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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, SEPTEMBER 22 “OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART”

FIRST DAY OF FALL!!! “Open The Eyes of my Heart Lord, I want to see you” was a pretty popular Worship song back in the day. A catchy tune it was but how many caught its true meaning or where the song was inspired from? In our reading today in Ephesians 1:18 “ I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you”.  It was a selfless prayer “I pray…for you, that YOUR heart…” Today we sing open the eyes of MY heart”.  It’s about ME.  Paul understood that the birth of a Christian, was not the end all. That while Christians are Born Again everywhere and every day, not all will make it. Some will grow crooked and others will spiritually die off. Paul understood the importance of praying for new Christians and this is what he prayed for them, “I pray that The Father GIVE YOU the Spirit of Wisdom & Revelation, so that you may KNOW HIM BETTER.  I pray that they eyes of your heart be opened that you may K...
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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, SEPTEMBER 21 "THIS ONE THING DO RIGHT"

    IF there's one thing King Hezekiah did right, was HE PRAYED.  Twice in our text today we read, in response to Hezekiah's prayers, Ch. 37 verse 21, " This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me ...."  and  Ch. 38 verse 4, " This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears ".  BECAUSE YOU HAVE PRAYED....remember those words. And it could equally be said that, because  you have NOT  prayed....that we can rightly say, events have just easily, taken a turn for the worse. We cannot pretend, just to appease our own conscience, that prayer does not impact our lives and the lives of others. This would be just short of insanity. There is to much circumstantial evidence to every point to any other verdict, than the verdict that prayer does change events and lives as we know it.  We have to accept that because we have prayed our lives are different and ...
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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, SEPTEMBER 20 "SATAN'S TESTIMONIALS”

        I WAS not around approximately 3000 years ago when this situation took place with the King of Assyria, but I sure do recognize the voice and the rhetoric, ie: " Don't trust in the Lord ".  Pastors and spiritual Leaders spend most of their time trying to convince God's people to trust in him while the individual and the masses of Christians face a bombardment of attacks, day in and day out, a voice that speaks to us in our conscience and says basically the same words the King of Assyria Spoke, which are: "don't trust in the Lord, where was He for so and so and where was He for that family, that situation and what makes you think it will be any different for you!". The enemy will remind us of the sister that was not healed of cancer, he will remind us of the family that did have to file bankruptcy, or the single mom that did lose her job and her home; then Satan will come to us and tell us, "what makes you think it will be different for you?...
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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, SEPTEMBER 19 "GIVE IT A YEAR..."

 Things will change in a little more than a year, Isaiah prophesies; and the change is going to be based on our attitudes and decisions we are making today, tomorrow, next week and next month. You think it's no big deal now, but you won't think it's no big deal, a little more than a year from now.  One of the key factors that Isaiah warns us, that is going to affect us, a little more than a year from now, is going to be our complacency. "Rise up" says the Lord. Rise up you people of power. Ever sing that in church and wonder, "where are those people of power?"  Is it because we just know too much about each other or they simply are not there? Isaiah continues, "the harvest will not come and there will be no fruit, tremble you complacent. If I told you I could tell you your future and it would not be sorcery, it would be from God, just call me, get with me, my phone would be ringing constantly. Well, here it is....here's your future!  "Thank...
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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE, SEPTEMBER 18 "EXCESSIVE FORCE IN THE NFL?"

   The NFL (ironically) issued disciplinary action on one of it's elite players for using excessive force in disciplining his son. His contract with his team was cancelled in lieu of the criminal charges against him, for using a tree branch to discipline his son, leaving marks, bruising and swelling on his son's body. No doubt there are parents out there that are too lazy to discipline their children or worse, simply just don't care! We have to deal with these children every week at Walmart. We pray that we could just have one moment alone with this child that is screaming as if he was being tortured, only to realize it's not that he's being tortured or kidnapped, he is screaming and raving because his mom told him he can't have the candy bar he grabbed by the cash register. So we have excessive discipline to no discipline and somewhere in the middle lies the balance. God is trying to give us wisdom through Isaiah, the wisdom that discipline is good, discipline ...
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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE SEPTEMBER 17 "DO MEN CRY?"

We tend to read the bible and think about what is written, but we don't think about "who wrote it". This is very nice and comforting read, in Psalms 61, "listen to my cry.....I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed..." I'm sure many women read this in their affliction and find comfort that they are not alone. And they are not alone, they are in great company; and who is their company, DAVID. King David, the Warrior, Conqueror!    Women are finding great comfort in reading, poetic metaphors, not written by Ruth, Rebecca, Mary, Esther or any other woman, but by David. If today we found these writings in a private journal of a man, we thought to be a man's man, we would ex-communicate him.The only problem is, we cannot find more of a man's man, in the bible, than David. Today, we have this persona, that men do not cry and are not overwhelmed. So then why do they drink so much? Why are they so violent, so abusive? Why are they so unfaithful? W...
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THE ONE YEAR BIBLE SEPTEMBER 16 “HOW'S YOUR RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT?"

    In the financial world, we monitor our investments and if the return is not what we anticipated or if we suffer to many losses, we pull our money out and reinvest in something else with greater dividends. Only in The Kingdom of God do we continue to invest, on what often is not yielding the returns we would want. Only in the Kingdom of God would we continue to invest where we continually take losses. Paul is writing this letter to the Galatians, trying to save a major loss, from a major investment he has made.  Paul himself quotes "the Lord's investment in me was not in vain!".  Paul understands investment and that there should be a return on investment. Paul has greatly invested in this Church, he writes, " Oh foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ's death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. How foolish can you be".   He's frustrated, he's vexed, after al...
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