souls can get sick and unhealthy. Sometimes we need to stop and take a good look at ourselves to see if there is some Spring Cleaning that needs to be done.

What about you? Do you have some spring cleaning to do? Maybe there is an old lie eating at you that you need to ask God’s forgiveness for, or maybe there is someone that you are impatient with that you need to ask God for help being patient with. Whatever it may be, while you’re cleaning out that old smell from your son’s room, remember that our sin is just as repulsive to God.

And, don’t forget to look under the couch for dust bunnies of hatred!

I want to take you to 1 Kings 17:7-24. It is here, in the water-less, rain-less, dew-less land of Zarephath that we meet a woman. She is preparing the last meal she and her son ever hope to have. Just when she thought it was over, she is told by God to care for a man that she probably hated. This man, the prophet Elija was probably her worst enemy. Enemy or not though, God commanded her to care for him, so when Elija appears at her door, she has a very important decision to make. She could listen to God and help this man, or she could turn him away.

We can’t imagine what was passing through this mother’s head when Elija appeared on her doorstep asking for food and water. Here, at her mercy, stood Elija the prophet, the man that began the dreadful drought that she and her son were about to die from. Here he stood at her door asking her to give him the one thing she had left. At first she turned him down and told him she was making the last meal of her life so she could be content and die. He asked again though, this time asking for one more thing-her faith. He told the widow that if she made three servings instead of two, and served him first, god would never let her flour or oil supply end. there would be enough for one more meal as long as the drought lasted.

Let’s stop and think like the widow right now. First this prophet, the prophet that is causing the land you live in to wither and die, asks you for your last meal and now he wants you to trust him too?

Elija told her not to be afraid and that God would care for her. He knew God would, he had been in a place of need once too and God fed him and gave him water. [1 Kings 17:1-6]

The woman continued with what she was doing, but now she made three servings instead of two. She gave the first portion to Elija. Just as He had promised, there was enough flour and oil for one more meal. For as long as the drought lasted, Elija, The Widow, and the widow’s son had one more meal.

It took a lot of faith for that woman to give up her last meal to the very man that brought this drought on her homeland.

What would you have done? Would you have done as God asked and helped a fellow servant of God? Or would you have eaten your last meal and died? When has God asked to to put faith in Him and just trust Him? Did you do it? The next time God asks you to put your faith in Him, will you? Or would you rather eat your last meal and die?

When was the last time you made a list of your favorite things and you put ‘maggots’ at the top of the list? I can’t say I have ever claimed maggots to be my favorite thing.

In comparison to God, we are no more than maggots. We are slimy and gross, covered in sin and hideous to look upon in the eyes of a perfect God. How is it then that our perfect God has placed us slimy and hideous humans on the top of His list? He has even placed us just lower than the angels. Why? Because He loves us. He loves us so mucht hat He became one of us to save us from our sinful selves.

Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. The only way to save us from having to die, is for an innocent man to give himself as a sacrifice. No man is perfect, only God is. God loves us so much that h became a man and sacrificed Himself for us. It is His gift of love to us. Death is the result of sin, but God loves us so much that he wants us to live eternally with Him. Ou God is a God of love. He paid our price.

“For God so loved the world he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever should believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

We have so much to be grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day. We live good lives here on Earth, and if we have put our faith in Christ, we have the promise of eternal life when this life ends. We have food to eat and roofs over our heads. Most of all, we have Jesus Christ. Different people have different blessings, but we are all blessed. What could we possibly need that God hasn’t already provided for us, or has promised to provide for us? And yet, in our ‘Bigger, Better’ economy, we find it so easy to be ungrateful.

The Israelites had it mad too. They may not have been comfortable living in the desert, but they had food every day, clothes and shoes that never wore out, and a leader that had a personal relationship with God. God had just delivered them from bondage in Egypt, and they had just seen miracle after miracle performed by God through Moses. One would think that the Israelites would be the happiest and most joyful people on Earth. The Israelites, however were not happy at all. They were not content with being free in the desert, they would have preferred living in bondage in Egypt over living in the desert. The Manna was not good enough for them, they wanted the rich delicacies that could be found in Egypt. After all God had done for them, they didn’t even like their situation.

