God sent His son to take away our sins.      To destroy the works of the devil,       That we might have life and more abundantly,        He was to be payment for our sins,      To be Savior of the world,      

The Promises of Salvation are as follows:

He will bring us into His kingdom.    Many want to go heaven but do nto want to give up sins.      He will keep you on narrow path.     He will bless with tender mercies.     He will heal sickness.    He will lead down pathrway of life.     He will prepare an eternal home.

Our Responsibilities:       To walk humbly.   To obey in all things not just what we choose to.    To trust when we can not see.     To stand firm in the face of enemy,    To walk consistently by faith.    And to expect Him in clouds of the air.  

This ia an article which came to me. It is worth sharing with those of you out there.

Salvation is a Free gift of God that comes to us through faith in His Son. Jeus did everything necessary to accomplish our forgiveness and reconciliation with the Father. We can add nothing to this transaction, our job is to simply believe.

But from that point on, each of us must make a choice, will we follow or just coast along doing what we want? If you limit your Christianity to merely sitting in a pew on Sunday mornings, you will miss the greatest adventure of your lfie. Being a disciple of Christ requires that we be actively engaged in our relationship with Him and in service to others.

Jesus never painted a rosy picture when He called people to follow Him. He stated quite plainly that becoming His follower would require self denial, sacrifice and suffering. With this kind of job description, it is no wonder so many believers have tried to make Christianity a spectator sport. Following Jeus means that He directs our lives , that is what dying to self is all about. We give up our rights to do what we want and instead submit to His will, even if it  is difficult or do not agree with ur preference. If you do not realize how good, loving and wise our God is, walking in His will may seem scary or even foolish

those who deny themselves to follow Christ discover they lose nothing and gain everything. Even amidst pain and suffering, He gives His disciples inner peace and  joy that transcend circumstances. Are you following Jeus or yourself? Your lifestyle , words and attitudes reveal who truly rules your life.

Fear makes us react emotionally doing all the wrong things. We abandon the principles of scripture and grab for all we can get withholding and hoarding in case things get worse. Do not surrender to the fears rampant in our increasingly godless culture. Instead faithfully follow God's economics for tough times. When Israel did this they enjoyed mega harvests. But when they withheld and hoarded what God provided he said, You ae under a cure the whole nation of you. Whether they experience abundance or lack depended on thier attitude and actions towards God's economics. His principles required they bring the whole tithe into the storehouse not a partial tithe. If they honor the Lord with first fruits of all crops their barns would overflow and their vats brim over. Jesus taught that if you give it will be given to you in an abundance determined by the measure you use .He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. the way it works in God's economy is those who withhold unduly come to poverty while those who give freely gain even more. God promises a generous man will prosper he who refreshes others willhimself be refreshed. Try it God's principles work in this economy.

After one perseveres look what happened in out story.  Elisha gave Gehazi instructions to deal with this mother's situation.  He said get yourself ready and take my staff in your hand and be on your way. If you meet anyone do not greet him and if anyone greets you do not answer him but lay my staff on the face of the child." Listen to what the mother said to Elisha.  "As the Lord lives and as your souls lives, I will not leave you. She was saying, "I did not come for Gehazi , I came for you and she was following the plan of faith that the Lord had put in her heart.  Gehazi was not part of this plan.  This is shown by the fact tha twhen Gehazi put Elisha's rod on the child's face nothing happened.  God was honoring the plan He had given to the Shunammite woman. Whey you pray let the Lord give you a plan of faith to follow, then persevere in tha plan and God Will honor it.

There is an arrival of faith. Elisha came into the house. He is a picture of faith in the house of the impossible. When you follow God's plan of faith when you believe what He shows you through eyes of faith, whey you cause the spiritual realm to rule over the natural realm, faith enteres the realm of the impossible and your circumstance  are summoned into the realm of miracles.

Then comes declaration of faith. The Shunammites's husband asked her the reason fro her journey. She saw her situations it is well at a time when it was not well. She was looking through two pair of eyes. Her natural eyes knew that it was not well. He spiritual eyes saw that it was well.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Unbelief is about what can e seen, but faith is about what cannot be seen. Unbelief operates through natural eyes but faith operates through spiritual eyes. If you allow what you see through your natural eyes to rul over what can be seen with your spiritual eyes you will reverse God's order. Your will cause the natural realm to rule over the spiritual realm. And unbelief will overrule your faith.

