Compassion

Feeling what another person is feeling, without regard to your own personal feelings is the mark of true compassion.  How many of us can even begin to experience such emotion?

Our own feelings swallow up every thought and direct every emotion.  Our own experiences shadow every thought and emotion.  Our own concerns outweigh concern for others.

Unless we are led by the Holy Spirit of the living God.

Through the Spirit working in and through us, we find our own self set aside, and are able to fully, compassionately be consumed with honest care for the hurt and needful hearts of others.

It has always amazed me how some people are so much better at this than I've ever been.

Until I yielded my heart to God, and sought His heart for the people He is calling to repentance and new life in Christ.  I can't say when it happened.  I cannot tell how it happened.

Surrender to the Holy Spirit brings about miraculous occurrence that there is NO earthly, physical explanation for.  Within the power of the Holy Spirit is where we truly begin to bless, minister to and love other people as Jesus loved, unselfishly, no personal agenda, pouring our heart out in order to fill it with compassionate empathy for the need of others.

Gods Word in Action

The Great HOPE

When I first began to listen, really listen to others teach the precepts and doctrine of the Bible, it inspired me and stirred such a passion in my heart!  How did these people KNOW these things?  How could they be so sure?

As a young child I began reading the Bible, and having no real life experience, most of what I read escaped my understanding completely.  BUT... a layer of wisdom was being sowed in my heart.  As I continued to read, and study, and listen to others, and study some more and read some more I discovered that a great deal of the Bible revealed itself, quite simply, within itself.

Take as an example the great problem of SIN.  Having listened to the teaching of man we come to understand that we each are sinners in need of a Savior, and God provided Jesus as our Savior.  We are blessed at the Great Salvation but are then deceived into condemnation, believing falsely that having once obtained the Great Salvation we are no longer worthy of it, can never be worthy of it and must pay a price, over and over again, in what appears to be a vain hope that we'll squeak by and sneak into heaven.

NAH... that just ain't the truth my friends!

Here's a simple truth in Gods Word taken from the Old Testament.

Jeremiah 3: 1 They say "If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from and becomes another man's, may he return to her again?  would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me" says the Lord.

If the "text" for the sermon were to stop there, we would only grasp how woefully we lack, how we fall so far short.  We might say we believe that God forgives us, certainly, but there would linger an edge of fear, a slice of doubt that could keep us enslaved to our sin as a burden that, though lifted, the shadow would remain to cloud our life still.

Continuing to read we will find within the same passage of scripture these words of truth:

Jeremiah 3: 12 -13  ...For I am merciful, says the Lord; I will not remain angry forever.  Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God....

Forgiveness is a complete and utter thing with God.  He requires that we acknowledge our sin in order that we will take responsibility and turn away from sin.  He doesn't hold it over our heads, count it against us forever or bring it up to humiliate us.  He throws it in a sea of forgetfulness, He separates us from it as far as the east is from the west and He remembers it no more.  GRACE.

In His Word, the Bible, we find we can indeed have the Great Salvation.  In our human frailty we find in Him we have Great Hope of His strength being our strength.

Be encouraged today!

IF you have confessed your sin to God, and turned away, repented of it, He has forgiven you and you walk, not burdened or shadowed, but FREE indeed as Christ Jesus declared!  Truly free to live in newness of heart, strength of purpose and JOY as you fulfill the great and mighty plan God has for your life!

IF you have not yet taken this step yet, today can be the day of your rebirth as a new creation in Christ, set free from enslaving sin and moving forward in the Grace of the Lord our God.

This is our Great Hope, to live eternally through Christ in God.  Allelujah!

Want to know more, understand more, gain more and receive all that God has for you?  Read, dear friend, His matchless wonderful words of life and love and hope and joy found in His book that we call the Bible.

It isn't just "a" book, it is THE BOOK.
Through it for centuries God speaks to those
who will LISTEN.

WAITING

Waiting is a tough thing to do.  I know I find it exceedingly difficult to  wait.  The way our current systems are set up we are encouraged to expect everything NOW! 

High speed internet = everything at our fingertips.  Instant messaging, texting, email all fast efficient communication methods, though they do lack some of the finer points of communication.  Fast food, and even that wasn’t quick enough so first they gave us the microwave and then they gave us the drive thru. (or maybe it was the other way around?)  Drive thru banking, pharmacies and even liquor stores in some areas of this country!

Is it any wonder we have such a hard time waiting on God?   Our desire for speedy results results in terrible decisions, which we then bemoan to the Lord and wonder why our lives aren’t the way we would like them to be?  Where is the peace? The Joy?  The time for quiet reflection and growth and planning?  In business and in our personal lives the push is on for now, now, NOW!

Our religious activities have taken on the same mentality.  Radio, television and the internet means we can “reach” millions of people all at once and evangelize the world NOW.  No time for discipleship, here’s a personal bible study online and good luck to you.

