BE PERSISTENT!

EPHESIANS 6: 18

"Pray in the spirit at all times and on every occasion.

  Stay alert and BE PERSISTENT in your prayers."

How often should we pray to the Lord?  Pray in the spirit at all times!   How often do you pray? Do you pray on every occasion?  There is a saying that persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.  We all know that only Jesus Christ the Lord God is omnipotent, but the One Truth Today advises us to be persistent in our prayers to the omnipotent God.  We are cautioned to  stay alert and never cease praying.  So again the question, how often do you pray to the Lord?  Some prayers are very formal and in a formal setting, like a church ceremony.  Some are on our knees and may or may not include closing our eyes.  Most are just talking to the Lord and letting Him know of our cares and desires.  We should make it a habit to pray for everything and in everything.  We need to learn the power of persistence in prayer.  

Praying is telling your Father in heaven the things that are on your heart.  There is no end to the requests that you can make to help you realize your prayers.  The Holy Spirit hears them all and there will be an answer.  You have not because you ask not, is one of the admonitions of the Lord.  So lets ask and keep on asking.  Like any habit, repetition will build a muscle of performance and the strength to accomplish and persevere.  The Lord is trying to teach us in this verse that we must pray without hesitation, for and about everything, and make this a way of life.  Pray in the spirit at all times and on every occasion.  Be persistent in your prayers!

Ask God for His blessing and leading in your requests.  Always remember that in the end all of your prayers will be heard and acknowledged if God is willing!  You can be persistent and ask more than once for the same prayer.  The answer may or may not remain the same.  None of us know what the day may bring forth, and we should never be so arrogant as to think we know the mind of God.  We can not presume to know the plan of God for our lives and God always knows what is best for us.  Even in our sickness and death the Lord is beside us.  That is why some prayers are answered and some are not.  We do not know the plan of God for our lives. We do know for sure that the plan of God for our lives is perfect.  Listen to the Lord, keep on praying and do it with persistence, at all times, and on every occasion.   

SEEK THE LORD!

ISAIAH 55: 6

"SEEK THE LORD, while you can find Him.  Call on Him now, while He is near."

What if you wait too long?  What if something happens and you are too late to call on the name of the Lord to save you?  If you count on doing whatever you want and then in the end asking for forgiveness and mercy, what if you never get the chance?  Everyone needs to understand the One Truth Today!  If you are in a foxhole and the bombs are bursting all around you and before you call on the name of the Lord and ask Him to save you, the bomb explodes and you die instantly, what will happen?  If you are in a car that crashes with another car head on, is there enough time to call out for help and the Salvation of the Lord?  If the plane you are on goes down is there enough time for you to be warned of the impending disaster?  If you die instantly what are the consequences, if you have never accepted the Lord into your heart?

Those who have all ready opened the door to their heart and asked the Lord for His Mercy and Salvation have nothing to worry about no matter what happens to their body.  We have been saved by grace and we will not die the second death, instead we will receive eternal life.  The grave will have no victory and death will have no sting!  However, if you have rejected the Lord throughout your entire life and waited for the right moment to come to Him, it will be too late if you did not SEEK THE LORD while you were alive.  You had to seek the Lord while you could find Him.  You had to call on His name, now, while He was near to you!  You made a choice and as always there are consequences to our choices.  It will be too late when you are dead to call out to the Lord.  Jesus will tell you to depart from Him and that He never knew you.  Your choice to reject Him, your consequence!

Now is the time for Salvation,  today is the accepted day for your mercy.  Call out to the Lord while you can find Him.  Call out to the Lord while He is near.  Seek the Lord if you want to be saved from eternal death, and receive eternal life.  All you have to do is open the door to your heart and invite Him in to dwell with you.  Believe in the Lord.  He is right next to you, right now and it is His desire that not a single soul should be lost to damnation.  You are responsible for your choice and you can choose to call out to the Lord or not.  You will be subject to the consequences of your actions and that is the justice of the Lord.  If you reject the Lord, He will reject you.  Good advice to anyone is SEEK THE LORD!

THE GIFTS OF CHRIST!

EPHESIANS 4: 11

"Now these are THE GIFTS OF CHRIST, given to the church:  the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors, teachers."

What would have happened if Jesus Christ the Lord God had not come to the earth?  What would have happened if there was no record of His birth, life, death on the cross and resurrection? The true gift of the Lord God was that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to save us.  One of the gifts of Christ were the Apostles, who foretold the coming of our Saviour.  One of the gifts of Christ was the commissioning of His Apostles, to go into all the world and tell everyone about the "Good News" of His Salvation.  One of the gifts of Christ throughout history was the inspiration of the evangelists who have lead the crusades for Christ, that saved so many souls!    What if the Lord had not ordained all of His Pastors' and teachers'?What would our churches be like without a Shepard to lead His flocks?  Where would we be with no teachers to help us understand the Word of God?

Talk about the gift that keeps on giving!  Christ's gift to mankind of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers was better than anything the Lord could have possibly given to us, with the exception of eternal life.  God gave His only Son to Save the World and to save us.  What a wonderful variety of gifts it was.  He gave us the prophets as His special messengers to let us know that this plan was from the beginning of time.    He gave us His Apostles to inspire the whole world and bring His message of Salvation.  He gave us His traveling missionaries, the evangelists, to inspire all those they touched with the Message of God!  Christ gave us Shepards to tend His flocks.  He was the Good Shepard and He inspires other Shepards to lead us to greener pastures and still waters.  He inspires teachers to instruct and teach us about His Word and His Wisdom.  We need to be thankful for all that Christ has given us!

If you ask what has Christ done for me lately?  Think about this One Truth Today, and remember all the gifts that God has given us.  Christ has provided an abundance of blessings and they never stop coming.  These gifts will last until the Lord returns to us and then we will have the final gift of eternal live in heaven with the Lord.  The responsibility of all those that the Lord gave us is to equip us to love, worship and know God.  We are the building blocks of His church.  They have been commissioned by God to do the work of unifying the church into one body with one message and one belief.  No other message can compete with the Word of God and He gave it all to us, even when we were in our sin.  These are THE GIFTS OF CHRIST!