I was meditating on one of the most vital things we do as Christians That is the Lord's supper or communion by some. Do this in remembrance of me Jesus stated. Bread and wine(or grape juice by most). Simple elements that hold tremendous spiritual meaning. As a matter of fact these two items represent the blood and body of our Lord Jesus. It speaks of His redemptive nature and salvation. The very core values we believe in.

It is a very important time and one that we should not participate in lightly. We do need to remember His death and resurrection. We need to remember His life as well. Also the body and all Jesus suffered for us and His body whose members are all that believe in Him. There are so many aspects and facets of truth held in what can be described as the 'gospel'. Every time we do it we are remembering what Jesus did for us. But as we remember we are also peeling away layer after layer of truth that is contained in that one act. We are forever learning about the eternal value and completeness of what He has provided for us.

Here is one thought I had in examining the Lord's supper. Actually it has to do with the 'time' in which Jesus instituted this christian tradition. Specifically His first time of teaching was at His last supper but equally important is the fact that He did it before His death. Not after the resurrection when He still walked on the earth for 40 days appearing to the apostles and others. But before He went to the cross. Hmm... This do in remembrance of me.....

Listen to this thought. We always remember His death and yes we are proclaiming His crucifixion or death every time we do it. But He hadn't died yet! Is it possible that we are also to remember His LIFE? Remember how He lived, how He loved?

Didn't He come to show us the Father? He is the manifest glory of God on the earth. He showed us how to live didn't He? And because of the resurrection His LIFE is available for us. I have a renewed desire to SEE how Jesus lived. I believe that I will discover more of how I am to live with His power working in and through me. You see the apostles couldn't remember His death at that moment since He had not yet died. But they could remember His LIFE!

So I am reading in Hebrews and meditating on the idea of God's rest. Something that we all need to keep in mind as we go through life. Especially as christians because all of us know that you can get too tired and not get the rest you need to function properly.

Anyway I am reading the verses in Hebrews about entering into God's rest and remembering a lot of what I have already learned about it. And I see something that really ministered to me like never before. I will get to that in a minute.

First let me state the obvious. The people of God, Israelites never entered into God's rest because of unbelief or a lack of faith. The Word of God must be mixed with faith in order to work. They were always complaining and never entered rest. So this rest is still available and waiting on those that will learn and endeavor to believe. You see the work we do to enter into rest (by the way you don't need to rest if you haven't worked right?) is all about believing or having faith in God. We learn to trust Him at His Word. We learn to be secure in who He is. Then we will not miss out on His rest. It even says in these two chapters that God worked creating for 6 days and the seventh day He rested from His work. That is where the principle of sabbath comes from. Resting after working 6 days. Boy do we need to learn that right?

So it wasn't sin as we think of sin. But it was still sin which is simply not believing the Lord. We don't think of that as sin but it is because it keeps us out of all that God has for us. It prevents His provision from coming into our lives.

It is as I was looking at this statement that we are to enter into God's rest that He has prepared for us that I began to see it in a new light. Here is what I see: enter into the REST of God! Now you may have missed that so let me say it another way. Enter into more of Him, into the part we haven't experienced yet! You see the more of God we come to know the more we actually can REST. We can rely on, trust in, believe in. We can have peace knowing what God will do and more than that knowing who He is. So the rest of God is not simply stopping and taking a breather but it is knowing HIM better as we believe and trust more in all that He has for us.

Heart Failure

Hard Hearts Lead To Heart Disease!
I began researching the idea of a hard heart and discovered quite an amount of material. In examining the scripture of course the first person that comes to mind with a hard heart was the Pharaoh in the times of Moses. Actually the word says that God hardened his heart so that he would not let the people of God go and this ultimately ended up in his demise. But it is easy to define from this story what a hard heart is.
Basically we find a hard heart is an unwilling heart. It describes a person that will not listen to reason and mostly basis decisions on what is good for them. They do not consider others but only what is best for them.
Jesus even spoke of people with a hard heart frequently. He made mention of the fact that those that let their heart get hard or callous will not be able to hear or see clearly. That is definitely not the way I want to live. As a matter of fact I believe we can find that many relationships in life are destroyed because of hardness or unwillingness to forgive and love the way Christ loved us. Our stubbornness can actually separate us from the LIFE of God! Wow now that is reason enough to take a closer look at our lives and make sure our heart is pliable, teachable and reachable.
You see our hearts hardened through the course of life over little things that build inside us. We let things get to us and we finally get to a point that we become callous in that situation.
You can lose compassion over time and all desire to forgive or be merciful due to a constant bombarding of similar circumstances. Have you ever said in a situation " i don't care anymore what happens". Your heart has closed in that area. We lose our direction and sight. We lose understanding.
We have to allow the Lord to help us keep an open sensitive heart. Let's not lose hope or faith by letting our hearts stop caring. Let's keep some simple basic truths alive in our life like; repentance, forgiveness, mercy, and love. Don't be robbed of true life by allowing your heart to get hard or stay calloused. Let's fall on our knees before our Father and let Him take from us the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh!
Scripture References you can study:

• Mark 8:17-18
• Acts 28:26-27
• Ephesians 4:17-18
  
• Matthew 13:15
• Matthew 19:8
• Hebrews 3:7-15

Darlene, my wife, and I just returned from a ministry trip back into Mexico. What a refreshing time as we revisited with people and ministered that we have known for many years. It brought deep satisfaction to see many lives touched by the power of the Lord. He is such an awesome, real God.

