Please God direct my steps!

On Monday I will start a new series on the hands, but today I want us to look at a verse that should be a daily prayer for us:

Psalm 119:133
133 Direct my footsteps according to your word;
let no sin rule over me.

I think all followers of Jesus want to be obedient to God and His Word. This verse is a great verse to pray over ourselves and others at the start of each day." Oh God please direct me today, may everything i say and o be according to your Word." That is my desire each day, why not ask the ONE who has the power to help us? I don't want any sin to control me, and I know you don't either. 

So brothers and sisters memorize this verse, pray this verse, and then live the holy life God desires all of His followers to live!

Tom

Mouth!!#12

Well let's wind up this look at the mouth today by looking at the book of James. One thing about James is he don't beat around the bush with his words. He is a straight shooter.

James 1:26
26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

We may think we are right with God but James tells us here if we don't have control over our tongue we are fooling ourselves!!! Just stop and chew on that for a while. What is coming out of your mouth pretty much proves where your faith is!

Look what else James has to say about the tongue:

James 3:1-12
3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by heck. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

The mouth(tongue) is a powerful thing. We can not tame it on our own. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can tame our mouths! Verse 9 is such an important reminder for us...how can we praise God one second and then curse people who are made in God's image!!!!

So we have looked at the mouth! God has much to say to us about he mouth. He tells us to keep it under control and we can only do that with the power of the Holy Spirt. So where would you say you are with your mouth? Obedient to God or obedient to the worlds ways? Do what ya got to do to get it in line with God's desires for each one of us. It is very important as others hear our mouths that as followers of Jesus that out mouths are glorifying Him not the devil! May we glorify the King with our mouths!

Tom

Mouth!!#11

We live in a day where crude or filthy talk are common place. Not only in our daily lives do we have to put up with the mess but even the TV and movie screens are full of the garbage. Some folks could not talk if they did not use this kind of talk! So what does God have to say about it?

Colossians 3:8
8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Ephesians 5:4
4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Well that makes it pretty easy to figure out for us hardheads don't it? No obscene talk, no filth, no foolish talk, or crude joking!!! Can God make it anymore plain to us than that? The verse goes on to say thanksgiving should flow out of our mouths!!

If we had praise and thanksgiving flowing from our mouths we would not have time or even think about ungodly talk!

So let us take a look at our mouths this morning, is the praise flowing or is the filth flowing? We see what God desires from us so may we all be obedient to our Holy God!

Tom

Mouth!!#10

So when we get right down to the nitty gritty of things why does what comes out of our mouths defile us before God? Well I am glad you asked!!!! Read this:

Matthew 15:11-18
11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

It is simple isn't it? You see what comes out of our mouths is what is in our hearts! So when sinful things come from our mouths it means there is sin in our hearts that needs to be removed! Heart surgery! The great Physician is ready to remove that sin. All we have to do is ask Him to do so, and He will! Then we follow Him in obedience for the rest of our days! 

So let us think about this today....those hateful words, gossip, the Lord's name used in vain, lying, crude jokes, sexual talk, and what ever else you want to throw in there that you know is sin. Is any of this coming from your mouth? If it is it means it is in your heart and needs to be removed immediately! God will remove it if you bring it before Him, but you must be willing to surrender the sin to Him!

I pray your mouth is not defiling you but if it is our merciful Lord can heal your mouth by fixing your heart! Ask Him today! If you need help I would be glad to just ask! 

I love all of you in the Lord, God bless!

Tom

Mouth!!#9

When looking at the different parts of the body I always like to point this out:

Exodus 4:11
11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 

So when we know this, we should understand this:

Psalm 34:1
34 I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Since God made our mouths, praise for Him should be coming from our mouths to Him often!!! Who else in reality deserves our praise anyway? We get so caught up in what man does, which is nothing compared to God! We praise a man for his athletic ability, or we praise man for his intelligence, or we praise man for his good looks while it is our Creator who has given all of these things to man! God deserves the praise not man!!!

God is the smart ONE not us:

Proverbs 2:6
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

I am so thankful we have THE GOD to worship, who loves us, and gives us knowledge and understanding if we will surrender our lives to Him! 

Are you praising God at all times? That is the ultimate purpose of your mouth!!!! He is worthy!

Tom

Mouth!!#8

What should we desire to come from our mouth? Here it is short and simple:

Psalm 19:14
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Just think on this today. Very powerful! If all followers of Jesus would live by this verse, the world would change very quickly! Pray, say, and think about this verse over the weekend. Apply it to you walk with God, and it will glorify His Name!

Tom

Mouth!!#7

Today I want us again to thunk about what comes from God's mouth and the importance of His Word. How many of you like food very much? I sure know I do. I wish I didn't like it as much as I do! So as a consequence of liking food so much we have to control ourselves or weight gain will happen. Depending on what we eat we can also have other health problems if we are eaten things that are not healthy for us! Check out the importance of what comes from God's mouth here:

Job 23:12
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

Now here is a question for us to ponder to ourselves...Do I treasure God's Word more than food? Ouch! I sure don't miss a meal but I have missed reading God's Word some days. So what does that tell me I treasure more? God has blessed me with enough food and if something needs to be skipped for me I could skip a meal but never should I cut out God's Word!

I pray my walk with God will be as strong as Job's so I can say I have not departed for God's Words or commandments! How about you?

So take some time today and think about the value of God's Word. Where is His Word in your life as in of importance? May we never neglect what God has told us is to be of utmost importance as it is our guide for the abundant life!

Tom

Mouth!!#6

This is a verse to remember from Hannah's prayer after giving birth to her son Samuel and dedicating him to the service of the Lord:

1 Samuel 2:3

3 Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.

Nothing we say or do is hidden from God. Again here we are warned to control what comes from our mouths! For we are accountable for what comes out of them and then what we do afterward! Do we ever stop to think about that? God hears and sees every thing! EVERYTHING! He desires us to be humble before Him:

James 4:10 
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

and before others:

Philippians 2:3 
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Are you humble? Does pride flow from your mouth? Better get a grip on it, God is not pleased if we have these issues! Look up pride or humble verses in the bible! God has much to say about these! We had better take heed!

Once again this morning we better evaluate ourselves and let the Holy Spirit direct us for changes if needed! God is watching!

Tom

Mouth!!#5

As we continue to look at our mouths, what should be in our mouths according to God? Well let's take a look:

Joshua 1:8

8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

God's Word is to fill our mouths. If you are a reader and studier of the bible you know there is more to understand and gain in our lifetime than we ever get! We are to constantly be in the Word to learn and live the way God has intended for us too. In the above verse we are told to meditate (deep thinking) on the Word day and night. The purpose of this meditation is so we will do what it says!!! 

We are also told of a blessing! When we keep God's Word , we will be prosperous and have success. Let me warn you here, not the success the world offers but the success that is pleasing to God! God will meet our needs and we will store up treasures in heaven as we do the will of God because we know that is what he desires from knowing His Word!!!

So is God's Word in your mouth? It can be! It is all up to you!

Tom

Mouth!!#4

As we continue to day to look at the mouth, so far we have been looking at our own mouths. Today I want us to take a moment to think about something God tells us about His mouth that we need to pay very close attention to! Look at this verse:

Deuteronomy 8:3
3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

Go takes care of his followers needs but He tells us here there is something more important than our physical needs and that is His Word and our obedience! He demands that we know His Word, listen to it, and then obey it. Our lives hinge on these Words from God. Are you living from the Words of God or from words of men? To live a life that is pleasing to God and to live a life to God's design which of course is best for us, we must obey God's Word!!!

Someone very important also told us how important living by every Word from God is here:

Matthew 4:1-4
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Jesus was starving here! So He is demonstrating here the importance of the Word of God here for us! No matter what, follow and obey what comes from the mouth of God!!!! The bible is the mouth of God for us. Do you know it? Do you read it? Is it a priority in your life? From what we see here today it had better be!!!!

Live by the Word of God!

Tom

Mouth!!#3

Now that we know where the mouth came from....God! We also know God wants us to use our mouths to spread grace and never to use corrupt words from our mouths. What else does God want us to do with our mouths? Let's go to His Word and find out!

Numbers 30:2
2 If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

Keep your word God says! Do what your mouth says!!! No exceptions! Here is another verse that says no only to God but to man:

Matthew 5:37 
Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Jesus is Truth, Jesus is Honesty, and Jesus did what He said He was gonna do ALWAYS! He expects His followers to do the same. Look what the Word says about liars:

Revelation 21:8
8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Does anything more need to be said than that? Keep your Word, God demands it!

Tom

Mouth!!#2

If we are gonna talk about our mouth we first need to establish who made the mouth!

Exodus 4:11
11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

This verse is from where Moses is trying to come up with an excuse as to not serve God in going to Egypt and talk to Pharaoh about letting Israel go! What I want us to see is God made our mouths thus He has every right to tell us how to use our mouths. So as we seen yesterday, this is what God expects from us:

Ephesians 4:29
29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Nothing corrupt but instead build up to glorify our Maker!

So today think about that mouth of yours, God made it, use it to build others up, let nothing corrupt come out of it, so we can glorify with the mouth He gave us!

Tom

Mouth!!

Well the next body part we are going to take a look at is the mouth! It can also be referred to in the bible as tongue and talk. This may hurt some of us! lol God is very clear though in that we are to give Him control of our mouths and be very careful in what comes out of them! So let's start this off with this verse:

Ephesians 4:29
29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

I would say this is a good summary of what God is expecting us to do with our mouths. I want all of us to think very hard about ourselves on this verse. Don't do as many do and think so and so needs to hear this verse! Let us look into our own hearts and evaluate ourselves. God's Word here tells us let NO corrupt talk come out of our mouths! Ouch! Gossip, running someone down that God created in His image, cussing, dirty jokes, sexually suggestive talk, slander, lies, and the list goes on. Remember the Word says no corrupt talk. So how are we doing on that? I think we can take it even a step further and say if God doesn't want it coming out of our mouths then He does not want it going in our ears if we have control over it! God is Holy and wants us to be Holy!

What does God want to come out of our mouths? Words that build up! Well thats pretty simple isn't it? I believe I need some work here because everything that comes out of my mouth does not build up! How about you. I think I have made some progress over the years but I have a long way to go! Does everything that comes out of our mouths build up? Wow just think about that for a bit.

God gives us so much grace and that is what He expects us to pass onto others. We are example setters to others don't forget that. Somebody is watching you especially if you clim to be a follower of Jesus or you are a a parent. Are you representing Jesus well? Does our talk want others to look into our faith or push them away? Let grace and mercy flow from our lips dear Lord to draw others to You!

God's Word has so much to say about our mouths! So let us soak it all in, and then apply it to our lives for the glory of the Father!

Tom

Eyes #10

Today we will wrap up our look at our eyes and what our focus needs to be on. It has been clear we must keep our focus on Jesus not the world. We also looked at somethings God sees through His eyes. So let's jump into our last lesson of the eyes:

1 John 1:1-3

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Now this was one of the disciples (John) letting us know that God, Jesus, and the gospel are true. He had witnessed it with his own eyes as well as others. John wants us to know it is true!!!! Now as followers of Jesus, we can see with our eyes the fellowship we have with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now we are to let others know what we have seen! The goodness and mercy of God!

Let's finish this look at the eyes with a look again at the eyes of God:

Hebrews 4:13

13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

God sees all my brothers and sisters, let us never forget that in our day to day life. His eyes are upon us! The good, the bad, and the ugly. May we keep our focus on Jesus and on that day when we stand face to face with our maker he will say these words to us:

Matthew 25:21
21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Tom

Eyes #9

I think it is safe to say as we have been looking at the eyes, God expects us to keep out focus on Him and not the world. Here is another verse that says just that:

1 John 2:16
16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

The devil sure is good at providing things of the world to draw out attention off of God. The sad thing is so many of us fall for his tricks! 3 key points of warning here:

1. desire of the flesh- sex (all forms outside marriage defined by God), drugs, alcohol, addictions, appearance, etc. Our fleshy desires are badddddd! One of our big problems here is marketing firms attack us from all angles because of our problem with this and we fall for it!!!

2. desires of the eyes- we want what we see!!!! Food, beautiful sexy people, cars, houses, cell phones, all kinds of material things we want, want, want. These things may not be bad themselves but when we put them before God they become sin. All of us are in danger of this if we are not very careful!!! Desire of the eyes has been a problem from the very beginning:

Genesis 3:6
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Covet is another word for desire, here is a warning about covet:

Luke 12:15
15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

3. pride of life-bragging on what we do have. Every good thing we have is from God:

James 1:17
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

The only thing we can brag about in life is Jesus!!! He deserves all our praise, honor, and glory. Everything else is on loan to us from God and we had better keep that in proper perspective because:

Job 1:21
And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

So once again this morning we see from God's Word that what our flesh desires, what our eyes desire, and our pride must be kept in check by keeping our focus on Jesus. If He is in constant focus, the others will not happen!

Tom

Eyes #8

As we continue our look at the eyes and what they focus on....check out this statement from God's Word:

Romans 3:18

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Wow! I hope this is not describing you or me! This statement tells me one thing...if we are found in this state before God we have no knowledge of God! Look what the bible says here:

Proverbs 1:7

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

We are fools who in our eyes do not fear the Lord. How many today feel like the Word of God is burden some and will not receive His instruction? Look around it don't take long to figure out. God knows whats best for us, and His Word lighten our burdens, the devil is the one who tries to make us think following Jesus is no fun. Following Jesus is the ultimate life!

Here is more description of those whose eyes do not fear the Lord:

2 Peter 2:14

14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

This sounds just like day to day lives in the USA and around the world don't it?

Not good! Keep those eyes focused on Jesus and fear the Lord it is good for the soul!

Tom

Eyes #7

Mark 8:17-19

17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.”

We have been talking about the importance of protecting our eyes from the ways of the world, but we also need to have our eyes open to the blessings and goodness of God! Why is is so easy to focus of the things of the world but completely miss what God has already done and continues to do in the lives of those who follow Him?

In the Mark verses above the disciples are worried about not having food. Jesus reminds them He has already provided before so why are they worried!!!! Now relate that to our own lives, has there ever been a time God has not met our needs? I can't think of one time! There have been times I thought so but down the road I come to find out God did what needed to be done and was best for me! 

Keep those eyes open and don't miss the daily blessings from God....a bird singing, rain on a dry crop, food on your table, heat, air, children, moms, dads, grandparents, freedom, roof over your head, brothers, sisters, salvation, A God who covets our prayers and worship, church family, and list goes on and on! 

Are your eyes open to these?

Tom

Eyes #6

Let's get back to our study on the eyes. How important is it to protect our eyes from the ways of the world? Well let's see what Jesus says:

Matthew 18:9

9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

Well now, can Jesus be any clearer that that? I don't think so! If we can't keep from sinning by the desire of our eyes then we need to get rid of our eyes! Wow!!! For it is better to get to heaven blind, where our sight will be restored one day, than to go to hell because of our eyes causing us to sin against our Holy God. 

So let's get back to thinking about what we allow into our eyes...through movies, television, magazines, and day to day life. Are you doing all you can to protect what you allow into your eyes, which goes to your brain, and then to your heart, and then acted upon with the rest of your body???? Obviously it is of utmost importance!

Sit back and chew on this while today. If changes need to be made....do it now! 

Tom