“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matt. 5:44 NIV)

No exceptions

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Tim. 3:12 ESV)

Jesus was hated first

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” (John 25:18 ESV)

Rejoice that you share Christ's sufferings

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” (1 Peter 4:12-14 ESV)

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day." - Abraham Lincoln

 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24 NIV)

“Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'” (John 6:35 ESV)

How to please God

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Heb. 11:6 ESV)

There’s joy and peace in believing

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Rom. 25:13 ESV)

 "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” (Matt. 21:22 ESV)

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matt. 7:11 NIV)

Pray humbly

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chron. 7:14 NIV)

Check your motives

“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3 NIV)

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” (Jer. 29:12 NIV)

Pray at all times for all things

“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.” (James 5:13 NIV)

“Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden." - Corrie Ten Boom

“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:26 NIV)

It is wonderful that we can talk to God who chooses to hear us!

We are made righteous because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:9). And, because of it, we can approach God boldly through the thing called prayer. (Heb. 4:16)

Prayer is having a conversation with God

“The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” (Prob. 15:29 NIV)

“The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.” (Prob. 15:8 NIV)

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16 NIV)

 "Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference." - Max Lucado

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32 NIV)

What’s real and what’s fake?

As I write this, the main stream media is filled with much discussion and opinion on the topic of so called, “fake news.” And, every side of every issue is accusing the other side of being guilty of it. And, quite frankly, it's hard to tell the difference between what is real news and what is fake news because each side spins the “facts” to support their own opinions.

How can they do this with actual “facts” you may ask?

Wall Street Journal columnist, James Taranto, opined on Twitter: “Fact checking” is opinion journalism pretending to be some sort of heightened objectivity.” Simply put, “fact checkers” cherry-pick the statements to “fact-check” and then decide which data to back it up with. In short, statistics can be manipulated to come up with any conclusion wanted to promote.

This is nothing new

the enemies of Jesus took statements He had said and twisted them to use against Him. “Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’” (Mark 24:57-58)

What is truth?

According to the dictionary, truth is the quality or state of being true; truthfulness, honesty, accuracy, correctness, validity, factuality, and authenticity. The exact opposite of truth (antonyms) is falsehood, dishonesty, fiction, and lies.

Truth comes from God

• Jesus is the truth – “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6 NIV)
•  Jesus’s Word is truth - “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17 NIV)
• Jesus is full of grace and truth - “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 NIV)

The truth test

 “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.”  (1 John 1:6 NIV)

 “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.” (James 1:18 NIV)

 “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalm 25:5 NIV)

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” (3 John 1:4 NIV)

 "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." (John 8:12 NIV)

 God is light with no darkness

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5 NIV)

 The Word of God gives light and direction

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my pathway.” (Psalm 119:105 NIV)

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” (Psalm 119:130 NIV)

We must walk in the light

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:5-9 NIV)

 “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants.” (Psalm 116:15 NIV)

Last Saturday, my pastor and dear friend, Steve Mason, went home to be with the Lord. I was shocked and deeply saddened by the news of his sudden passing. For many years Steve had poured positive input into my life through his excellent well prepared and delivered sermons. He spoke the way I listened and I will greatly miss him!

When people near us die, it helps to focus on important Bible truths.

We don't grieve as others do!

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” (John 14:1-4 ESV)

We are temporarily here

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die.” (Ecc. 3:1-2 KJV)

We have a permanent home in heaven

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Phil. 3:20-21 NIV)

We have much to look forward to

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Rom. 8:16-17 NIV)

Be of good courage

“Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”  (2 Cor. 5:6-9 NASB)

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9 NIV)

Steve Mason, my dear brother in the Lord, I'm looking forward to seeing you again someday in heaven!

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff,’ he replied.” (Ex. 4:2 NIV)

It is easy to get discouraged when things look bad. Perhaps your supplies are low and the need is very big, even looks impossible. But, be encouraged, when you follow God’s instructions, and you do what He says to do, He can cause what you already have in your hands to produce miraculous results. The Bible is filled with many examples of this.

 A boy’s lunch feeds thousands

Jesus prayed over a small amount of loaves and fishes, then placed them into the hands of His disciples, and the miracle continued as the loaves and fishes kept dividing in their own hands as they fed thousands!  “Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.” (Matt. 14:19b NIV)

A desperate mother’s last meal doesn't run out

A mother was down to her last and all seemed hopeless for her and her son! She told the prophet Elijah that she planned to eat her last meal then die!

But, Elijah told her to take her last flour and oil and prepare him a meal, (what a step of faith!) and then, he promised her that her food would not run out! She followed his instructions and was blessed for doing so. The food she already had in her hands did not run out! (1 Kings 17:10-15)

Moses had a staff in his hand

Moses had been a Hebrew baby rescued from the Nile river by a Pharaoh’s daughter (Ex. 2:5). He was raised and educated to be a leader there in Egypt. But things took a nasty turn when he stood up for a fellow Hebrew who was being beaten by an Egyptian. He killed him and tried to cover up the crime (Ex. 2:12), but was found out and then fled to live the next 40 years in the backside of the desert. Then one day, God spoke to him out of a flaming bush (Ex. 3) and told him that he was to do what seemed impossible – to deliver the Hebrew children from pharaoh’s evil control. Moses was filled with fear, objected, and gave God excuses for why he couldn't do what God had said. Then God asked him a question, “Then the Lord said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' 'A staff,' he replied." (Ex. 4:2 NIV)

Moses had a staff in his hand! It was a walking stick! A piece of wood! But, it’s what God worked His power through to enable Moses to do miraculous things like parting the Red Sea (Ex. 24:21).

So, what has God placed in your hand?

It doesn't really matter what it is, big or small, God can use it, if you have the faith to allow Him to! (Heb. 4:2)

 “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chron. 16:9 NKJV)

Have you ever watched little children at play in a public playground? The children will often look up to make sure their parents are looking at them. Every now and then, a child will say, “Look, Mommy! Look, Daddy!” And, of course, the parents are looking, because they love and care about them.

It's wonderful to know that God loves us (John 3:16), and constantly keeps His eyes on us, too!

He sees the sparrow and he sees you!

One of my all time favorite gospel songs is, His eye is on the sparrow, written in 1905, by Civilla Martinand and Charles Gabriel. The lyrics were inspired from a story in Matthew 10:29, which tells how God knows when a small sparrow falls to the ground, and yet, we are more valuable to Him than  they.

The chorus is very joyful and I often have it running through my head

I sing because I’m happy.                                           I sing because I’m free.                                          For His eye is on the sparrow,                               And I know He watches me.

“But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:18 NIV)