1 Chronicles 22:19

Today i was reading from 1st chronicles where David was talking to his son Solomon about building the Temple of the Lord. in Verse 19, David says "Now seek the Lord with all your heart. Build the sanctuary of the Lord God so that you can bring the Ark of the Lord's Covenant and the holy vessels of God into the Temple built to honor to Lord's name." I got to thinking that in this new covenant age, we are told the same thing. God tells us to seek Him with all of our heart, so that the ark of the new covenant (the Holy Spirit) can fill our hearts and lives and give us power so taht we can honor God's name. We have to give him everything we have if we want to be able to be used by him as we should be. It reminds me of that song....

Lord prepare me...

To be a sanctuary...

Pure and Holy...

Tried and True...

With thanksgiving...

I'll be a living...

Sanctuary, for you....

if only we would all pray that little chorus to God every day when we wake up, imagine the glory God would get...

Independence day

Romans 13
Submission to the Authorities 1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.


Tony talked sunday morning about the paths this country is taking. One main point he made was the point about respect for the president and how so many people in this country today seem to desire to speak ill of the president b/c they don't agree with what he has done or said, but the problem with that is it doesn't matter if you like him, or agree with anything he has done, we as Christians are commanded to respect him as our authority bc God has placed him there as the leader of our country, and it is our responsibility to respect, protect and defend him as such, no matter what we feel about him, so, God bless the USA and God bless President Bush.

Freedom

As the 4th is coming up, i got to thinking about freedom and what it means. As great as the freedom we have in America is, there is nothing compared to the freedom we have in Christ. ...How many times have we said this prayer or something like it, "Lord, please free me from -insert your struggle here-" we all have that thing we struggle with as far as our spiritual lives go, and we so often go to God asking him to free us from it. i actually had a little chat with God about something i am struggling with right now and i was reading Psalm 69 and in that Psalm it talks about asking God to free him from his enemies, and i prayed through that part to God with the struggle i'm having, hoping to recieve some help with it.... then as i was getting ready to close my bible and end my study time for now, i happened to flip past my fav book (Romans) and just stopped to ready through a part of it real quick, and here is the part i stopped at..... 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,[a] 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.[c] And so he condemned sin in sinful man,[d] 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.and as i ready through that, God said to me, "see, i have already freed you from the power that struggle has over you.... if you are struggling with it, the reason is b/c you are choosing it over me, not because it has any power over you.... i took that power from sin on the cross!!!!!!!".... so i sit here tonight humbled at that realization, and just wanted to share it.... if you are having trouble with some sort of sin, it is you that is the problem... you are choosing that thing over God himself..... think about it!

Rejoice!!!

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" - Phillipians 4:4 NIV
To often those who have the saving knowledge of Christ within them don't live their lives in a way that would show it. We so often complain and groan about the things that happen in our lives. So often we are given blessing from God but since they are not exactly what we want we complain about it, like a child who is given a piece of candy by their parents, then complains because they are not given the whole bag. We should all examine ourselves to see if we are complaining about God's blessings instead of thanking him for them. This verse needs to be true in the lives of all Christians. We have to rejoice no matter what happens!