When the ungrateful people reached the promised land, they were afraid to enter. After witnessing The plagues cast upon Egypt, and the parting of the Red Sea, they were afraid of the people that lived in the Promised Land. Even though God had protected them from every danger possible, they didn’t trust Him enough to fight for the land He had promised them.

As a result for their ungrateful, and complaining attitudes, the Israelites were driven away from the Promised land, and they wandered through the desert for 40 years. No one from that complaining generation [except Joshua and Caleb, because they had trusted God] entered the Promised Land-Not even Moses. A trip that should have taken them 40 days, took them 40 years. Such was the result of the Israelite’s complaining.

We live in a land of rich and plenty today. It is the least we can do to show a little gratitude in our attitudes. Or would you rather be an Israelite?

There is this one word that I love. It’s so meaningless to those who sit in school diagramming sentences. It isn’t the biggest, longest, or most creative word. It isn’t beautiful or exciting. It’s just a word-to most people.

In Psalm 23, David writes, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil….” Most people that read this verse are mainly focused on the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes we don’t stop to think about how many other things David may have been saying. The most wonderful part of this verse to some people, is probably one little word. It’s the word I love so much. This word is the word ‘through’.

God is always with us. He is here next to me, and there next to you. No matter what you do, or where you go, he is there to help you THROUGH it. When David wrote that verse, he could have said “Yea though I walk INTO the valley…” He wrote the word ‘through’ though, because that’s the way it works. God will bring us THROUGH any changes He introduces in our lives. He tests us with every change and shift. He doesn’t carry us into a trial and then just leave us there. He doesn’t let us wander into danger. We are his sheep, and He is our shepherd [John 10:14]. He is always there next to us to carry us THROUGH.

No matter what you do, where you go, or what you go through, remember that God is by your side. All you have to do is reach out to Him and ask for help, and He will bring you through. He never leaves us or forsakes us [Hebrews 13:5]. Wherever you are in life, if you’re having a rough time, having a hard time or going through a test of faith, turn your eyes upward [Psalm 121:1] and know that God is the answer, and Jesus is the key.

We all know that God hears our prayers, but does He answer them?

Sometimes we feel like He doesn’t answer us, but in actuality, He does. Every time we ask God for something, He gives us an answer. There are three answers He gives us, yes, no, and wait. When God says yes, we can be assured that what we asked for WILL happen. When God says no, what we asked for doesn’t happen. When He says wait, well, we have to wait.

Sometimes when God says no or wait, we think He didn’t hear us. We tend to think that if our prayer isn’t answered our way, then God isn’t listening, or isn’t answering our prayers. There is a simple solution to this that involves three changes that need to be made. We need to learn to be less self centered and more God centered, we need to learn patience, and we need to learn how to accept the answer we’re given.

We can’t possibly be content with the answer God gives us if it is not the answer we want to hear. When we are focused on ourselves, we want everything to go OUR way. We give God a list of things we want, and we throw a fit if we don’t get our way. When we are self-focused, we act like little kids. If we ask our Father for something that is bad for us, He will say no. If we don’t like the answer, we’ll either throw a fit, or try to get what we want OUR way.

We need to be patient. If God says wait, then we have to wait, and there is no way around it. We have two choices. We can wait for what we asked for to happen in God’s time, or we can try to get it ourselves in our own time. I highly recommend the first one.

We need to learn to accept the answer that we’re given. God never gives us an answer without a reason. He never says no, just because He wants to. He doesn’t say wait because you aren’t on the top of His to-do list or because He just doesn’t feel like giving you what you asked for right away. He does everything for a reason. It is our decision to accept or reject that reason.

Prayer is very important in our relationship with God. It is one of the ways that we can keep in touch with our Heavenly Father. Prayer isn’t supposed to be a time where we give God a list of things we want. It is a time to talk with God and express our love and gratitude to Him. We can ask God for things, but if the only reason we pray is to ask God for things, then we are not praying for the right reasons. Prayer is so important, that even Jesus did it. When He was on Earth, and separated from His Father, Jesus prayed to keep in touch with Him.

