If there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8-9 Stop and check your attitude today. Does it need adjusting? Are you being self-centered or putting God and others first? Another area that the children are studying in our “Grow Up” series is attitude. The definition found in the on-line dictionary describes attitude as a way of thinking and feeling that is reflected in a person’s behavior. Basically, actions speak louder than words. What we do says it all. Our attitude is reflected in our behavior, our words, the look on our face and the patience we have with others. Let’s face it, many things happen in a day that we can allow to set our attitudes on a

Show proper respect to everyone. 1 Peter 2:17 The Bible tells us that God is love. Respect has become an endangered value over the past few decades. We live in the “Age of Irreverence,” where sarcasm rules the day and everyone loves a good put down. Yet the Bible makes it clear that stable families — and stable societies — are built around respect. The Bible commands us to honor our parents, respect civil authority, and respect church leaders. Wives are called to respect husbands in Ephesians. In the book of 1 Peter, husbands are called to respect wives. Just to make it clear that the Bible leaves no one out, the Bible also tells us to “show proper respect to everyone” (1 Peter 2:17a NIV).

We all know the story of Moses and the burning bush. God comes to Moses as a bush engulfed in flames and gives Moses his instructions on setting God’s people free from Pharaoh's commands. But also in this, God says something to Moses that really stuck out to me. In Exodus chapter 3 verse 13 Moses asks, “​Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what is His name? Then what shall I tell them? “God responds in verse 14, ​“I AM WHO I AM. Tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” ​ When God says this he doesn’t hesitate, he doesn’t come up with some elaborate, special response. All that people needed to know is that he is th

“When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please ropen his eyes that he may see. ”So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” 2 Kings 6:15-17 In 2 Kings 6 there is a fascinating story recorded about Elisha, the prophet. As Elisha prophesied both good things and bad as directed by God, he had his share of o

This is a subject that has been taught right and been taught wrong. So I will speak from my heart. This is me speaking on truths that God has given me. First, God has called the first 10% as his period. This is called the tithe, and in Malachi he says when you withhold the tithe you are cursed. Then he says to test him for he shall bless you to overflowing, then he will rebuke the devourer. "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you! Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the L

“He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against the house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.” Luke 6:48 I recall a story several years ago when President Bill Clinton was planning to visit Central America. The Nicaraguan president, Arnoldo Aleman, hurriedly built a new housing complex for hundreds of his poorest citizens. He wanted to impress the American leader. Shortly after them being built, Hurricane Mitch hit the area. The ground didn’t provide an adequate foundation for the hastily constructed houses, and two thousand people were drowned, crushed, and scraped to

My husband, Larry, and I saw lava lying upon acres of ground while visiting Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. The lava is evidence of a tremendous shaking inside the earth in years past. The shaking pushed or threw the lava out on the surface. Volcanoes are scary to most people as we don’t have any control over when or where one will occur. Tremendous damage can occur to the surrounding landscape and people. Our sinful nature can also be scary, exhibiting awful actions and words that have potential to hurt us and others. Obeying God’s commands by focusing on His love, accepting His forgivingness for our own sins, and forgiving others helps us control our sinful nature. As we ch

And Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats through all the land of Egypt. Exodus 8:17 He spoke, and there came a swarm of flies and gnats in all their territory. Psalm 105:31 All summer I have been aggravated by a few gnats! I hate them and I have wondered if the ones I have are ancestors to those in the days of Moses! What are gnats exactly? Gnats have tiny wings-some bite-some do not; they are scarcely visible to the naked eye. Some swarm in dense clouds number perhaps a million! At least I have only had a few over the summer but that is enough to cause you to become

I was spending some time in worship and listening to a song just basking in the presence of the Lord. The words of the song are simple, “To worship you I live, to worship you I live, I live to worship you…”. I kept thinking how true this is, and how it was the cry of my heart just to be in continual worship. It was about then I heard a gentle voice from the Lord sweetly say, “If that was really true, of you truly lived to worship me your circumstances wouldn't change your worship. Your feelings wouldn't change your worship. Fatigue, frustration, times when you don't understand, times when you're in need, nothing in your environment would change your worship.” I have to say the correction cam