Finding Real Contentment

When we begin to answer this question of where to find real contentment let us hear from the wisest man who ever lived. King Solomon calls himself the preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes 1:1. We will look in chapter 2 for this study so open your bible and follow me as we walk through this chapter. In this chapter King Solomon recalls his attempt to find something on this earth that will bring lasting satisfaction, contentment and real value. If you could have anything you wanted to make you happy and bring you contentment what would you choose? King Solomon had the money and the wisdom to try it all. He sought mirth (gladness) by enjoying pleasure of all kinds but he concluded that this is vanity or emptiness. Then in verse 4 he tried wine to satisfy his flesh. Then he made great works like building himself many houses and planting vineyards, gardens, orchards, waterpools, had many servants, herds, flocks, silver, gold,singers, and musicians. So he became great and excelled more than all who were before him all the while his wisdom remained with him. In Chapter 2 verse 10 he said "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; (verse11) Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and indeed all was vanity (emptiness) and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun." Then in the rest of that chapter he goes on and on about the things he tried and then he says in verse17-23 he said he hated life and all his labors and he despaired of all his attempts to find contentment. Then in verses 24-26 he sees that what good a man can enjoy down here comes from the hand of God. In verse 26 he says "For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This is also vanity and grasping for the wind." So even gaining wealth is vanity and grasping for the wind without God. Go outside and try to grab a handful of wind and see the foolishness of trying to find real contentment on this earth apart from God. He says "God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy." So even those who are of little biblical learning can easily see the truth. Don't get caught up in the things of this world because without God everything you attempt will end up useless and vain or in other words good for nothing. Everything is in the hand of God and the best thing you and I can do is get as close to Him as we can while we still have time and see if that does not solve the things we worry about. So let's practice "Casting all your care upon Him because He cares for you.(1 Peter 5:7) and "Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added." (Matthew 6:33) Lets stop trying to straddle the fence. It will tear you apart and bring nothing but worries, cares, miseries and more trouble. We must learn John 10:10 "The thief does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy, I have come that they might have life and that they may have it more abundantly." Which do you choose, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. To be good as was stated in verse 26 you must know Jesus as your personal Savior. You do that by admitting your sins to Jesus. Ask Him to forgive you and invite Him into your life. Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and you shall be saved. Not maybe, not hope so, it is a certainty. Read the scriptures at the bottom of this page to help you understand. Then make your decision for Jesus known by being baptised in a church. Begin to attend that church and worship the Lord that saved you. Thank Him right now FOR SAVING YOU!

God Vs. The Devil

I would like to adress this article to the Christians that might be reading it. Today I hear so much talk among Christian people about how strong the devil is. This truly bothers me. I know the devil is real but I also know that his power is nothing when you compare it to the power of af God. It seems to me that our focus is on the wrong one. In 1 John 4:4 it says "You are of God little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." In verse 3 John says that all such belief in the power of the devil is the spirit of Antichrist. Now lets look at verse 4 again! You are of God if you have been saved, and if you are not saved then you can be by recognizing God says that "all men have sinned and fallen short of His glory." Admit you are a sinner and ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins against a holy God (Romans 3"23). If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead and you shall be saved. (Romans 10:9-10) Since the power of God has saved you from the power of the devil to take you to hell, which one would you say is stronger. As a Christian we have overcome them. Them being Satan and his demons and all those he would put in our path. Remember our power comes from God which is stronger than any other power that exsists. The only power the devil has over the Christian is when he can get you in your mind to agree with him about how strong he is. The bible tells us in James 4:7 to "Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Christian listen to what the greater power (God) says, not what the devil is telling you. If you resist him he will flee from you. If your mind is not agreeing with God's statement then who are you really listening to? You as a child of God have been given power and authority over the devil but he will try to fool you and convince you that God is a liar just like he did Eve. But notice in James 4:7 there is something we have to do and that is "submit" to God's word and stand fast in it against all enemies. The word "submit" means to give over or yield to the power and authority of another. Give yourself over to God's power and authority. Start to speak as God would in your situation. When you say you can't that is what the devil wants to hear. You have spoken his words and submitted to the devil's power rather than to the power of God. There is power in your words. God works when you speak His words. The devil has power over you when you speak his words of hopelessness and defeat. We by our minds and words give either God or the devil power over our situation. If you are rational in your thinking you must agree. It is not true that the devil is so powerful that we can't resist his moves in our lives. What happens is this. We think it is harder to take God's word on a subject that it is the devil. We "submit" ourselves to the devil by agreeing with him about the situation before us instead of "submitting" ourselves to God and His words. If this angers you then you can know that you are guilty of "submitting" to the wrong one. But the good news is you can change all that right now. Ask God to forgive you of listening to the devil more than Him. Begin to read and claim the word of God over your life and daily circumstances that you find yourself in. You are a vital part of this ministry. Please pray for the upcoming articles and pray that everone who reads these articles will be changed by the power of God and He will have His way in all our lives. God loves us and wants to give us peace,not evil, a future and a hope. (JEREMIAH 29:11) Lets believe God's word and believe Him to send the devil to hell where he belongs! Remember the power of your mind. Be careful to whom you let influence you.