I was reminded of the power of salvation once again during this time. As I witnessed dozens of people give their lives in complete surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ I realized how amazing it can be to come into a personal relationship with the Lord for the first time.

As I watched people receive the Lord into their hearts for the first time I could actually identify the power of God that was flowing into their lives at that moment. You could see it on their faces. The peace and joy that swept over them for the first time. It was real. It is one thing to talk about the bible or Jesus but still a totally different thing to experience it. I could literally see burdens falling off their lives and their countenance change in an instant.

Let's not forget how awesome salvation is. How awesome it is to walk with the Lord Jesus. He really does lift our burdens and bring peace and joy to our lives. it doesn't matter what is going on in our lives, He meets us at that moment and brings eternal life into our being.

I was so refreshed while witnessing the power of salvation once again. It filled my life. And even more so it reaffirmed purpose in life. Too many times we get caught up in things we have to do and forget the eternal purpose for which we were created. Remember He created us and wants to spend eternity with us. Don't you want to spend it with Him for all He has done? And more than that, don' t you want to share such a great salvation?

Wake up! Hey don't look at me. I didn't invent that statement. God did. He said it numerous times throughout the letter He wrote to us being the bible. In particular He says it in Isaiah 52. He is speaking to His followers, disciples. He is telling us to wake up and be aware. Be prepared.
Here is another way to think about it. God has provided through His Son, Jesus Christ, everything we need to LIVE. We must be aware of not only everything He has provided, but also how to appropriate for our own lives what He has given.
I am reminded of a very strong eternal statement made by our saviour on the cross. Just before he gave his last breath he said "it is finished". Now when he said it is finished I believe he meant exactly that. He had completed the work. He had conquered the last enemy, death. Now everything God wanted to give to us could be ours and nothing can keep us from it. Wake up and begin to see not only all that God made possible but begin believing it for yourself. Begin to know once again the splendor and strength that is yours. Clothe yourself with these tremendous truths. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Remember God chose us to be His own.
Wake up and see His great provision for life. Wake up and hear His Words of hope and faith.

Most likely all of us know that our minds are where we fight the major battles in life. It is not so much in other things. We have to deal with our thoughts constantly. It is of no surprise then that the Word of God tells us so much about thoughts. One important conclusion that we can come to as we read God's Word is the truth that our minds need renewing. We are in great need of seeing (and thinking) like God does. It takes us out of being defeated or depressed and many other things that effect us daily in life. We can change the way we think to be in agreement with the victorious mindset of the Lord. It is a process and will take time. But we can do it one day at a time.
There is one story where Jesus is traveling and comes into a new area where there is a man that is demon possessed who terrorized the region he lived in. This man is pretty much crazy and violent. His mind is way off. Much further than most if not all of us. As Jesus comes into this picture he confronts the legion of demons in this man and casts them out. The result is that this man is sitting at the feet of Jesus in his RIGHT mind! And all the people that came near were afraid! It is amazing to me that the same people that were terrorized by this man are now afraid because he is in his right mind! Maybe getting in our right mind, God's mind, thoughts, ways, will also cause the enemy of our minds to be afraid. Very afraid!!
Let God's Word wash your mind, thoughts, and all that you are.

Little by little. That is such a strong principle in life. Things change for the good or the bad little by little. When a crisis or problem arises so many times we wonder how we got to that point. The answer is little by little. It happens in relationships, personal growth, personal destruction, well you get the idea.
you see there is strong principle that the Lord has established for our lives. We are to live by this principle if we want to see true lasting growth. As a matter of fact He teaches us through the Israelites that even when He promised them all the riches and blessings of the promised land that the Lord put a major condition on it. You guessed it! Little by little they would possess the land. Not all at once but bit by bit, battle by battle. They were overwhelmed as they saw the strong fortified cities and strong peoples that they would have to confront. But God didn't ask them to take it all at once. That was too much.
Even though we want all that God has for us it is important that we don't try to get it all in a day. That is how we burn out spiritually so many times. We want to rest in the blessings without breaking a sweat. It doesn't work. We are going to have to fight for all He has prepared.
Lay your hands on eternal life! Go after it. Make an effort to receive by entering into the battles of life.
Our souls are in need of all God has for us. He wants us to have it. But we need to work in conjunction with His power little by little taking possession of it all. So start today. Add something to your life that little by little will be seen one day.