We ask God for things all the time, and He asks things of us as well. the right thing for us to do is to do what God asks, but sometimes, in our self-focused lives, we say no, or ignore God. This makes me wonder though. What would have happened if Jesus had said no? What if Jesus had thrown a fit and said “No way, I’m not going down there, those people are terrible?” [John 3:16-17] What if he had jumped off the temple like Satan told Him to? [Matthew 4:5-7] What if He had decided to kill the men that were beating and crucifying Him? [Matthew 27] What if He had said, “I want to do this for my people Father, but I want to do it in my time?”[Matthew 6:10] Thank you Jesus for being so humble and willing to do the Father’s will!

What does God have for your life? What decisions have you made that were your decisions not God’s? Whose will are you going to follow the next time you have to make a decision?

Is it bad for Christians to hang out with Non-Christians?

There is a metaphor that says, “A rotten apple spoils the whole bunch.” I’ve always had a problem with this metaphor though. Yes, it is applicable in some areas, but it is NOT a fact.

If you take a flashlight, and shine it in a well-lit room, it has very little if any affect on the room. If you turn all of the lights in that same room out, and it is completely dark, and then turn on the exact same flashlight, does the light make a difference? It’s the same flashlight, in the same room. So why is the flashlight that seemed worthless in the light, suddenly strong? The light overcomes the dark. Anyone knows that light is stronger than darkness. If Christians are around like-minded Christians, the light they give off is often hard to see. If Christians are around non-Christians however, the light of God within them can be seen easily.

Matthew 5:16 says that we are to let our light shine before men. It doesn’t say SOME men. It says men. I for one take this to mean ALL men. It’s easy to be good around Christian friends…but it isn’t quite as easy around our non-Christian friends. If we can not shine before ALL men, then do we truly shine before Christians? Matthew 6:24 says that no man can serve two masters. When we make the decision to follow Christ, it’s an all-or-nothing decision. A lot of Christians like to sit on the fence when it comes to letting their light shine, but the only thing that will get us is splinters.

Sometimes we have a hard time letting our light shine around our non-Christian friends. Is it wrong that we are friends with Non-Christians? Absolutely not. Is it wrong for us to hide our light when around our non-Christian friends? ABSOLUTELY. If we are incapable of letting our light be seen around our friends, can we be trusted by God to let it show before the whole world?

Are you the kind of Christian that tries to hide their light [Luke 8:16]? Or are you a city on a hill [Matthew 5:14]? Can God trust you to shine when you are with your friends, AND with your enemies? Or are you the kind of Christian that only shines when it is ‘convenient’?

And God spake all these words, saying,

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:1-3

The first thing to come to my mind when I read this was, wow, How awesome is our God? His people were suffering, and they couldn’t free themselves. He heard their cries, and He took action. He freed His people from their tormentors. After He had saved so many peoples’ lives, Why wouldn’t He want them to worship only Him? It makes sense to me.

Some Christians have a tendency to believe this command doesn’t apply to them because they worship God. That’s what their lives are all about isn’t it? No, we don’t worship the sun or moon, we don’t sacrifice our children to rocks, right? But no one can keep every law all the time. We have each broken every law God has given us, including the first one. When we don’t put God’s will first in our lives then we have to put something first. The something we tend to put first, is OUR will.

We are told in Matthew 26:42, that Jesus prayed for God’s will to be done. If Jesus Himself prayed this prayer, how much more so should we submit ourselves to the will of God? He could have just as easily begged for His life, and that the burden of every sin in the world be lifted from His shoulders. Even the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples contains the phrase, “THY will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

God has given us the best gift there could be. He gave us freedom from eternal death, and a new life to live for Him. When we accept the gift of God, we make a decision. We chose to either follow God, and live with His will before ours, or follow ourselves and live for ourselves. Matthew 6:24 says “No man can serve two masters.” We can not live for God and for ourselves.

God has given us a choice. He has offered each and every being the key to eternal life, but whoever accepts it makes the decision to put their old lives away and begin a new one. Whoever accepts God’s gift chooses to put His will before their own.

