God Time

God never stops working, so why should we? God time is not a parsed out piece of our life; as a believer it is our life. We may work and do family things in the world, but wherever we are we need to praise Him and look to the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us and use us. We must never, never stop doing what He has called us to do. ~ DickEvans.org

His Words

The words of Christ live in our hearts making us wise. And those words came from our digesting His Word and from the Holy Spirit through our relationship with Him. When He places someone in our path, He expects us to see them saved, healed, and discipled. He expects us to open our mouth and let His words speak to others to teach and to counsel them. ~ DickEvans.org

Shout It

The Good News is not something to be whispered in closed rooms or only at church on Sunday. The Good News is for us to shout out just like we shout out our excitement about that last ballgame or movie we watched. We are to tell our story; the story of what a relationship with Jesus has done in our lives. We are to tell the story of Jesus; His birth, death and resurrection. ~ DickEvans.org

One Gospel

There is but one Gospel and we are not to add to it or take from it. It is not a smorgasbord where we pick and choose a few pieces and add to it some dessert from this book and that television series. It is easy to be fooled by those that twist the message a little here and a little there. We need to stick to His Word and listen to His voice letting Holy Spirit teach us and guide is in all that we do. ~ DickEvans.org

The Good News

Galatians 4:4-5 NLT
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.

Father God sent His son to earth to be one of us. Jesus did not come as the Jews thought. He came as human. As an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes that Christmas morning.

He was born as a slave to the law just like all the other Jews. He grew up as any other Jewish boy learning a trade and studying Gods word as was written in that time. Like any other boy in his town, he memorized the words of the prophets.

When it was his time, he was baptized by John the Baptist and all who were present saw Holy Spirit come down and heard Father God speak this words tell Jesus He was well pleased with him.

He was the same as all the other boys and yet as a man of thirty he had never broken even one of God's laws. Not one. He had never sinned. He was sent to purchase freedom for the Jews and for all of mankind.

He spent three years in the age of the law discipling many followers as they heard his teaching and saw the miracles he performed. His close circle of twelve received most of his attention, but others learned as they listened as well.

He laid the groundwork for all believers to come. For all who would be called Christian.

When he was finished with his mission on earth he was hung on a cross, crucified for all to see. This was when freedom was given for all. Freedom from death. Freedom from the penalty of sin. Forgiven forevermore. Freedom from the curse of the law. Freedom from all sickness and disease.

This became the end of the age of law and moved mankind into the age of grace. Jesus paid our debt in full.

The Father, because of what Jesus did for us at the cross. Never sees our sin and has forgiven and forgotten all our past sin. They are as far from Him as the west is from the east. He only see us through his son, Jesus.

All it takes for anyone on earth, no matter what they used to believe, or who they used to follow, is to believe in Jesus and what He has done for us. Believe and receive His salvation and grace forever. Believe and you are born again with a promise of eternity with God.

These are the Father's gift to all who believe. And He never takes back a gift. There is nothing we have to do. No work required. Just believe in He who the Father sent. Believe in Jesus.

This is the good news. God sent his son to purchase freedom for all mankind. This is the gospel of grace. That is the gospel of Jesus.

Feels Good

It is not about what feels good to us. No, the enemy makes many earthly ideas seem wonderful to us for he is an expert in the art of deception. We must rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us and not our own thoughts. We must follow His plan and not ours. ~ DickEvans.org

The Fruit

The fruit of our salvation is not the tribulations we go through. That trouble is the serendipity of living this life in the world, a world that is controlled by the prince of this world. The fruit of our salvation is expressed in how we react to what the world system throws up in our face. ~ DickEvans.org

Spread His Love

Being in a group of unbelievers is not the same as partnering with them; partnering with their beliefs and causes. We are to be a light in dark places, but we are not be overcome by that darkness. We must be careful each day. We must charge our batteries fully and walk forth ready to spread His love wherever He sends us. ~ DickEvans.org

Tell Someone

People become believers of Christ because we tell others about our experiences. We tell others about what our relationship with the Lord has done in our lives. They know it not only because they hear about it; they know it because they can see the difference in us. They hear the Good News and it spreads rapidly. Isn't today a good day to tell someone? DickEvans.org

