Are You Ready ?

2008 A look Back - A look Forward

2008
A look back - A look forward

Well December is quickly coming to a close as will another year. As I look back on 2008 I remember it was filled with many issues facing the American people. Record high gas prices, a historic Presidential election, a year of recession, and general unrest.

Although I do not agree with the politics that Obama stands for I do feel that he is in power by the hand of God. God is still in control and a plan is in motion. At times we may not understand it all but we must remember that God will raise up and tear down whom he wills.

People have asked me why then would God raise up a man with such anti Christian values as Obama to lead what is supposed to be a Christian nation. The answer is twofold and fairly simple. First, America is a long way from being a Christian nation, and second, God will raise up the men in power that will full fill the prophesy of Revelations. One last comment on this topic, yes God is in control. However, he gives men and women free will to choose their values, remember that Obama won by a majority vote of the people. So that means that a majority of Americans are not voting Christian values, thus America is no longer a Christian nation..
Now as you look back over 2008 in your own life ask yourself if you have done all you could have for God, your family, your relationships, etc. If you have regrets then look forward to 2009 and make the decision now to improve in those areas.

Put God first in your life followed by your spouse (if you have one), then your family and thirdly your job. Getting these three out of order, as I have done at times in my life, will cause great turmoil and chaos. If you find that you have done that, stop and revaluate the situation and make the proper changes.

Set new goals for 2009 and have a written plan for achieving them and reward yourself for achieving the steps on your plan. As an old saying goes “ If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. This is so true in life.

Most of all remember that God loves you, and share that Love with others. As the Bible says, the greats among these is Love.

It is my prayer to all who reads this that you enjoy a prosperous and joy filled 2009. May God bless you richly in all that you do…

Live a Full Filled Christian Life

Living a Full Filling Christian Life
A plan for success

Have you ever wondered why others in your church seem to be happier and have a closer relationship with God. Do you ever wonder why you just can’t seem to reach God or think that he is not paying any attention to you. I think that we all have been at that point some time in our Christian walk, well I’m going to share with you the formula to get the most out of life and the most out of God.

Everything I tell you is from experience and not just repeating what I’ve heard or re-spouting a sermon from somewhere, I have lived the mistakes that have proven to me what God wants for our lives.

What does God want for our lives ?

First and foremost God wants us to except the salvation of Jesus Christ. God does not desire that anyone should die and go to Hell. If He had wanted that He would not have created a plan of salvation for us..

God wants each of us to be happy and have joy in our lives. He expects that we prosper in everything we do. He also desires that we be worshippers and live by the teachings of Jesus Christ.

How do we achieve a victorious and full filling Christian life ?

I’m going to give you the formula for success in living a full filled life in Christ. It is a proven fact that if you follow this formula you will indeed succeed. A warning though, going into this formula half heartedly will not be successful, in fact you may very well fail altogether by altering or leaving out any part of the formula. However, by following this success plan you will have a very full filled life in Christ and be a joy filled Christian….

The Plan

Step One:

Control the Battle for your mind:

Satan uses three weapons for the control of your mind, if you can recognize and control these three areas then you are ahead of Satan. The weapons he uses are thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. Satan uses any of these three tools to control your actions. Understand and recognize this strategy and you can regain the control of your mind. Not understanding and recognizing what Satan is doing will lead to sin and failure. Not understanding this is why good Christians fail…

Prepare the ground for the battle and victory.

You must prepare the ground for the seed to be planted and a harvest to come. The ground that must be prepared is in your heart.. Hosea 10:12 says Sow yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the lord till he comes and rain righteousness upon you (KJV)
God will provide the seed, God will provide the water through the Holy Spirit. You must prepare your heart, God will not do that for you. He will not trespass upon you.
We are going the explore a few ways to prepare your heart.

Submit your Life to God

I don’t mean just a little bit here, I mean all and totally. Submission to God means a total life transformation. You can’t serve two masters and you can’t serve two God’s. Meaning the world and God. An old Indian saying talks about the fact that man has two dogs living within him, and are fighting to the death. The winner is the one you feed the most.
Feed your Godly spiritual life and you will be successful, neglect it and it will die.