This just isn’t the way of the Lord.  Abrams friend took time to visit with him, eat with him and talk with him.  Moses’ Lord took 40 years to prepare him for ministry, was patient for 40 more years while disciplining and preparing the people.  David was anointed King and God worked with him for many, many years before he actually took the throne.  Saul spent about 17 years being prepared before he was released into his ministry as Paul the Apostle.  Jesus developed His disciples at close range 24/7 for 3 years – and there is no better teacher!

We don’t grow in the Spirit by consuming Bible classes and programs and ministry activity.

Not the growth God desires for us anyway.  We might get big and fat in head knowledge (puffed up the Bible calls it) but heart growth takes place at a God pace.  

Drop by drop, precept upon precept, word upon word, God opens wisdom and understanding in our hearts.  Daily.  We don’t run to church, get a “good word!” and BAM! We grow that week and don’t need to think about it again for awhile.

We get a step, a bit, a deepening grasp and growing wisdom jot by jot as the Lord directs our steps and leads us.  It isn’t in our great rushing movements we gain spiritual understanding.

"Be Still and know that I am the Lord."  Why must we be still?

It is when we are STILL and listening that the whispers of the Rock of Ages instills Eternal secrets in our souls.

Silently

Taking

In

LifeGiving

Love

WAIT upon the Lord, for His plans for you are designed by Him to last your whole lifetime through.  There is no hurry.  There is only eternity with our Creator, who holds all time in His Hands. 

Join in the Daily Bible Reading with Turn the Tide Ministry.  

Print out the schedules provided under the Daily Reading tab, enjoy growing in spiritual wisdom and understanding daily, consuming the words of LIFE that will transform your life.  

Then SHARE with us what God is doing in your lives, so we can all encourage one another as ONE BODY IN CHRIST.  

Those who have been sharing – THANK YOU!  Your words and stories encourage us GREATLY and we pray for you!

We welcome the Church in Kenya, affiliating with us for Gods Glory!  We will meet face to face - either here or in Eternity!

God bless your journey.

Definitive TRUTH

I have a confession to make.  I am not a Bible scholar.  Oh, I've been reading the Good Book for 47 years now.  I have attended bible classes, completed the ministerial program for credentialing and participated in and taught Bible studies for over 30 years.  I spent three years learning the Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew of the Bible, studied the cultural influences at work in those who wrote the words inspired by the Holy Spirit and prayed for wisdom and understanding from God through all of it.  But I'm no scholar.  I would never profess to be an expert or pretend I understand or can explain every verse, every seeming contradiction and I would never declare that I know it so well that I would unequivocally state I know the TRUTH it expounds without doubt of any kind.

I know a few things unequivocally.  I know that in the beginning, God, who already existed and will always exist, created the heavens and the earth.  I know He is Love and in expressing that Love He created Man and made them male and female in His own image.  I know He gave free will to both the Angels and the Man He created in order that we could freely choose to worship and obey Him.  I know Lucifer, created to be the Angel of Light, and 1/3 of all the Angels chose not to worship or obey and were cast out of Heaven.

I know that Man sinned and every man since has been born into sin.  I know God cast Himself in human form and came to earth to redeem Man from sin.  I know that if any living person confesses Jesus as Lord, believes in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead after He was crucified to pay the penalty for our sin and repents of their sin, God forgives and washes us clean.  I know we become new creatures in Christ when that occurs and that Heaven rejoices over all who do.

I know that when we pray, God hears and responds.  The response isn't always the one we were hoping for, or it doesn't come as quickly or in the form we desired, but there is always a response from God, even if we fail to recognize it.

I know that God exists as One unified God manifesting in three persons, as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  I know that the spirit realm is as real and has more powerful effect upon us as this physical realm we live in until our physical bodies die.  I know that God created Man to be Eternal, and our confession of Him as Lord determines our Eternal place either in darkness, separate from Him or in His Presence for Eternity.

All the other stuff?  Some of it I'm not so sure of.  Some I'm fairly sure is rules and regulations man made up to make himself feel better about himself, or make himself feel like he's in control of things he has no control over at all.  Some of it I think has great significance to us, and some I don't think is very important in the scheme of Eternity at all.  Some is designed to help us move closer to the Lord.  Some has been twisted to trick us into moving farther away from God.

I know that we argue the details and meaning of scripture as if we actually have a say in what is TRUTH, and that doesn't glorify God, who called us before the foundations of the world were laid in place to walk with Him in Unity and know the Joy of Salvation. The truth is simply that we are subject to the Living God who created us and all that is surrounding us.  The TRUTH is Jesus, according to what He Himself declared.

I am 100% certain the TRUTH is not for us to choose for ourselves what it is or isn't truth, just as I am 100% certain we are subject to the TRUTH as God presents it.  It is for us to discover His truth, not our own version of truth.  Because one day, each of us will stand on our own before Him with no way to hide anything of our hearts and be judged by the Only Wise God Who is TRUTH.