We can not live for both God and ourselves. It is our decision who we make our priority.

In John 14:15, Jesus says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” One of these commandments is “Thou shalt not kill.” Exodus 20:13

We go through all of the commandments, and we tend to skip this one. Why would we kill anyone? We’re Christians right? Everyone refers to terrorists as murderers, which I don’t deny, but what a lot of people don’t know, is that every human being is a murderer.

We all know that no one but Jesus is perfect no matter how hard we may try. People do things that we don’t like, that rub us the wrong way, or make us angry. Maybe they steal something, use something without permission, or even bomb a city. There is a time for justice and forgiveness, and a time for revenge. Our job is to ensure justice. We need to leave revenge in God’s hands. If we don’t forgive them, and let it go, or deal with it calmly and fairly, that dislike for them builds up. We can’t keep those feelings locked up forever, they have to be let out at some point. Whether we clear it up with them gently, or blow up at them, those feelings will come out.

An unresolved problem could easily turn into hate. Unresolved hate leads to a longing for revenge. A thirst for revenge can begin many wars.

Hate is murder in your heart [Matthew 5:22], but it can lead to physical murder. If the problem is not taken care of, it can grow and become a worse problem than when it began [Ephesians 4:26b]

So how do we make sure we do not kill? The best way to prevent hate is to love. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:26a that we need to be angry and sin not. It is ok to get upset with people, and it is ok for two countries to disagree with each other, but if that little moment of getting upset, or that disagreement is not resolved, forgiven, or pushed out of our memory, it causes trouble. If we clear up any problems or misunderstandings right away, then they won’t build up in our hearts and minds.

In Romans 12:19, we read that revenge belongs to God, not to us. He will avenge the deaths of the innocent, and the abuse of the helpless. We need to show EVERYBODY the love of God, including the people that persecute us [Romans 12:20-21]. We can not show the Love and forgiveness of God, if we are blinded by our hate. We can not both love someone, and hate them [Matthew 6:24].

We know we have to love our enemies, and show everybody God’s forgiveness, but we can love someone and not really like them at the same time. We can love terrorists, but we do not have to choose them as our best friends, and we do not have to like their actions. If more people forgave others for actions against them, and loved instead of hated, fewer wars would break out, fewer lives would be taken, and more hearts could be won for Christ.

It is our decision. It is your decision. Are we going to fight or forgive? Are you going to love or hate?

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32

Christian’s are a lot like Butterflies, but every butterfly must begin as a caterpillar.

Caterpillars eat and sleep. Over a period of time a caterpillar will double, and sometimes triple in size. They just eat, sleep and grow. Then one day, when they are ready, they climb into a tree or bush. They seclude themselves in a rock wall, or under a rock or old log. They build a shelter around them that hardens within hours. Then they sit. They lay in their new home, and they sleep. All of the food they have stored up begins to be used by their bodies to transform them. After months of rest and growth, they break free and spread their new wings. They crawl out of their little holes our out onto the nearest limb, and they stretch. They sit in the sun and let it dry their wings. Then, when they’re ready, they lift themselves into the air, and begin to fly. They learn to use their new wings to flutter about. They learn to gather food, and keep predators away. They show off their beautiful colours and grace the fields with their beauty.

 We as Christians start out as caterpillars. We walk around, and explore the Word of God. We take it all in and learn as much as we can. We learn more than we would ever think possible, and our knowledge and wisdom doubles or triples. We grow in faith at an unimaginable rate. Then one day, we crawl into our prayer closet and shut the door. We just want to read God’s Word and speak with Him. Sooner or later the time comes that we break out of our shell. We go out on a spiritual limb and try new things. We test our new knowledge, and see just how much we know. And then we fly. We begin going out in public and try to teach people the things we have learned. We show people how beautiful Jesus is, and we are drowned in the beauty of His grace.

 Like caterpillars, we have to be born a second time in order to grow and learn. It is up to us whether we remain caterpillars, or grow and spread our wings[1 Corinthians 3:1-3].