The Shunammite woman formed a bold plan based on what she saw. . She could say it is well when it was not.  Elisha saw the shunammite woman approaching Mount Carmel and sent his servant to ask if it was well with her and husband.  she answered it is well. the reality of her circumstances and the bold expression of her faith ar both recored for us so tha twe might be able to cause our faith to overrule our unbelief, to say it is well when it is not, and to believe for a miracle instead of misery.

This mother fell at Elisha's feet , she was experiencing deep anguish. He perceived this.

Yet the child grew worse. His situation was life threatening. Is there a trial in our life that is getting worse? Has numbing fear come upon you? Has your faith been challenged to its limits.?  Imagine what must have been going on in this mom's mind as her son sat on her knee getting worse. All she could do ws hold him close and hope for the best.

He grew worses still. Every hope this mother had for his future died on her lap. Have your circumstances blotted out the promises of God right before your eyes? Has your anguish become greater than your hope? Is so you need to make the same journey of faith that this mom had made.

She traveled a journey of faith.  She did two things. She took her son up to the room and laid his body on Elisha's bed. She prepared to go to Elisahthe man of God. Her intent was to bring him back with her.  Her plan was to have Elisha bring him back . This was bold faith. what is your plan of faith? Do you have one or is yours a plan of unbelief?

There is a challenge of adversity when it hits. The child became sick. He had gone out in the morning to a grain field where his father was harvesting. Little did the father know while he was reaping the harvest, teh devil was sowing a devastating harvest in his son's life.  the boy cried out my head.  He was carried to his mother. His condition was severe.  You and I are not exempt from being stricken by Satan. As the Lord allowed Satan to afflict Job, so He allows us to be afflicted. The Shunammite woman got up, sent her son to the father, and began her chores. A short time later son came back with life threatening affliction. the events of the day had changed suddenly without warning.

God  still does miracles. Can you believe him today ? If your life is challenged greater than before will you look to him to give you a plan to be carried out?  God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Look to him. He will see you though tough places in life. You will not make it without him.

This will be in several parts.  You will never learn faith in comfortable surroundings, God gives us His  promises in a quiet hour: God seals His covenants with great and gracious words, then He steps back and waits to see how much we believe: then He lets the tempter come, and the test seems to contradict all that He has spoken. It is then that faith wins its crown. that is the time to look up through the storm and among the trembling, frightened seamen, cry out, "I believe God that it shall be even as it was told to me."    (This is from Streams In The Desert)

There is a difference between knowing God's Word and applying His truths and promises when problems enter our lives. The Shunamimte woman in out text, along with her husband, had prepared an upper room for the prophet Elisha where he could rest whenever he passed through their neighborhood.  The Shunammite woman must have known the ways of the Lord through conversations with Elisha in her home. But there came a day when adversity of the worst possible kind crept into her life to rest her faith. Have you ever been severely tested? If so, you will easily identify with this Shunammite woman.  If we learn from her example, we too shall be able to withstand the fiery darts of the enemy that are aimed at our soul in the darkest hours of life.

The man of God paces back and forth asking, seeking, and knocking. He persisted. There is a persistence of faith. Elisha went back upstairs and carried out the new instructions he received from the Lord during intercessory prayer. He did the same thing he had done the first time. He must have thought, but I already did that and it only brought about part of the miracle. Why do you want me to do tia gain? It is simple. The first time was for the first half of the miracle. The second time was for the completion of the miracle. He obeyed without questioning, even though it did not make any sense to repeat his first actions. His faith and obedience were still working correctly.
There was a reward. See what happened as Elisha obeyed the Lord for the third-time.  He stretched himself out on him, then the child sneezed seven times and the child opened his eyes. Notice two important words when and then. When Elisha obeyed then the child sneezed seven times.   Seven is the numer of perfection and completion. And Elisha's faith and obedience wer rewarded.

This story has a happy ending. Elisah called Gehaze and said "Call this Shunammite woman." So he called her, and when she came in to him he said "Pick up your son." She said it is well, when it was not well. Now she could say,it is well when it was well ., The constant factor was her  faith not the circumstances. She saw with eyes of faith what could be and accepted nothing less than the perfect will of God for her situation. Le it be to you according to your faith.

