Proverbs 16:3: "Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established."

Have you ever been so perplexed that you didn’t know which way to turn? The book of Psalms and Proverbs are full of teachings for times in our lives in which we just are having a hard time in trying to decide which way to go.

I have found that when I stay in the scriptures and begin to apply the word of God to my daily life that the fog seems to lift. The obvious goal for a Christian is that we have a desire to do what it is that our Heavenly Father wants, or to do His Will. John 7:17 "If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. John by the authority of God the Holy Spirit says that if we want to do the will of God then we need to know the doctrines of God and you will be able to do them. The doctrines are the teachings in the Bible.

It just stands to reason if a person doesn’t read or study the Bible then how can they know the will of God. Many times I have had people come to me and say they were praying about something if it is the Lord’s will then they will do it, when clearly in scripture it prohibits the very thing they are praying about. You don’t have to pray about it, because if you study the word of God, He has already said don’t do it.

The more I study the word the more clearer the will of God becomes and I don’t believe you have to be a rocket scientist to determine it.

Now there are times that we are trying to make a decision and there is no clear scripture that tells us what to do. Like should I buy that piece of property, should I marry this person who seems to be a good person, or should I take that job?

It is in these times I must develop a discerning spirit where I pay attention to the leading of the Holy Spirit. According to Philippians 4:7 the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind, that’s a big thing. When you are trying to make a decision I would ask do you have peace in this decision that you are trying to make, if you do then I believe that is the Lord saying go have some fun.

If you don’t have peace and have a great deal of consternation in your being then that could be the Lord saying don’t. The world is riddled with people who even though God said this is not good went ahead anyway and the results were disastrous.

The great thing about walking with the Lord is that He knows where all the pot-holes are and will keep you from them. The verse before us tells us that if you are mixed up and believe me there are plenty of times I have felt that way, then whatever you are contemplating if you will commit your works to the Lord, He will help you to sort things out and your thinking will be clear.

Another great verse from Proverbs is 3:5-6 and within those verses He tells us to not lean unto our on understanding, or in other words quit trying to figure out how the Lord is going to do this. You know, you and I are supposed to be people of faith. So trust Him

Pastor Lee Cruse, the Pastor who has trouble just like ever body else and yet the Lord loves Him anyway.

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Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 

What does it mean to honor your father and mother?  Does it mean that they have to reach some plateau or degree in their life and then we honor them?  I think it means that we honor them for who they are or were. 

When we were younger many of us thought that our parents didn’t know anything, and when I reached 21, I was amazed at how much knowledge and good judgment that my parents had gained.  

I love the sign that says to teenagers, are you tired of being bossed around by your parents?  Move out, pay your own bills, handle your own problems, move out while you still know everything.  And what a shock when we begin to hear our self and look in the mirror and realize that we have become just like our dad or mother. 

When we are young, we tend to see the chinks in the armor of our dad, but as we get older we begin to see that they along with us are just human, they make mistakes and screwed up just like you and I do.

I once heard someone say that as a young boy he had gone into a drug store with his dad.  The drug store had a fountain and he said what I saw was a sign with a picture of a banana split.  I immediately told my dad that I wanted one of those, to which he said no.  I then begin to be louder and cause a scene and my father had to take me outside.   I will never forget the look on my fathers’ face when he told me that it wasn’t that he didn’t want me to have it, but he didn’t have the money.  I realized I had embarrassed my father. 

As I look back on my life, I was so blessed to have the father that I had.  Yes he made mistakes and I would trade all the materialistic things I receive in exchange for more of just him spending time with me but I had a great father. 

Maybe you were fortunate enough to have a great father and you were blessed, but I know there are some who were not that fortunate.  They were scarred of their father, and regretted the times that he came home.  Some never even knew their father and some had a father who was working all the time and never at home. 

This is why you need to read the Word of God and find out who your Heavenly Father really is.  Oh how He loves you and He is the best father that any of us could ever have.  In fact He is the perfect Father.  

What I have discovered through the years is that He wants a relationship with you more than you and I want it.  He will not force Himself on you, but He tells us that if we will draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.  The Bible in Romans says this in chapter 8 verse 15 “For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father”. The word Abba is Aramaic for Daddy.

I hope this father’s day if your father is still alive you will honor him.

Pastor Lee Cruse who wants more and more of a close relationship with His Heavenly Father.    

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John 18:37: "Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Think about the question that Pilot asked Jesus, “Are You a King?" Jesus answered in the affirmative that He was a King. And what a King He was and is. This world lives as if there is no accountability or reckoning, they live to themselves. Jesus told parables about a King who went away and when He came back He called in all of His people to give an account. That is exactly what is fixing to take place. There is coming a great Day of Judgment and the greatest King of all eternity will balance the books.

He is King of the Jews, a title that opens and closes the first gospel. At the beginning of Matthew, a delegation of Eastern Magi arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? (Matt. 2:2) Near the end of Matthew’s gospel, a sign is affixed to the cross of Jesus reading, “This is Jesus The King of the Jews” (Matt. 27:37) In John 1:49 Nathanael exclaims, Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel”

He is the King of righteousness, Heb. 7:2 “to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness”

He is the King of Peace, Heb. 7:2 means the King of peace.

He is the King over all the earth. Zechariah describes our Lord’s glorious return, Zechariah 14:4: "And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south."

Zechariah: 14:8: "And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur."

Zechariah. 14:9: "And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be-"The LORD is one," And His name one."

He is the King of Glory Psalms 24 King David cries “lift up you heads… and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty.. He is the King of Glory.

He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Revelation twice gives this ultimate designation to our Lord (Rev. 17:14;19:16) He is king not just of the Jews but of the whole universe.

Dr. S.M. Lockridge does a recitation called “That’s My King” and then He asked do you know Him. Is He your King? The fact is that all the things that I have written about Jesus will come true whether you and I believe it or not but the real question and Pilot missed it. Yes Jesus was King but was He his king?

My Friend, is He your King?

Pastor Lee Cruse, who has to, on a regular basis examine himself to see is He King of my life.

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