The only covering allowed is Jesus.  Nothing and no one else.  He Who is TRUTH will speak on our behalf.
The only true choice in life, death and Eternity any of us has for 100% certainty is the choice to choose Jesus or reject Him.The truth is we have no real way to say we "know" the truth for certain, all we can do is be clothed in Him.

I choose Jesus.  What about you?

Our Daily Bread- A Personal Testimony

Why our Daily Bread?

I've heard it said that YOU don’t read God’s Word it reads you.  When we read those words of life, they remind us, exhort us, inspire us, convict us and encourage us, and we need that on a daily basis.  Why? Because we behold ourselves in the mirror then turn away and immediately forget what manner of man we are.

James 1:23-24 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

Here now for your encouragement, is the testimony of one such man in his own words.

“My testimony is simple – basically I picked up a Bible and began to read the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – and somewhere in the book of Acts I looked up from the pages and realized that all the frustration, turmoil, doubts, fears and anxieties that had become resident inside of me was all gone.  That’s right!  Gone!  The Lord Jesus Christ had reached inside of me and removed all of these things and replaced it with peace; the peace that passes all understanding.

          I remember at that moment that if this was what it meant to be born again – that’s what I wanted. 

Philippians 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Money, fortune and fame means nothing if one does not have peace inside.  I turned my life over to Jesus and began a new life.

          At that point I did what most Christians do; I read through the entire Bible cover to cover and then put it on the shelf and started going to church.  I read it.  I believed it.  I figured application I would learn from those inside the church buildings who had been doing it longer than me.

          Time passed and soon frustration, turmoil, doubt, fear and anxiety crept its way back inside of me.  What happened?  I was going to church faithfully every Sunday, trying to live out this Christian walk by trying as hard as I could to get my flesh under control.  After a few years of banging my head against the wall, at the end of my rope I had finally ran out of gas.

          I enrolled into a Bible course and was forced to read the Bible for class.  A few months into the course I realized that the frustration and chaos inside my heart was dissipating.  It was then I figured out what I had been doing wrong. 

          I put myself on a daily reading program.  I began by reading to my Mom every night before we went to sleep.  After a while I had found a rhythm in reading 3 chapters a day; 1 out of the Old Testament, 1 out of the New Testament and a Psalm or Proverb.  I looked at it as Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

          The peace that passes all understanding returned as I pressed into my daily reading.  In just a few short years I had made a wreck of my life and those bad seeds began to harvest into nightmares.  I kept reading.

          I had developed some very damaging and destructive habits that needed to be stopped.  I kept reading.

          The Enemy of our souls kept coming at me and accusing me and condemning me for all the things I had done wrong to myself and all those around me.  I kept reading.

          It took some time; in fact years before I had stopped planting bad seeds and started planting good seeds and when those good seeds came to harvest joy followed.  It took some time to have more good seeds than bad but eventually the good overtook the bad and I had found the straight and narrow road that Jesus talked about.

          What is it then?  This daily reading?  What does it all mean?  Here’s my philosophy on it.

          Jesus said, “I Am the Bread of Life” (John 6:48) and in teaching us how to pray said, “Give us this day our DAILY bread” (Matthew 6:11); in the Gospel of John it begins with “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

          Inside of us there is a war going on, a Spiritual war between the Flesh-man and the Spirit-man.  The Flesh-man gets fed all day long through the lust of the eyes and the hunger pangs of the stomach, however, the Spirit-man’s food is the WORD OF GOD.

          When you’ve got two dogs battling it out inside of you the one that will win is the one you feed the most.  If you want the Spirit-man to control you – then you have got to feed him.  His food is the WORD.  If you will begin to feed your Spirit-man on a daily basis he will rise up inside of you and allow you to become strong; stronger than your Flesh-man, and indeed, will over-power him and put him in submission.

          Then, and only then, will the peace that passes all understanding guard your heart and mind.  This state of being is worth all the gold on earth.  I wouldn’t trade what I have now for any amount of fame, wealth or health.  I know who I am and where I’m going and nothing this earth offers can compare to that."

The mission of this ministry is to humbly obey the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ, reach out in His love with the Gospel truth of Salvation to the lost, work across denominational lines to inspire Unity in the Body of Christ and impact this world by CHANGING LIVES ONE AT A TIME.  That directive started with our own lives.  We yielded, submitted and surrendered to the Lord and He has done and continues to do a great work of gracious change in our hearts and minds.  Do you have a testimony of how Gods Word has changed your life?  Share it here and encourage others to receive the blessing of Gods grace in their lives!   Just click on Comment below this post.

GOD BLESS YOU EACH DAY AS YOU READ HIS MATCHLESS LIVING WORD!