Hope for the Hurting

"My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice." -- Psalm 34:2

Your testimony of God's goodness brings hope to the hurting.  Don't refrain from your boast in the Lord--it could very well be the good news that somebody else is needing to hear.  Tell it and be joyful:  Our God is Good!  He is full of grace, comfort, holiness, mercy, justice, peace, and love! 

Thank You, Jesus, for Your sacrifice on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  We love You so much.  Halelujiah and Amen!!! 

Get the Soil Good!

May is a month of miracles!  Believe it.  God is moving and doing things.  This summer is going be full of the supernatural!  I can't wait.

I encourage you to get ready before the blessings come...so that way you'll be able to steward what the Lord pours out.  Go read my blog entitled "How's Your Soil?" for a more in-depth look at what I'm talking about.  Here's the gist:  you can control how your heart is, and how you receive what God gives you.  If your heart (the soil) isn't ready to fully receive and nurture what is deposited, then it probably won't grow to full fruition.  Therefore, GET YOUR SOIL READY NOW!!!

If you are ready with good soil, then trials/persecutions/trouble/heat won't steal the word that has been deposited into your heart; nor will they steal your joy!  Instead, your faith will rise up and God will move to honor His word.  It's the truth.  Let's all get ourselves ready.

Father God, reveal to us the things we need to change and get rid of.  Help us by the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to put away those things that need to go, and get rid of the things that separate us from You.  You are better than anything and Your love is more valuable to us than anything else.  We love You and praise You, and we thank You for loving us in spite of our sin.  Thank You for sending Your One and Only Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place for our transgressions.  And thank You for new life in You through Your Son.  In Jesus Christ of Nazareth's Mighty and Magnificent and Holy Name, Amen!!!

If you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, ask Him into your heart today.  Here is a prayer you can pray to God, and give the meaning to it as you pray it.  God will hear you, and you will be forgiven of your sins:

God in Heaven, in Jesus Christ's Name, I pray to You.  I confess I'm a sinner in need of a Savior.  I ask you to forgive me for all of my sins.  I am truly sorry for my sins and turn away from them and walk towards You; I will seek after You now.  Jesus, I ask You to please come into my heart and be the lord of my life.  I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  I confess Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.  I believe that He died for me and took my sins upon Himself.  I believe that He was buried and then came back to life--He conquered death!  Therefore, I have eternal life through Him!  Thank you for saving me, Jesus.  I love You, and thank You for loving me.  In Jesus Christ's Name, Amen.

You just made the best decision you've ever made!  You are literally a new creation!  Now go and let this prayer be the first step in your new life.  Find a Bible and start reading it.  Find a Bible-believing church and start going.  Pray to God everyday and ask Him to come into your heart more and more.  I'm so glad to now call you a brother, or a sister :)  May God bless you as you start your journey towards knowing Him more.

Love in Christ,

Adam

Chicago, Forgiveness

Did yall see that crazy blizzard in Chicago?! I was there. 20 inches of snow kept me pretty locked down in the Red Roof Inn Chicago-Lansing. If I had ever doubted it before, a Mitsubishi Eclipse is not made for that kind of weather :)

I was up there to do some music things with a friend of mine, and also to hang out at Family Christian Center—the nation’s 20th largest church. Pastored by Steve Munsey, FCC has over 12,000 members. When you are that big, you gotta be doing something right, ya know? So I went in wanting to see how they run things, make some connections, and just glean anything I could from this mega-ministry.

I was impressed with their facilities and ministries, but the main blessing of being there was just hearing Mr. Munsey speak 3 times. He is an anointed and prophetic man of God, and also a wonderful speaker. I got to hear him in a very small setting on Monday evening as he taught their Bible College class in front of about 100 students. Then, I heard him preach in both services on Wednesday evening. The focus of Wednesday night’s message was forgiveness, and he said something that I feel is worth repeating. To paraphrase, he said, “Your level of forgiveness is equal to your level of faith.” That is quite a powerful statement. He also said that the people he knows who have the most faith also have the highest levels of forgiveness in their lives.

Wow. This is usually where I would elaborate on the point, but I just want to let his statement sink in a little. “Your level of forgiveness is equal to your level of faith.” Who among us doesn’t need to exercise forgiveness more in our lives? I know I do. If we harbor unforgiveness in our hearts, it can hinder what God is wanting to do in our lives. This is a hard one to deal with because it is really personal, but I want you to take a moment and look into yourself right now and see if/where you are still holding onto unforgiveness. Once you’ve identified it, give it to God and ask him to heal you and help you walk in that new state of forgiveness and wholeness. Forgive whoever it is that you’ve been holding captive (and that’s been holding you captive), and also ask the Lord to forgive you for bottling that stuff up in your heart.

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If you want to watch Steve Munsey’s actual message on forgiveness from this past week, follow this link and click on ‘Archives’, then click ‘Watch Now’ beside of Wednesday 02-02-2011. It’s definitely worth your time. Lastly, I've typed out 2 Bible verses below that address this issue (my emphasis added in bold). The last one shows us exactly how Jesus handled forgiveness, even as he was being crucified.

May God bless you all this week. In Jesus Christ of Nazareth's holy name, Amen.

James 2:13 -- because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Luke 23:34 -- Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”…