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Your Toolkit for the Promised Land - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) December 31, 2024

P L U N D E R E R
Dec 31, 2024
3 min read

We're on the cusp of a new year and many have resolutions and plans ready to execute. This approach is normal because people see a new year as an opportunity for a fresh start. A new year allows us to think about who we are and who God has called us to be. We can consider these questions and, where we fall short, call on the Lord to help us be better.

As we enter 2025, remember that the Lord's eyes search the earth for those who are committed to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). Therefore, look at your life. How are you truly committed to God? Put what you are doing (and thinking) against God's word. Do they line up? If not, it is time to make serious changes.

To do this, consider what you've learned this year while studying your Bible or during fellowship with other believers. What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you? What did you write in your notes or the margin of Your Bible? These lessons constitute the elements of the toolkit God has empowered you with to enter 2025 as one who has overcome the evil one - satan.

God wants His children to move from glory to glory, not remain in one place (2 Corinthians 3:18). He brought the Israelites out of Egypt to take them to the land He'd promised their ancestors. Fear and inexperience caused the people to miss their chance so the Lord gave them time to understand Him better and learn what He could do for them.

In many ways, 2024 and the years prior have been a wilderness season during which the Father familiarized us with His character and plans for us. 2025 provides the chance to step into the Promised Land - the inheritance that awaits. However, we have to take stock of the toolkit He has provided. That toolkit will be necessary once we cross over our River Jordan to take hold of what is ours in Canaan.

If we fail to do this, we risk allowing fear, disbelief, and the devil's lies to confound us and keep us stationary when in fact, it is our time to move into the new both spiritually and physically. May sin not keep us from the success God has for us, IJMN, Amen.

Be honest, don't you want to step into the new that God has for you? The new year is the perfect time to look at your toolkit and seek God's righteous hand to steer you forward. As you do this, be mindful to continue living a righteous life that pleases the Father, cooperating with His Spirit to receive strength when you are weak and wisdom when you have none.

As you read this message, open your notebooks. Look at the things you wrote down when you studied God's word. Take some time to think about the sermons and messages from God's servants that stirred you up. Make sure you know what is in your spiritual toolkit for the journey into your promised land. Look at old posts from this fellowship, as well. The Lord has been calling us all to rid ourselves of what will not serve us where we are going by His grace.

In Jesus' name, God will bless us as we prepare to walk humbly with Him in 2025 and the rest of our lives. Amen. Happy New Year!

For related posts, please read:

The Vashti Line - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) December 27, 2024

P L U N D E R E R
Dec 27, 2024
3 min read

The Bible shares the story of Queen Vashti who was married to King Xerxes, the ruler of the Kingdom of Persia and Media. A proud man, he celebrated his power for 180 days. He invited officials from 127 provinces and made sure they feasted with drinks, food, and entertainment while he showed off his accomplishments.

Toward the end of the festivities, he was "merry with wine" when he summoned Vashti to show her off to his guests (Esther 1:10). After all, his beautiful wife was but one more conquest to be flaunted in the face of all who had gathered. Esther 1:12 - Queen Vashti, however, refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs. And the king became furious, and his anger burned within him. His advisers counseled him to replace Vashti with someone else and that eventual replacement was Esther, whose story is well known to Christians and Jews alike.

Now back to Vashti. She was married to a proud man, so there should have been no surprise that she would mimic the very pride he displayed, right? She was only doing what he did. Shouldn't that have counted for something? After all, Xerxes spent months celebrating himself. Plus, this couldn't have been the first time she ignored his request. What made this time so different that he reacted as he did? Shouldn't he have been used to her behavior?

The answer to those questions could be yes. Yet, none of that mattered. What mattered was that Vashti didn't realize a day would come when her pride would prove her downfall. She ignored the possibility that she would eventually cross the line with the king and pay the price. Had she known, she might have done things differently.

We Christians have the opportunity to be wise and learn from Vashti's mistakes. We must not replicate the erroneous attitude she had. When dealing with the Lord, we must remember to revere and venerate Him. Just because we got away with repeated disobedience does not mean the Vashti line - a point of no return - isn't a possibility. Thus, we cannot afford to ignore the call to repent and return to a life of righteousness in all areas.

We need to allow God's grace to transform us from the inside out as it is meant to. God is in the business of transforming people. For instance, Saul met Jesus as an arrogant and spiteful man who killed Christians. Today, we know him as Paul "The Humble" who went on to serve God's kingdom with fierce zeal.