Example

Do as I say not as I do is something you have probably heard before. You may even have said it yourself. Knowing the right thing and doing the right thing should go hand in hand, but because of our old nature we are in conflict. Others hear what we say and compare it to how we act. They take that one step further and compare our actions to their perception of how a believer should act. As God's children we are not to look to others as example of what to do. We are to look to Him. He sets the example. ~ DickEvans.org

The Catch

The gospel is simple, you say. God is good and He loves me. He wants the best for me. He even sent Jesus down to earth to live as a man to show us His love. He loves us so that He allowed His son to die a horrible death nailed to a tree to take away forever all the sins of everyone on earth. But what's the catch?

In my logical mind there must be a catch. How can it be so simple? God loves me with no condition? It is hard for me to believe when I think of all the not so good, alright even bad, things I have done in my short life.

The world has conditions for everything. We have to take a test to move on to the next level in school. To drive a car. To get a job. There is always an if. If you do this then you can get that. No if with God. He loves us no matter what.

And that is the good news. That is the simple gospel message. There is no catch. Jesus loves you.

Our Walk

As we begin to walk with Jesus we change. It is a different walk; a walk that is no longer of the world. What was pleasing to us then is not even desired now. We change in more ways than we even realize. We are changed from the inside out. We take on more and more of His nature as we let Him in more and more. Our desires change from pleasing us to pleasing Him. ~ DickEvans.org

Sharing

We can get frustrated when sharing the Good News with others. They just don't get it. What God did in our lives is a nice story for them and nothing more. They have been blinded by the god of this world and don't see. They just don't understand the message. But, we mustn't give up. Those that He has called will hear and we do not know who they are. God will touch their hearts so that when they hear our words, they will believe. Never stop telling the story. ~ DickEvans.org

Excellence

By God’s grace we are where we are. And by His grace we can walk that life of moral excellence. We can step forth each day in faith knowing that it is His nature that works in us. As we do that we grow in our faith and in our knowledge of Him. ~ DickEvans.org

Self-control

Where is our focus? If it were truly on God then we would be praying without ceasing and getting to know Him more each day. As that relationship grows, so does our self-control. What happens is our focus on self is moved to a focus on Him. Then self-control is not an issue. The goal is to not only know His nature but to have His nature in us. Having His nature makes us holy and godly. ~ DickEvans.org

Our List

As believers filled with the Holy Spirit, we have a desire within us to obey His voice. But we must be available to hear Him. We must not force that desire to the bottom of our things to do list each day. No, He should always be on top and never checked off. ~ DickEvans.org

Obedience

Living in obedience to God is not about our living up to all the law found in the Old Testament of the Bible. It is good to do that as much as we are able, but even Paul told us he was not able to do so. But as God leads us, as the Holy Spirit gives us direction, we are to listen and obey. That is true obedience. If we don't, how can we truly say that He is our Lord? ~ DickEvans.org

Control

1 Corinthians 7:8-9 NKJV
But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

In this culture we live in today the norm is to have sex for fun even to live together without the bonds of marriage. Sex has become a sport and is used to sell things, to lure people into places and things. A term used in marketing is that "sex sells".

The word speaks of having sex outside of marriage and it says if you can't control yourself with your woman you need to get married. But the key is exercising self-control and God's not gonna do that for us. These human bodies desire things because that's how we are made.

It's up to us to control what we should and should not do. God's not going to stop us. We have to use self-control. When Jesus died on the cross he gave us the gift of grace. The father no longest sees our sin. But that is not a license to do it.

He wrote his laws on our heart (Hebrews 10:16 NKJV) so we would know know right from wrong. It's not about what the culture says is right or wrong. It's about what's on our heart; what we know to be His desires for us.

Father, help me to be the person You may be to be; the person with Holy Spirit living in me. Help me to use self-control whenever I am tempted to veer off of the line that separates my walking in the spirit and my walking in the flash. It is in Jesus name I pray, amen.

