What a Year!

What’s at the top of your list for this New Year? New car? New clothes? New relationship? New job? Or perhaps you’ve said “I’m not making any plans, I’ll just let it happen!”

If you’re like me, your focus is growing and becoming more Kingdom minded. I’m thinking about developing the ministries that God has entrusted to me, so I’m trying to get things in order. As I began to list the things I needed to consider I felt the Holy Spirit say “what about the temple?” My mind began to review the list and I began to say “I’m not ready for that yet,” because I’ve got more work to do on the web site, then there’s the blog site, the twitter site needs more followers, and maybe I need to advertize the face book page, and of course there’s the book and the AM radio station broadcast that have to be setup. Once again I heard, “What about the temple?”

I knew that I was missing something and needed to be still, it was then it became clear to me; “Know ye not that your body is the temple of God?” My temple needs work! More rest, better eating habits, more exercise and care. Fortifying my mind and my spirit will keep me walking in righteousness, but my temple has a weakness for the walls are weak and leave a stronghold for the enemies attack.

I thank God for keeping me through this past year, and as He continues to keep me throughout this New Year I’ll be repairing the walls to the temple. Being kingdom minded means I have to be a good steward of what God has entrusted to me which includes keeping this temple in the best condition possible until it’s time to relocate to my mansion.  

Anybody else need to do a little house keeping?

“Go out and feed some sheep!”

Gift giving, did you give the perfect gift?

This is a time of season that we’ve deemed to be “The season of giving” so we go about being busy shopping and wrapping, giving and getting. Typically in support for doing these things some will say "it’s in line with the Word of God, when the wise men came they brought gifts to the Christ Child." Yet if we take a look at the scripture, we’ll see that the focus was not on the gifts it was on the worship of He who was Emanuel, God with us.

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” Matt 2:1-2

“And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him” Matt 2:11

Even Herod’s lie was based on the pretense of worshipping Christ;

“Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” Matt 2:7

Finding the time to focus on what’s really important is key to a joy filled, prosperous life. What is that key? Worshipping God! We do a lot of praying and very little worship. What’s the difference? Prayer is when we're focused on all us or us and God, what He’s doing, what He’s done, what we’d like Him to do.

Worship is all God, who He is in the fullness of heaven and earth; Glory, Majesty, Dominion, Power, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, The Great I Am, Creator, Ruler of All, Ancient of Days, Our Heavenly Father, Mighty One, Our Banner, Healer, Provider,  The God Head-Father-Son and Holy Ghost, Our Shield and Fortress, Bright and Morning Star, Almighty and the list goes on and on. However the list of worship is not about us, it’s all about God.

It is better to give than to receive, we should learn to spend more time giving God what He deserves then asking Him for what we want. I believe the more we worship the less we’ll need to pray.

“Go out and feed some sheep today!”

Is your storehouse full? It's time to check

In this fast past world it has become hard to remember what we’ve accomplished today and yesterday is already drenched in a fog and has begun to fade far from our memories. No wonder we find it hard to place our faith in God sometimes. As soon as God has answered one prayer, we’ve got six more lined up for Him. Many times we’re so caught up in life we barely remember to say thank you Lord, or take the time to reflect on how faithful He has been to us.

King David the Psalmist reminds us that we should keep our mind stayed on Jesus and remember to thank God for all He’s done. I would suggest that this instruction would require a certain amount of reflection on a regular basis so we can remain mindful of all that God is doing and has done. Looking into our inner temples to see what God has placed within us, is one way to maintain that focuse.

God has developed miracles within us so we can become reflections of His greatness. During times of trouble and storms, we tend to dig deep reaching for our inner selves to survive, and yet the battle continues. If only we were aware of what God has placed in us, we could access His gifts which reside in our spirits, and we could boldly say “Peace Be Still!”

”Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—

who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:

The LORD is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

God restores, rebuilds, strengthens, keeps, directs, honors, covers, and loves us. Spend some time today seeking what He has placed within you, you may be richly surprised.

“Go out and feed some sheep today!”