living on just in time

As a musician there are times I am inspired and there are times I am just tired.

At our church we have had a time of transition. Last year our old Pastor resigned and we went through a search process to find our current Pastor. He is a good man, a dedicated follower of Jesus and he has a shepherds heart towards us.
As any church that goes through this kind of thing we have a falling off in our attendence which also leads to shortfall of money that has caused us all to be concerned about. I have watched Pastor ask us to pray for God's will to be done in this matter and this past week we saw a miracle take place before our eyes.

God has His own timing in all of our lives. In mine it seems to always be slower than I want it to be. And He always answers just in time. In our church He did the same thing about our need for money, He waited until the last Sunday to show His hand in our needs.

Well, in my prayer time He gave me a song that seemed to fit the occasion, it is called Just In Time;

Chorus
Living on just in time, Living on just in time, Lord you'll never leave me, Your always there to hear me, Your Blessings are just in time.
Verse
I got down in corner on my knees to try and call ya, I was just about to lose my mind,
Well the times they aren't so easy, Lord you said you'd never leave me But Lord you sure do take your time.
My parents said I'm crazy and my freinds all said I am lazy, but Lord I'm praying all the time.
When my faith gets kind of hazy and the devil comes to chase me Lord your always just in time.

verse 2
You know the bottom fell out, lost my job and now theirs no doubt my faith fell back in a hole,
They said they'd turn my lights out and the kids all came and cryed out
Abba Papa make it so.

You know my faith felt real low and your days always seem slow But Lord you always take the time,
Sometimes it's never easy and the devil wants to squeeze me But Lord you always save my soul !!

Living on just in time, that is how my God is!! He is never too early and He is never too late !! Amen.
I would rather He be early, let me know in advance about things, but if I am in His will with my prayers He is Just in time.

Tomorrow our girls are going to share with a Girl Scout troop about coming to America. I hope it Blesses all who listen, I know they have Blessed me with what they have accomplished.

PASSION

Nehemiah 1: 1 - 11 & 2: 1 -6
Passion : How to obtain it.
Passion has been described as " extreme, compelling emotion creating enthusiasm and desire concerning our God and His Kingdom". We need to possess such passion, knowing it comes from a daily relationship with Jesus. Once we have a hold of this passion we can rest assured that Satan, our flesh and the world will work together to destroy it.
You might call it the unholy trinity, and it has tremendous success against us through pride. A mans position in life can make him weak towards God. We find our passion diminishes. Historian Thomas Carlyle once wrote " Adversity is hard on a man. For one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity." Most us can handle demotion better than we handle promotion. It is through advancement that a godly man shows himself strong.
Nehemiah possessed godly passion and maintained through position advancement. He advanced three times as cupbearer, builder and then as governor.
There are three truths that can be gleaned from this that we can use to help ourselves.
Truth # 1 : Knowing and loving God must be the chief pursuit of every man’s life.
It takes will to love.
Truth # 2 : A man’s relationship with God must always be the highest priority.
Not your job, money even your wife or kids.
Truth # 3 : The question is not What is my purpose in life. It should be Who is the purpose for my life.
To maintain godly passion you must not focus on who you are, but focus on whose you are.




2
Passion : How to maintain it.
Mark Twain wrote " Great things happen when you don’t care who gets the credit". Or maybe we should say it this way, Great things will happen to those whose chief concern is that God alone gets the credit.
Nehemiah possessed and maintained his passion for God despite the lure of power and luxury. He had three characteristics that show how we can put it in to practice.
1 - Humility - Nehemiah reads like a book about what I did except in chapter three. He doesnot mention himself one time. He could have, after all, in ninety years he did what no else could, he built the temple walls in 52 days. He was able to mobilize a nation to complete the project. Instead he chose to be as one of the servants and worked with them.
2 - Epowerment - John Maxwell wrote " Th peoples’ capacity to achieve is determined by their leaders’ ability to empower them." Nehemiahs zeal was contagious. In chapter three we see Levites, temple servants, goldsmiths and merchants all acting as one , all working together to build the walls.
3 - Encouragement - " I could live for two months on one good compliment" Mark Twain. Studies agree that there is real power in encouraging others. This act will bring better results than silence or hollering or be critical. Nehemiah saw this and treated them with words of encouragement and was able to produce great results for the Kingdom. How is your sight when it comes to your loved ones, fellow employees and even the cashier you dealt with today?
The glory of God must be our first concern. WE must be liberal with empowering others and helping them achieve the things they want. We must also be liberal with our praise towards others. Always look for the good in others.

THE ORIGIN OF SIN

A common misunderstanding of sin is that it has a substance. But if it had substance, or a thing, it would have to have been created by God and would therefore in it’s essence be good.
The biblical view is that sin originated in an abuse of the freedom given to created beings equipped with a will. God did not create evil. Evil is a matter of relationship, not a thing. It breaks away from a relation of obedience to and faith in God and makes a decision to fail Him.
Sin, then, originated in the free choice of God’s creatures. When the serpent tempted Eve, he began with a question, “ Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”” You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” By doing this Satan had Eve focus on the forbidden thing, her mind then started to reason that the fruit would indeed be good for her. Satan did not pick the fruit or force her to eat it. Eve then reasoned with Adam and he too ate of the fruit.
Adam and Eve brought upon themselves, then, the personal consequences of sin ( Gen. 3:16-19)
The first or original sin was Eve and the fruit.
The animosity that erupted between Cain and Abel is the first recorded example of the strained relationships that have marred society since the fall. This, in effect, was the first of all wars.