I Kings 19:2-4 - Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.
1. He is forgetting what God has done with him. 2. He believes Jezebel, a liar. Elijah had displayed great faith in God and defeated 450 false prophets of Baal. He challenged them to pray to their god and he would pray to his God. The God who sent down fire from heaven and consumed the sacrifice would be the true God to be worshipped. Baal failed to answer his 450 prophets, because Baal is not a real god. Yet, the God of heaven and earth did NOT fail to answer his one prophet Elijah. Yet, when it was really important Elijah forgets what God has done.
Elijah has just defeated these false prophets. Their god Baal was useless to them but Elijah's God was not useless. He was the true God. We don't worship Baal. He is useless. We worship and serve the only true God. How can we forget so quickly what He has done for us?
He could've said, "What happened to your 450 false prophets is now going to happen to you." What lie is the devil telling you now that you believe?
If your faith is being tested don't run because you are afraid as Elijah did. Stand your ground! God will reward your faith.
Romans 8:11 - But if the Spirit of Him (God) who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. We can not beat this promise from God. You die in Christ and you will come alive by God's Spirit. Think On This: Anyone in the world can give up; it is the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else in the world would understand if you quit, that is true courage. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Luke 1:45 - "And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord." NASB
And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end." NASB Mary believed what Gabriel revealed to her about what was soon to take place in her life. She believed what she was told by God. The scripture says, "And blessed is she who believed…" If you and I want to be blessed in this life I believe all we have to do is READ GOD'S WORD and believe what God has said.
Paul tells us in Colossians 1:13-14 - For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. We need to believe this. We have been rescued from the domain of darkness, we have been transferred into the kingdom of Jesus, we have been redeemed, and our sins have been forgiven. What better news could I share with you? We should wake up every day with a smile on our face because we are a part of Jesus' kingdom. We have been redeemed and our sins have been forgiven. In other words, we are like Mary, we are blessed to have God change our surroundings. March 2, 1975, God changed my surroundings. I confessed Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior and was buried in a watery grave called "baptism". This is exactly what Peter told the first converts on the day of Pentecost: Acts 2:38 - Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Let me encourage you today to become apart of Jesus' kingdom and you will travel the remainder of your days as a "Blessed" person. That my friend is good news! Think About This: Knowledge knows a fact. Wisdom knows what to do with that fact. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 1 Sam. 17:37 - And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." NASU
In the above passage, David is talking with King Saul about going out to fight Goliath. David was outraged by what he heard Goliath say to the Army of God. He makes it very clear God has delivered him before when he fought a lion and a bear. He now proclaims very emphatically his belief in God and God will deliver him from Goliath. I am pretty sure we all know the story's outcome. David goes out and he defeats Goliath, but it all started with David's faith in God's deliverance and protection.
1 Sam. 26.24 - Now behold, as your life was highly valued in my sight this day, so may my life be highly valued in the sight of the Lord, and may He deliver me from all distress." King Saul becomes jealous of David and tries unsuccessfully to kill him. One night as David was being hunted by King Saul David sneaks into Saul's camp while the king was sleeping and stole his spear and water jug. Once he is safely outside the camp he yells and wakes up the king and his men. He lets Saul know if he had wanted to he could have killed him minutes ago. The reason David didn't kill the king was he highly valued his life. He finishes his communication with the king by saying, "…so may my life be highly valued in the sight of the Lord, and may He deliver me from all distress." It has been years since David killed Goliath and he is still displaying his faith and trust in God here in his communication with king Saul when he says, "and may He (The Lord) deliver me from all distress."
1 Sam. 27:1 - Then David said to himself, "Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand." Really! Are you kidding me? Is this the same David that went after Goliath, killed him because he knew God would deliver him, and now he is afraid of King Saul? What is going on in David's life? David was losing his trust in God's protection and starting to fear for the safety of his life. He had grown weary from the trials of life. He forgot God had Samuel anoint him as the next king after Saul. This is a clear sign your faith is faltering when you are losing your trust in God's protection and you're forgetting His promises. What is the solution to this problem? The solution is doing what David did when going to fight Goliath remember what God has already done for you. David remembered the victories over the lion and the bear. You must remember the victories God has already given you and He will deliver you as He has done in the past. God is FAITHFUL. You must continue to read His Word. Think About This: God promises a safe landing but not a calm voyage. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 1 Samuel 14:6 - Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, "Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the Lord will work for us, for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few." NASB
Jonathan is a man of tremendous faith. He and his armor-bearer are alone as they go out to engage the enemy in a skirmish. He believes God is able to conquer the Philistines with the two of them as well as if they were joined by 100 soldiers or more.
If you don't have a mission I would like to ask you to join me with this mission. Gal 6:10 - So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. Let's make it our mission in life to go about doing good to all people and especially to those who believe in or have faith in God. What I watch on the nightly news is people doing evil to other people. What was done to Justice Kavanaugh was a very sad picture of how evil people can be and I am concerned it is only going to get worse. So my solution is 2,000 years old and it was given to us by the Holy Spirit when He had the apostle Paul inform us we should "do good to all people." I pray you will ask God daily, to use you, to do good to someone you meet every day of the remainder of your life. It has been said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (and women) to do nothing." I know those of you reading these Pump Ups are good men and women so I exhort you to do good to someone today and help us conquer evil. Think On These: There is no limit to the amount of good a man or woman can do if he/she doesn't care who gets the credit. People seldom get dizzy spells from doing good turns. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Mk 16:2-4 - Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" 4 Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. NASU
These three women, Mary, Mary, and Salome, did not know how they were going to move the extremely large stone, but they didn't let that stop them from walking to the tomb. I have been in way too many meetings where the people were frozen with fear to do anything because according to them they didn't have all the answers. They couldn't possibly be expected to make a rational decision without first investigating this issue. Mary, Mary and Salome had no idea how they were going to move the extremely large stone but that was not going to stop them from going to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus.
Let me say it this way, "They had faith and God rewarded their faith by sending an angel to remove the stone."
Or are you like these three ladies? They had a partial plan. They waited until the Sabbath was over and then they bought the spices they would need to anoint Jesus' body. They then travel to the tomb with the spices and were going to anoint His body except there was one problem. He wasn't there. He had resurrected. They met an angel but didn't even know it. I wonder how many times we humans have met angels and didn't recognize them (Hebrews 13:2 - Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.)? So what about your faith? Do you have a desire, a passion and a partial plan and as far as you are concerned that is enough. Have you launched out on your journey? When you meet obstacles do you believe God will help you move them out of your way? If so that my friends is faith. You don't have all the answers but you trust in God. You believe you will succeed and so you launch out from shore. May you enjoy your journey and may every obstacle you encounter only strengthen your faith. Think On These: Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see. Faith with works is a Force. Faith without works is a farce. In all relationships of life, faith is worthless unless it leads to action. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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