Plans

Each day we must awake anxiously awaiting His direction for the day. Our things to do list is a good starting point. We need to be ready to take action based on what we already know. That is a good thing. The key is being ready to change the plan based on what the Holy Spirit tells us as the day progresses. We must be willing to listen and obey. We must point our compass in the direction He leads us. ~ DickEvans.org

Purpose

As believers, our purpose is far more than we can imagine based on our worldly standards. He will accomplish more than we would ever dare to ask or hope through us, if we just walk forth in faith and let Him. ~ DickEvans.org

Choice

By choice we must turn from the world’s evil ways and let God transform us into His image. We must choose to want the mind of Christ. We must let Him change the way we think. As we do we truly can be a new person in the world and no longer the old person that was of the world. ~ DickEvans.org

Future

We already know the end result. We are believers and therefore our salvation is secure. What lies ahead is a deeper relationship with God. That is what we have to look forward to. It is in that deeper relationship that our future lies. As Paul said, just forget the past and look forward to what lies ahead. ~ DickEvans.org

Baggage

At the Cross, Jesus took all our baggage and dumped it. He took all our sins and all our stuff on Him. He turned us from filthy rags to pure priests. Now that we have become brothers and sisters of Christ, it is up to us to not make a practice of sinning. It is up to us to choose His way and not the evil way. We must listen to Holy Spirit as He guides us knowing that Christ holds us securely so satan can have no hold on us. ~ DickEvans.org

We Choose

Daily we have to choose what we allow in and what we keep out. We choose how we react to others. We know how we should be; regardless of how we feel in this human shell we are in. We have to choose to care about others whether or not we feel any affection towards them or not. When we reach out in Love; God will be right there to help us express His Love. ~ DickEvans.org

What is Permitted

I understand I am under God's grace, but what am I permitted to do? Everything is permitted, but not everything is profitable. I am reminded of the scripture that tells the Gentiles what they should stay away from. (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)

The Father no longer sees our sin. That is true. But that does not give us a license to sin. When we sin it affects others in their walk with Christ. They see us do something that is wrong and they feel it must be OK, if we're doing it. This is why our walk is so important; that it stay on the straight line.

We may veer off the path and do something tempted by our own past memories. His grace covers us, but there are consequences to all our actions. As mentioned above, sometimes those consequences are the effect those actions have on others. Other times there are consequences in this culture that we live in; some things are not permitted. But the biggest consequence is that as we sin we not only realize that we've done so, but by doing so we've walked away from God and opened up a door for satan.

Wonder why you seem to be under a lot of attacks from the enemy? Perhaps it's that you are walking with God some of the time. And other times you're doing those things that you know you shouldn't do leaving little holes for the enemy to gain access.

We can command things out in the name of Jesus. But if we leave the door open, even just a little, they or others can get back in. So it's time to start thinking about what we're doing. Where are we going wrong and leaving doors open for the enemy to play with our lives?

As we turn back towards God and walk in the truth all these burdens, sicknesses, and disease fall away because Jesus took them all at the cross. As we faithfully walk in the spirit and stop remembering all those good times we had doing things we know we shouldn't do, our lives are less and less burdened.

I'm not saying it's easy as each of us has to deal with this on a daily basis. But the more we walk in the Spirit the more our mind is being renewed to be the mind of Jesus. We have Holy Spirit living in us. All the authority and power, all the thinking, all the wisdom, all of Jesus is in us. And yet we rely on our old memories as we try and fix things with our own understanding.

Called

God called us all, good and bad. He looked past the imperfections that were so obvious to others. He knew us beyond them. He saw the potential in us and considered us trustworthy. He appointed each of us to serve Him. ~ DickEvans.org

Tempted

The fact is we live in this world and we are tempted daily to be of this world. We need Holy Spirit’s guidance in each and every step we take. We must make right choices all day every day. Our relationship with Him must be 24/7 and not just 2 hours or less on Sunday. ~ DickEvans.org

Puzzle Piece

Have you ever put together a puzzle? Each piece is unique. Each has a place to fit. We are like that puzzle and there is one piece left to fit in. And no matter how hard we try to push and squeeze, there is only one piece that fits. That void can only be filled with God's Love. Once you have it, the emptiness goes. With Him you will never be empty again. ~ DickEvans.org

His Promises

God never turns off His phone or lets the answering machine take the call. No, He says what He means and means what He says. His promises are yes, and Amen. ~ DickEvans.org