Elisha did more than just pray, he put his faith into action. Jesus raised people from the dead but He never did it this way. We serve a God of variety. Theology will never change but God has the sovereign right to change His methods. Did Elisha need to know why God chose cush an unusual method for this boy to  raise this boy? NO. All he needed was to do was to hear clear directions from the Lord and to obey them. And so it is with you and me. It is not our place to question, simply to obey even if what the Lord tells us to do seems strange.  Most know the story. The boy became warm. Life began to return to the cold body and it began to become warm. was the boy raised from the dead at this point ? No.

There was a progression of faith. the boy on the bed was a miracle in progress. it was being done by the Lord in stages.  What was one thing that moved this miracle along stage by stage? Elisha's faith and prayers. We often want the Lord to solve our problems instantly, to drive away our adversities all at once. But the Lord often works progressively with out problems according to His understanding not ours. The first responsibility of faith is to hear clear directions from the Lord as to how our faith must operate and what he desires us to do with it.

Intercession Elisha returned and walked back and forth in the house. He was no doubt in intercessory prayer.  His prayer went from asking to seeking. Jesus said, "when you pray go into your room and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father, who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Elisha was shut in with the problem, but he was also shut in with God.

Many times our problems come to shut us in with the Lord. There are seven benefits of adversity we reap when our problems shut us in with the Lord.

Adversity calls divine mercy into action. Adversity generates new avenues of responsibility. Adversity throws open the gates of true prosperity. It promotes a deeper relationship with the Lord. It introduces us to incredible opportunities. Adversity increases spiritual sensitivity and escorts us to a greater purpose in life.

In order for prayer to be answered there has to be a prayer of faith. Elisha closed the door to his room. What did he pray for?  For the dead boy to be raised from the dead. what an astounding thing to pray for. What have you prayed for lately?  More of this world's goods? A bigger bank account? A fancier car? Or have you prayed for the Lord to be glorified through you? How much time did you spend in prayer last week compared to the time you spent with TV or going out to eat? The size of the need often determines how long you   must pray for that need to be met.

There are three  levels of prayer, asking, seeking and knocking. Each level requires an increase in the amount of time spent in prayer.

When you pray know the enemy will be right there also. When Elisha entered his room there was the child lying dead on his bed. Unbelief is based on what we experience by way of our five senses. Elisha saw first through his natural eyes. how could he miss seeing the corpse on the bed? The devil must have told him he is dead and death is final.  The devil was trying to build unbelief in Elisha. But Elisha looked through his spiritual eyes instead and Saw the boy as he would be when he was raised from the dead. Because faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen thought he natual eyes.  Elisha understood what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us.  Whatever we can see by faith is possible with God. You looked long enough at your problems now it is time to look through eyes of faith. What do you see? That is what is possible with god but it can nt come to pass until you can see it and believe it in your heart by faith.

Elisha went in and shut the door. Here is an interesting observation. When problems come some will pray for us, but most do not want to be with us in our time of need. Ther are few who visit us in our affliction. and there are few who intercede for us in prayer. But there are many who will criticize us and gossip about us in our time of need. It is hard to be shut asway from people and be shut in with adversity and problems.  Elisah was shut away from all others and left alone with a corpse of a dead boy. When he shut himself in , it became his prayer closet. How interesting it is that faith and anguish were both present in his life. We often look at those who experience  deep anguish in the midst of trials and judge them as not having faith, but such is not the case.  The Shunammite woman's faith was greater than her anguish. As long as your faith is greater than your anguish your faith will see you through your trial. it is Ok to feel sorrow. It is OK to be tempted. It is OK to cry bu do not let these things extinguish the flame of faith in your soul.

He persevered.  He gave instructions to deal with this mom's situation. he said, Get yourself ready and take my staff in your hand and be on your way. If you meet anyone do not greet him and if anyone greets you, do not answer him but lay my staff on the face of the child." Listen to what  the mother said to Elisah. "As the Lord lives and as your soul lives I will not leave you." She was saying I did not come for Gehazi, I came for you and I will not leave until you come with me. She was allowing the plan of faith that the Lord had put in her heart. And Gehazi was not part of that plan. This is evident by the fact that when Gehazi put Elisha's rod on the child's face nothing happened. God was honoring the plan He had given to the Shunammite women. Whey you pray let the Lord give you a plan of faith to follow: then persevere in the tplan and God will honor it.

Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude for all God has done for each of us this year. May your life over flow and your days be filled with joy in the Lord.