Study the Word of God.

I can not express how important this area is. We have to read and study God’s word to understand what we believe and what God wants for our lives. It astounds me sometimes when I consider that the Bible is a divine collection of 66 books written by 40 authors over a period of 1500 years. It has the same thread message of salvation from cover to cover and all attempts to destroy it has failed, all attempts to prove it wrong has proved it right; and we can’t spend 30 minutes a day to read it…

Find a good daily Bible or a daily devotional. Read the Bible with a purpose. Before you start reading find a time and place that will be quite and you most likely will not be disturbed for at least 30 minutes. Then set aside this time every day to read and study your Bible.
Start with prayer and ask that God will open your mind and heart to receive the Word that you are about to read. Pray that the Word will be planted in your heart and will speak to you. Then read the portion for the day and then spend a few minutes meditating on God’s word and asking how that word applies to your life. End in prayer. Thank God for His word and ask for spiritual guidance throughout your day…

Tithing

Tithing is a subject that always brings up deep emotions and some preachers want to stay away from the subject. But let me tell you this truth. If you’re looking for a successful and fulfilled life in Christ you must be tithing.

How can you be filled with real joy and have a great relationship with God when you are stealing from him. Yes, I said stealing. The Bible is very clear, you are to give the first 10% of your increase back to God. It is all His to begin with, He sees that you get some but you are only allowed to keep 90%.

Tithing must also be done from a willing heart. Simply adding it to the list of bills to pay for the month and paying tithes out of pure obligation is not what God intended. I believe that you will receive some blessing for being obedient. But the greatest blessing’s come when you tithe your 10% and more because you want to and find real joy in doing so and giving back to God, that’s when real blessing’s will be poured out upon you…
Remember, I said that you cannot skip any step in the formula for success. Doing so will cause you to fail.

Become involved in Church and Church Activities

After submitting totally to God, studying and reading your Bible, and paying your tithes you still must be involved in a Church and Church activities. Being involved in your local Church is imperative in your Christian walk.

I Corinthians 15:33 says; Do not be mislead: “Bad company corrupts good character” NIV
Now this of course doesn’t mean that you have to seclude yourself from all non-Christian people. You should be a witness to the unsaved and un-churched. However, as stated in Romans 12:2 ; Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind…NIV

So the sum of it is this. Yes you will be involved with non Christian people in your life but you should be involved in church and church activities as much or more than you are other activities.

Being involved in Christian work keeps your mind focused on doing God’s work and will help you battle the control for your mind that I talked about earlier.
Another area of being involved in church is being in church. Do you attend church regular or sometimes. Do you go more than just on Sunday morning, do you attend Sunday School or just service? If church is second or third on your list of things to do on Sunday then you are already losing your victory.

Church attendance is crucial in developing your Christian life. People ask me, is going to church really that important, I can serve God without going to church? My answer is; can you? I don’t think that you can. Now this of course does not apply to those people that cannot physically be in church due to health or logistics. I’m referring to the people that choose not to attend church. What’s the difference ? Well, mainly it is the desire of your heart. If you chose to put God second on your list you will not live a very success life. How important is church, well take this example. A large set of red hot coals in your BBQ grill stay hot a very long time. Now take one coal out and lay it outside the grill. It will stay hot for a while, but very soon it will start to cool and the heat will die out. But take that coal and place it back in with the others and it will heat back up very quickly. Being in church keeps you on fire and keeps you in a state of worship.
A closing thought on church attendance. God does not want to be served and worshipped at your convenience. You have a choice, submit to serving God or not, there is no such thing as treading water when it comes to serving God. Treading water will lead to sinking..

In Closing

Although I went through each of these areas quickly I think that you can see the formula for success here. It is now your responsibility to follow this formula and develop it further in your own life. My prayer and hope for you is that God puts a conviction in your life to desire serving Him to your fullest. It is then that you will truly find what living a victorious Christian life is all about.

Doing my Best to Serve

Darren Dake