Are our Walls Broken Down?

I have been reading in Nehemiah and as I have been reading I realized that the broken heart I once had for the ruins in my own life or that I see around me has disappeared. Nehemiah was broken and in anguish for the ruins that Jerusalem had become. He desired to be that man that God would use to rebuild that city. Now Nehemiah was not a preacher, or a man of importance, he was the cupbearer to the King but God still chose to use him because of his willingness to be used. I think many times we think it is the job of the preachers or the leaders to do great things but what about us? God can use any of us we just have to be willing to be used.

The first thing that Nehemiah did was he rebuilt the walls, we too have to rebuild the walls to keep the enemy out of our lives. We have to many breaches in our lives where satan can freely attack us. We must rebuild the walls of our lives and take back our lives from satan having free reign. He attacks and we just sit down and we do not fight back. We must take back our lives and allow God to have control. We fill our minds with the worlds thoughts until we have no more power to defeat and we become defeated.

The second thing they did was they returned to reading the law (WORD OF GOD)(King James Version) They wept when the word of God was read. We need to return to the Word of God in our lives. Some have turned to watered down versions of the Word of God, other translations that have no power and no ability to really change who we are. We have simple biblical truths without the power behind it to give us true victory or life changing power. These people wept as it was being read, when was the last time we just sat and wept as we read God's words? How much do we really appreciate that we have God's word in our homes and the freedom to read it and live it.
Be careful we may not have this much longer, we need to hide as much of his word in our hearts as we can while we still have this freedom to do so.

The third thing they did was they fasted and repented. When was the last time we took a day and fasted and really asked God to search our hearts so that we could be clean before Him?

Psalms 139: 23 and 24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

This is a very hard thing to do because we as a people do not like to think there is anything wrong with us. We want to believe the best about ourselves.
But I assure you if you will do this, God will show you things in your life that need to be changed and when you make a conscious effort to change those things, more peace and more joy comes to your life.

I know when I was 25 years old my life was in shambles and I had no peace in my life, I was trying to be a good church member and I was trying very hard to live good, but still had no peace in my heart. God was drawing me to him and I did not understand true salvation. I began to search the scriptures for the truth and I began to pray that God would search my heart and show me if there was anything that was not pleasing him. I would read scriptures like.....

Psalms 9:17
THE WICKED SHALL BE TURNED INTO HELL, [and] all the nations that forget God.
Psalms 14:3
They are all gone aside, they are [all] together become filthy: [there is] none that DOETH GOOD, no, not one.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
For [there is] not a just man upon earth, that DOETH GOOD, and sinneth not.

As I would read these scriptures, I would deny their truth....because I was trying to do good, and I was not wicked....
But on May 7th 1992, I was tired of not having peace and once again asked someone if they ever doubted whether they were truly a child of God and this lady showed me a verse that forever changed my life.

Romans 10:3 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

I wanted to know God, I was trying to know God but I had never submitted myself to his truths, I had to take sides against my thoughts and believe his WORDS.
I was wicked, none of my goodness was going to get me to heaven and I had to submit myself to his truth. I repented of my thoughts and believed his words and
for the first time in my life I had perfect peace.

As time goes by we can tend to walk away from his truths and take on our own thoughts and not his truth in our lives thus comes confusion, and emptiness in our daily walk.
Let's be like Nehemiah and start rebuilding those walls and get back to serving our Lord.
I hope your walls are not broken down but If they are I encourage you to get alone with God and his word and begin to search the scriptures daily and allow God to change your life.
I have several posts on Salvation and if I did not make it clear in this posting what true salvation is please go to my labels on my sidebar and look up Salvation posts. Keep searching until you have peace of knowing that you have an eternal home in heaven, the scriptures tell us in 1 John 5:13 that we can know we have eternal life.