Jesus tells us, He has overcome the world and He will never leave us." Our lives are hidden in H:I'm and He is with us at every step forever.

Each day He has prepared a blessings for you and I. His desire is that we live our lives in childlike faith, looking for the special things He has prepared for our encouragement and delight, thanking Him in every situation.

A thankful heart teaches us to remember that God is present with us.  As we give thanks, we become more aware of His presence and goodness in our lives.

This season may we all share with others, look for opportunities to minister in the community etc.

Let thanksgiving  this year be expressed in helping those you encounter. As you m

Thanksgiving has color. What color is it? It is gold and bronze and russet Autumn leaves? Or red apples in a barrel? Is it moist brown furrows, Of Fall turned fields? Orange pumpkins, Ripe on the vine? Purple grapes?

Ruby red and creamy white, On a gleaming damask cloth? And copper flames that flicker in the blue shadows on the earth? Or is Thanksgiving, the color of gratitude, Shades of love. Seen by a thankful heart?

we like to think of ourselves as self sufficient, but it is wises to know when you need help. When things get to be to much it is alright to call for help. When Israel was fighting the Amalekites as long as Moses held up his staff, the Israelites prevailed: when he lowered it, the enemy gained the advantage. But like the rest of us, Moses was human and his arms became tired, so he could no longer hold them up. Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of him holding up his hands. God not only gave Israel teh victory that day He showed Moses there are times when we all need help. One pastor stays. " I remember a time I was so deeply discouraged, I questioned whether I was the right person to pastor the church. A friend sensed his despair, took him out for coffee and listened to his concerns. He took time to gain the perspective he had lost. By the end of the time together he felt encouraged, ready to continue. The pastor will always be thankful for the ways he held up his hands. Most of us find it easier to give help than to receive ti. Sometimes accepting help means giving up your role as the martyr, or victim, tearing down walls of independence you have spent years building and letting other people be there for you. If that sounds like you pray and tell the Lord you know you need help in this area.Let people help you. It is part of body ministry.

These are some thoughts from Pastor Steven Furtick as well as my own.

     Most Christians are not in imminent danger of ruining their lives. They are in danger of something far greater: wasting it. More believers are unsatisfied with the kind of Christian they are becoming, and the version of the Christian life they are experiencing. There is a huge gap between the kinds of things God has said in His Word and the results we see in our lives.

     We know we were meant for more. But we feel confused abut what that looks like or where to start. We feel stuck where we are at  and frustrated because we do not know what steps to take to move forward. As a result most of us end up settling for less than what god crested and saved for. We then get comfortable in our complacency. And years later we find ourselves stuck mediocrity. Just getting by. Living a shadow of the life we dreamed and god intended. Result  wasting our lives.

    it is time to dream again. It is time to live the kind of life Jesus Himself dreamed for His followers: Today begin believe that God has created you fro a greater life than the one you are living.

     God has a greater plan for your life and it needs to be ignited to full force.  Begin to dream and keep your eyes open. IF we want to enter into a greater things God has for us, we need to dream bigger.  I promise that dreaming bigger and starting somewhat small go hand in hand. 

    Some days may appear dark but. I have been in a place where I did not dream and lost hope at times but I knew God was always with me. Through it all I now am dreaming once again. It is wonderful.  May this encourage all out there who are in this situation.

Successful people allow their God given passion and talent to guide them in life. They have a single focus an undivided heart. God does not create you to be talented in an area, then ask you to give yourself to some unrelated area. There is always a potential alignment of talent and passion if you have the courage to pursue your life's purpose and take risks. An author, Po Bronson, wrote, " " I am convinced that business success in the future starts with the question, what should I do with my life?"  Yes that is right. People do not succeed by migrating to a hot industry or by adopting a particular career guiding mantra. They thrive by focusing on the question of who they really are---and connecting to work they truly love, and in so doing, unleashing a productive and creative power they never imagined.

    Do not become a slave to to someone else's dream because once you own a dream that dream will own you. Being a slave to someone else's dream quickly becomes a nightmare. Apostle Paul writes, "But they are only comparing themselves with each other....How ignorant... We will boast only about what has happened within the boundaries of the work god has given us."  If you are confused out of focus, or going in circles, pray, Lord give me a clear vision and an undivided heart." That is a prayer God will answer. If you do not love what you are doing then find something else. Love what you do and it will done well and with excellence.