Besides, there's no way of knowing where that Vashti line is. Though invisible, it exists. Wisdom would therefore dictate that it is best not to cross it and we can achieve this by not abusing God's grace and mercy.

God is kind and patient. He is intent on saving as many souls as possible so they don't spend eternity in hell with satan. Still, He gives each person a choice - through the way they live, they determine where they will spend eternity. Many think that there will be countless opportunities to get right with God and that is true. But they fail to realize that they do not get to choose when that point of no return will be. Only God does. And when they ignore Him, the risk of crossing the Vashti line increases. When that happens, the chance for eternity in heaven could be too late.

As we inch ever closer to 2025, may the good Lord help us. May our hearts yield to His beckoning and submit to His will, IJMN Amen.

Romans 6:1-2 - What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

To learn more, please read:

Repent, Return & be Restored - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) December 24, 2024

P L U N D E R E R
Dec 24, 2024
4 min read

Human beings are expert sinners. Each has fallen short of giving God the glory that He deserves (Romans 3:23). You may have gotten angry instead of heeding James 1:19-20 - My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Maybe you often forget to treat others as you desire to be treated and thereby fail to observe Christ's Royal Law. Or, you submitted to fear, forgetting that fear is rebellion according to the word of God.

Then, there are the sinful desires keeping you from being the child of God you would have liked to be this year. What challenges in behavior and thoughts have held you back? The end of the year is an opportune time to take stock of the changes needed to overcome the sins that cause you regret. Think about what you have repeatedly repented for? That thing that you know you shouldn't do but somehow or another, you end up doing it. The behavioral and thought patterns that make you just like Apostle Paul when he admitted, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do" (Romans 7:15).

Perhaps you aren't like the Apostle at all. You have instead chosen to live a life of sin, doing things that God despises. Were you a believer who previously observed God's laws but have decided to fornicate, lie and steal, for instance? Maybe you determined that God does not see what you are up to and even if He does, He won't react. Or, you have chosen to go the way of the occult to fast-track the fulfillment of your desires, opting for New Age rituals and observations. Thereby ignoring what God said of and did to those who claimed to serve Him while bowing to the Queen of Heaven, Baal, the Asherah poles, and sacrificing to Molech (which are all just different forms of 'packaging' for satanism) who were destroyed. Have you convinced yourself that the mixture of serving the devil does not bother the Lord God Almighty?

Whichever of these categories you fall into, the Lord has a simple message - repent. Let go of the things that God hates so that you please Him. Then, return to the Almighty in humility, knowing that carnality leads to an eternity in hell. Carnality meaning that you are solely focused on this plane of existence, ignoring that this earth is not your home or final destination. No, with death does not come sleep. Death brings two options - heaven or hell - and we choose the final destination by how we live now. God desires to show grace and mercy upon all. He knows that a righteous life is difficult and sent Jesus Christ so all can be forgiven and reach Heaven. Through His Son, individuals are cleansed to start anew, free from guilt, condemnation and shame.

God isn't calling you to repent and return to Him for nothing. Those who do so enjoy His blessings - true blessings that come with no toil attached (Proverbs 10:22). For those who would repent and return, He has committed to save them from their enemies, bring them into the fullness of life and much more. Plus, consider the promise contained in Acts 3:19 - Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. There is the added bonus of being restored. Where things were lackluster, beauty arrives and where things were lacking, abundance becomes the norm. The gaping hole of emptiness and dissatisfaction are replaced by a joy that sustains you even in the tough times because that joy comes from the Lord and nothing else in this world can provide it.

I pray that you will review your 2024 and want something different for your 2025. I pray you will realize the need to repent from sin, return to God fully, and receive the restoration that the times of refreshing will bring. Regardless of how long you have walked with God, this message is for you. Be honest with yourself, something needs to change in your life. Do not be stiff-necked or stubborn. Therefore, ask God to reveal what sin is acting as a roadblock. Once you've prayed and received understanding, don't make excuses, just tell God sorry. Call on Jesus for help to fully repent and receive strategy on how to live better. The Lord will never steer you wrong so let Him steer you right.

Join us at Noon EST for today's Praise & Pray (for others) fellowship, where we'll obey the Lord by giving Him our worship and caring for the needs of others via intercession. If you are yet to give your life Christ, please read the post that follows this one. God bless you and have a Merry Christmas.

To learn more, please read these old P&P posts: