Assurance in difficult times

I just spoke to a friend of mine, Jim and he just experienced the loss of his mother. I was able to talk to him about the assurance we have in knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Also the hope that we have that we would be reunited with our loved ones that have gone to Heaven before us. After about an hour on conversation that ranged from the goodness of God in all things to the discussion of some scripture we ended the call and I told him if he needed to talk about anything I was only a phone call away.

As I think about the conversation we had and the encouragement that Jim is to me and I pray I am to him in situations, I began to think about those who do not have friends or family or a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ to help them through the difficult times and my heart is saddened by this and it gives me a greater desire to preach the Gospel to all those lost and dying souls.

So for any of you that are reading this blog and do not have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, I implore you to seek the scriptures, which is the Bible, the only true word of God that tells us how we are to live and what we must do to be saved. I would recommend reading Romans 10: 9,10 and truly make a decision to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth and you will be saved. Once you have accepted Jesus into your life continue to walk in the truth that will be revealed to you through the Bible and find a good Bible believing church to help you grow in your faith. Well, I have said all I can at this point and if God uses this blog to touch the lives and convict the souls of the unsaved I say to Him be all the Glory, Honor, and Praise for He alone is worthy. Amen, and have a blessed night.

Fine Arts Festival

Well, I attended the fine arts festival that my daughter participated in and it was incredible. I thought it would be nice but, it was much better than I thought it would be. The talent of the youths at the festival was awesome. To see all of those young people glorifing God with their talents that God had given them was incredible. Then to make it even better the group that my daughter sang it did great and will be moving on to the state level of competion. She is very excited about this opportunity and I am also looking forward to seeing her singing at the state fine arts festival. This is her first year in fine arts and it is a great accomplishment to go to the state competion. If she does well at the state's then she would go on to the nationals, but I don't want to get a head of myself. I am very proud that she is using the ability God has give her to bring glory to His name. I pray all of you have a great work week in the Lord and may God bless you.

Friday night

Well, the weekend has arrived and I am excited because tomorrow my daughter is going to be singing with two groups in a fine Arts festival at our church. I am sure she will do well, even thought she is a little nervous because she does not usually sing in front of that many people. I praise the Lord for they way he is using her to show others that it does not matter what age you are because God can use each of use for His glory if we are just open to His leading. Well, I better get to sleep because I have to get up early and it will be a long day tomorrow. I pray you all have a blessed weekend.

John 3:30

"He must increase but, I must decrease" I have heard this verse twice in the last two days and I know now that this is true to all of us. If we want to display Jesus through our lives, words, and actions, we must die to ourselves so that we can live for Christ. If we are not willing to decrease in our thoughts of self God will not use us to our full potential. Tonight at church Pastor asked us to go and pray with someone and just encourage them. I saw a man I have known for awhile in the front of the church and I was drawn to go pray for him. Was this difficult to walk past all of those people and pray with this man? Yes, it was difficult. Yet, I had to decrease and not think about myself or my feelings and think about what God wanted me to do. After I stepped out and went up front and prayed for this man I knew for sure that God had set up this appointment for me to intercede for him in prayer and I felt an overwhelming feeling of joy for stepping out and decreasing myself so that Jesus could increase. God bless everyone of you. To God be the glory!

12 years old

Well, that is how old my daughter will be tomorrow. I can hardly believe my baby girl is going to be 12. I can still remember caring her back and forth in the hallway to get her to go to sleep as a baby. She was a good baby for the most part and now she is growing up so fast it makes me proud and sad at the same time. I see how she is becoming more independent and wanting to spend more time with her friends than with us, her parents. I know that during these next years of her life she will have to make decisions that will change and impact her future in significant ways. What does she want to become? Where will she go to College? Who will she chose as a husband, wait a minute, I did say 12. I am not going to start thinking about these things quite yet. I know the High School years will be here before I know it and my prayer for Zana is that she always uses Godly wisdom in all her decisions and that she allows Christ love to shine through her in all of the relationships she has with her peers.
As for now, I am going to take the time to show her how special she is to me and how proud of her I am. I am going to make this birthday party that we are have for her one she will remember and treasure. I don't know how many others of you have a little girl that is turning 12 or 13.... but, I pray you also are able to enjoy these years and make them count because soon your little girl may start to spread her wings and fly and all your will be able to do is watch. Always treasure the special gift God has given you of a baby girl, I know I will.......God bless each and everyone of you and your daughters too.

Web space for his Glory and influence

I'm back. I noticed something tonight on my facebook account several of the people that I made friends were passing drinks around in cyber space. At first my thoughts were to delete these people from my facebook then I realized. God may have brought them to my facebook in order for them to see a positive influence and an example of how Jesus Christ can transform your life. I think when I see these people that several years ago I would have probably joined in on this activity yet, now I only am sad because of the lostness of the souls of these individuals. I pray that anyone who uses the internet for corrospondence with others be very careful of what you post because your words or actions could have a lasting effect on someone's eternal destiny. I pray my witness effects many for the Kingdom of God.

In His Service,

Zane