1 John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Are we truly Thankful?

As I sit here today and think about the many things I am thankful for I began to ponder my true heart. Are we truly thankful when we say it in one breath and complain in the next.
Thank you Lord for my family, but in the next breathe I complain that they are not what I want them to be.
Thank you Lord for the food you give me, but in the next breath I complain about what kind of food I have to eat.
Thank you Lord for my church, but in the next breath I complain about the people I go to church with.
Thank you Lord for my home but in the next breath I complain and desire a bigger and better home.
Our actions speak louder than our words. Our children hear the complaining and soon take on our form of gratefulness. Do you children complain and it bothers you?
Take a minute and listen to your everyday language, are they just living what they see?
A truly grateful heart speaks and lives thankfulness everyday not just on Thanksgiving!
The more time we spend speaking thankfulness the more contentment comes to our heart!
Are we really content with our lives just the way it is?
I am not talking of contentment with our walk with the Lord, because that should always be something we should never be content with and we should always be striving to walk closer and more pleasing to the Lord, but in our everyday life, Are we truly thankful?
I hope that this will provoke each of us to diligently search our hearts and see if we truly have a grateful heart today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

DO NOT EVER GIVE UP!

Back a couple of years ago I lost one of my dearest cousins and close friends, I remember the day I heard the news I thought my heart would never be the same. I know each of us have experienced a tragedy in our lives where we will never forget where we were the day we heard the bad news.
Such as the day that JFK died, both of my parents can tell me exactly where they were the day they heard that news, or the day that 911 happened, I am sure all of us can say we know exactly where we were the day we heard that news.
I will say as terrible as those days may have been (because they did not directly effect me personally) there is nothing like loosing someone that was
so very special to you and that you loved with all your heart.
I will never forget exactly where I was and exactly how I felt. I was expecting my last child and my parents were so scared that the news would cause pain to my unborn baby girl so they came to me personally instead of breaking the news over the phone.
It was a Sunday morning and we were at church, my husband and I were working in Jr. Church. My parents told my husband first and as I came through the door I knew something terrible had happened by the looks on their faces. My first thought was my brother....as they told me what happened to my cousin Tom my heart sank to my stomach and I began to cry and hurt like I have never hurt before.
I just could not believe that this terrible news was true. I had often talked to Tom about the Lord and I had tried many times to get him to pray with me and ask the Lord to save him and he would tell me he knew what he needed to do, but would not make a decision while with me.
I pray that before Tom died that he asked the Lord to save him and I have to hold onto the hope that he did otherwise life without him would be so terribly painful. I cannot change any of that now but what I can do is continue to pray for the family that is still here and able to make a clear decision for Christ.
As I was growing up, Tom's sister Tam and I were close but we were both strong willed and sometimes we would butt heads, we would be besties for a while and then we would not talk for a while, then we would be besties again. We loved each other cause that is what family does.
After Tom passed on it drove me to my knees praying for my family. I would pray over a list every day asking God to save those that were lost in my family. As time went by my prayer list had changed and maybe I did not pray for those in my family like I should have, but God and his wonderful mercies still blessed the prayers that I did pray for all those years.

I do not live in the same state as my family any longer and over the years had lost contact with my cousin Tam. My mom and her mom are best friends and I would stay up on their lives through moms contact with her sister. Recently my aunt had become sick and my mom took her home after her surgery and had taken care of her through her illness. God reconnected our families through this illness. Praise the Lord!
I was driving home from work on a Friday and I felt an overwhelming urge to go to Ohio for the weekend so I called ahead and told my husband and by the time I was home the family was packed and ready to go. We all love to spend time at my parents house. In my mind I just wanted to hang out and relax with the family but God had different plans for this wonderful weekend.

Saturday night my cousin Tam came over after work and we sat around the table sharing much laughter, but then the Lord moved in and the whole discussion took on a more serious tone. Tam began to tell me how she had been doing a lot of thinking about the Lord and about how she wanted her life to be different, she had begun to clean up her life and she was trying very hard to be good enough, but always felt she fell short.
God and his mercy began to open Tam's eyes to the truth as I showed her scriptures from his word.
That night I believe God took all those times I had prayed for Tam and began to fulfill what I had asked him to do so many times before. That night at the dining room table of my parents house Tam bowed her head and asked the Lord to save her.
I know there is nothing better than the day that you get saved and the joy that floods your soul but I have to say the second most wonderful thing in this world has to be the day God allows you the blessed opportunity to take his word and open it up and show someone you love so much and you have prayed for so hard that path that leads to HIM!

It was a great priviledge to see Tam become a part of the family of God.

I really want to encourage each of my readers to never give up on praying for your loved ones. We never know what the Lord is doing in their hearts.
I love you so much Tam and I am so glad you allowed me the opportunity to never have to doubt where you are going when you die and no doubt you are blessed to have that assurance too!
Pray without ceasing!