Last Days

The bible says in 2 Timothy 3:1" That in the last days perilous times will come-( perilous means times of stress). For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God,5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away."

We see this today everywhere we turn and see and hear these things on the news daily. My heart is saddened each time I read some of the decisions that our so-called judges are making. When their opinion becomes the standard instead of God's word then we know that this great nation is on its way down. It is time for all of God's people to rise up in prayer and seek the face of our Father in heaven. We need to make God's word a priority in our lives so we will not be fooled by what is going on today. There are many people right now as you read this that are planning destruction for America. The news seems to not want to publish these facts. The only cure for America is God and respect for His way. When judges make decisions that are in opposition to God's word guess what is going to happen. The bible says we are to be alert because our adversary the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour. You and I don't want to be the one whom he devours. (1Peter 5:8) So we must be on the lookout for his tactics. When you and I are in prayer and reading the word of God daily or as often as we can we will be alerted to anything that is in opposition to His word. We will turn away from such things. As I stated in a previous article you are important to God. You as a child of God have been given the privilege of audience with Him to make your petitions and believe Him for the answers. 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people who are called by name shall humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." You and I can do something that will make a difference in our nation and families if we don't get weary and faint. We are not helpless and have influence with the God of glory who is our Father and who wants us to have a future and a hope, peace and not evil. Read Jeremiah 29:11-13 again and then claim it for not only ourselves but for our nation. If God's people refuse to do what He says then we will suffer the consequences. If we obey then the promises of God will be ours. Let's continue to be strong in the things of the Lord. Let us as the bible says "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added." (Matthew 6:33) As I close out this article, if you don't know God personally or even if you are not sure read the scriptures at the top of this page, then pray and ask Jesus to forgive your sins, invite Him into your life to take charge of it and then go to a church somewhere and make a public profession of your faith in Him and be baptized. Then attend regularly! Your life will be blessed richly! Chritians lets not "grow weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." (Galatians 6:9) Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9) We serve an awesome God, nothing is to hard for Him.

GOD'S DOMINION

There is a story in the bible of a king of Babylon named Nebuchadnezzar. (Daniel Chapter 4) He was a mighty king who ruled over the known world at that time. His kingdom became so great that he began to be filled with pride. He was not a believer in Jehovah God. But God wanted him to know that He is the mighty One. God wanted Nebuchadnezzar to know that He was the One who put him in the position that he was in and that He could take him out. Without God's help he would not have been a mighty king. He would not have been able to accomplish what he did unless God had given him that power and God was fixing to get his attention. He had a dream that was interpreted by Daniel the prophet in which Nebuchadnezzar would be driven from men and caused to live as a wild animal and eat the grass of the field and he would lose his right mind for a period of seven years until he realized "that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men. He gives it to whomever He will,and sets over it the lowest of men." (Daniel 4:17) "At the end of the seven years Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes to heaven and his understanding returned to him and he blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation." (Daniel 4:34) Verse 35 "All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, "What have You done?" Now since we have heard what one of the mightiest kings of the earth had to say about the God of heaven whom we serve, I want to ask you, why do you worry about tommorrow? Why don't we trust God no matter what because He is going to have His way in the end. What I believe makes us worry is we that we are not continually focused on God. We are told by Jesus in Matthew 6:34 not to worry about tommorrow. We are to "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33) That is what this ministry is all about, keeping our focus on God and His word. If we do this we will be blessed of God and victorious in every situation we face and if we don't we will suffer needlessly. Lets listen to the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar and not have to go through what he did until he realized who rules in all the affairs of men no matter how great they may think they are. God's dominion is over all and that includes you and I. His dominion includes our government, our families, our economy, the world situation and our lives. Lets all do like Nebuchadnezzar did in verse 34, let's lift our eyes to heaven and bless the Most High God and praise and honor Him who lives forever and ever. "Let's cast all our cares on Him, for He cares for us."(1 Peter 5:7) If you are reading this and you don't really personally know the Most High God, you can right now if you choose to. Read the scriptures at the bottom of this page and then pray and ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins against a holy God and then invite Him into your life to take charge of it and help you live the abundant life and when this life is over heaven will be yours.

Our Main Goal In Life

Importance of God's Word

There are many things that are important to us in this life. Things like food, shelter, clothing, finances, and transportation just to mention a few. But the most important thing in our lives is the word of God. Jesus shows us this in Luke 4:1-12 when He was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Every time the devil tried to get Him to turn from God's direction for His life He would always fight the devil with the word of God. After every temptation Jesus would say "It is written." After forty days without anything to eat the devil told Jesus to turn the stones into bread to satisfy His hunger but Jesus told the devil "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." You see the importance that Jesus placed on the Father's word in His life. Jesus as a man had read the word of God from childhood. It directed His life. Jesus shows us here the need for the word of God in our lives. Without the word of God we have no direction in this life. We have no power in our lives and I believe this is one of our problems today. Our children have had the word of God taken from them. People today do not consider the word of God important anymore. It is our duty as parents and grandparents and even great granparents to help expose our children to the word of God and we can't do that if we ourselves haven't read His word. How could anyone go through life successfully without the road map of God's word. God's word tells us the first most important thing in our lives is to personally know Him. He even tells us how to have a personal relationship with Him. Read scriptures located at the top of this page. He says that we must admit our sins against Him, be willing to turn from them and believe that He died on that cross for us. Then ask His Son Jesus to forgive us and invite His Spirit to live in our hearts. When we invite Jesus into our lives His Spirit comes to reside in us. Then the Holy Spirit leads us to read God's word and then He opens up our understanding of the word of God and shows us the importance of that word in our lives. The absence of God's word in the lives of people today is the major reason for the problems we face. Most of the problems we face today either in our personal lives, as families, or as a nation comes from a lack of direction from God which we can only get form His word. I want to encourage you if you are not already reading God's word on a regular basis please begin to do so and I promise you your life will drastically change for the better. We can have an abundant life but we must know how to make it a reality in our lives and that comes from reading and doing what the word of God tells us. His Spirit within us will give us the power to live as God says. May I ask you a question? How important is God's word to you? Do you read it regularly? Daily? The more you read it the more of God's blessings you will find in you life and those blessings will flow on down to your children and grandchildren and on and on. God wants to give us peace, a wonderful future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11), but if we are not reading the word of God, how will we know how to make this a reality in our lives? If you need more encouragement to read God's word look at the world around you. It is falling apart! The main reason is because we have abandoned God's word. He created life and He knows what is best for His creatures. Every thing we see around is temporary and will soon fade away but the word of God stands forever! (Psalm 119:89) May God help us to keep the word of God at it's rightful place in our lives so we can be fully blessed. This website was created to help and encourage us to do that. "May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countanence upon you and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26) Please leave a comment at the bottom of the page to let others know what you think about God's word and encourage them.