Are You All Tangled Up? by Myra Boozer

The BIG fish seemed to be a death trap for Jonah, but it was a life preserver! "Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights," Jonah 1:17.

Sometimes the situations we find ourselves in seem hopeless, and we feel helpless. Don't despair! You may be all wrapped up and tangled up in the seaweeds of this world, but keep calling on Jesus. Call out with a heart of repentance and surrender to HIS will, He will hear you!

God is in control of every situation that touches your life. He knows your name. He can turn things around. He can move into the darkest crevice of your world and set things in motion that you never dreamed about. He can break every yoke that binds you!

He can bring about your "release" just like Jonah. You, too, can be cast out onto dry land, maybe a beach. Take notice, this is where many forget the long nights of agony, suffering, and total despair. This can be the time you forget the prayers of repentance and the promises you made to God while you were chained.

Desperation brings about many promises that end up on the "To Do List." The smell of the fresh air and seeing the daylight can cause a freed person to rise up in an attitude of, "I made it! I am strong! I am resilient! I will survive!”

Hold on, this new beginning of freedom is a place of opportunity to do what God asked you to do from the beginning. To Obey Him! Your release did not happen because of your own ability, but because of His great mercy and the fact that you received what "you didn't deserve." Your hope is not because of your strength but His and His alone. This new found freedom isn't to be taken for granted; it is the gift of God. Your new directions will NOT come from your intelligence, but because He knows the way you should take.

Trust in the Lord with your whole heart. Follow Him, and you will not become entangled with this world again.

Warning! If by chance you forget your promises, Jesus may stop reminding you and allow you to go the way you choose. Any path other than His path leads to destruction.

Lord Jesus, Open The Eyes Of Our Hearts!

Lord Jesus, I pray that you make us a blank slate today. That you begin anew to create the persons you want us to be. Remove from us the pride of accomplishments and successes of yesterday. Today is a new day, a new beginning, to fulfill and display Divine tasks fresh from the mind and heart of God.

Lord, remove from us the crushing weight of past failures and inadequacies. Help us to throw off the suffocating thoughts that paralyze our forward movement and hinder us from fulfilling your perfect work in us. Help us to be friends, neighbors, companions, servants, pastors, preachers, prophets, and intercessors. Help us to be faithful, loving, compassionate, gracious, holy, victorious, strong, reverent, thankful, supportive, consistent, anchored, resilient, humble, submissive, trusting, and obedient. And tomorrow, we will start all over again to make each day a new day in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!

John 9:10, “Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.” Open The Eyes Of Our Hearts, Lord! 

Are You Drifting? by Myra Boozer

Have you noticed how we drift into different ways of living? For example, some people just take life so slowly and easily and don't really want to go anywhere, happy where they are. While others are always in the fast lane with places to go and people to see. They are so busy having fun and accommodating their latest find in food or entertainment that they almost live in a whirlwind.

D. A. Carson said, "People DO NOT DRIFT toward holiness...Apart from grace-driven effort, people DO NOT gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord...We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it Faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation. We slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism. We slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated..."

Age makes a difference in our pursuit of life and what it offers, but I believe we have drifted until many don't know how to find God. Start where you are and surrender ALL to Him. Then, we must pursue HIM until He catches us, captivates and changes us into His image... no longer trapped by the worldly attractions and sounds... no longer drifting on the sea of time... But looking unto our Blessed Hope, who is coming to rescue us from this world and its alluring, deceptive ways. Are You Drifting?

(A ship that loses its propulsion capability flounders helplessly and is at the mercy of the winds and waves. Without the spiritual dynamic of Holy Spirit power, we will flounder helplessly at the mercy of the winds and waves of life.) 

The Ways Of Man Are Right In His Own Eyes!

Proverbs 21:2, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.”

I have noticed in my latter years that there is one thought that continues to present itself in my walk with God. “Live every day of your life with the end in mind.” Our vision of the end will invariably determine the subject of our focus on each and every day of our lives. With that in mind, I continue to reach for the Truth of God to envelope my soul and deliver me from this house of flesh.

Are you searching for the Truth, or are you looking for something that will fit your list of Religious principles? Solomon stated that every “man is right in his own eyes.” Our human tendency is to justify what we want. We want so badly to think that what we believe is the Truth; consequently, we try to make the Scriptures fit our lives. The correct approach is to make our lives fit the Scriptures. When we attempt to remake God’s standard to fit our ideals and values, we drastically diminish the power of God’s Word, limiting it to only what we receive and understand.

Is it the Truth because we comprehend it to be so? Truth is Truth regardless of whether we receive it or understand it. Truth is not based on our perception, acceptance, or denial. Truth is the very character of our Creator. God is Truth! And His character is revealed to us through the Scriptures and in the persons of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Jesus stated in John 14:6, “...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Jesus promised His disciples an Advocate to come after His departure and declared that Advocate to be the Spirit of Truth. John 16:13, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

If we want to understand Truth, we must cultivate a personal relationship with the one who is Truth. To receive and understand Truth is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, submit to His counsel, be obedient to His discipline, and walk in total surrender to Him. If we continue to walk in obedience and seek the revelation of God’s Word, we will move forward in Truth. (continued)

Jesus Will Make All Things New! by Myra Boozer

Revelation 21:5, “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”

Lord, may we cast off any and all distractions that keep us from focusing on You. Those things that devour our time, leaving us tattered and worn, even frazzled in our thinking. The things that pull us down into despair. May we discard them for today as you draw us into Your domain.

May we turn our thoughts to resting in YOU and your precious mercy, that You so graciously extend by Your right hand. May we sit in Your presence and be renewed, refreshed, and revived. May we feel the touch of Angel wings upon our faces as we measure the depth of Your unfailing love.

May we feel your gentle hand upon our cheek as you dry our tears. Yes, Lord, may we cast aside all that is pulling and draining our very souls. May we know without a doubt that you are taking care of every worry and every heartbreak, as we climb up into your lap and lay our heads on Your big shoulder. You are our Loving Father! May we never grow so wise in our thinking that we fail to remember we are a child, Your Child! We are Yours, Lord! May we never forget Your great Love for us! 

The Day Is Coming To A Close!

Luke 24:28, “And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. 29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.”

Jesus would have continued on His journey except that His disciples constrained (to cause a person to give in to pressure) Him to “abide with us.” Jesus’ disciples compelled Him to stay with them. As I read these words, I am drawn to the idea that they compelled Jesus to abide with them. The day was gone, and twilight was coming on. The end of the day had come, signaling the end of the day’s work.

We will soon come to the end of our day and the end of our work. The day is almost gone, and twilight is coming on. What we do for Christ, we must do it quickly. We must use the precious time He is giving us to finish His work. Jesus said of Himself in John 9:4, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” The night is upon us, and no one will work. The time for work will be over. Nothing can distract or detour us from the mission Christ has given us. Complete TRUST in the leading of the Holy Spirit is essential to our victory and salvation for all who will hear this message! The Day Is Far Spent! 

Be A Well Of Life! by Myra Boozer

Proverbs 10:12, "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins."

Hatred will continue to stir up strife. We must determine, by the Grace of God, NOT to be part of that group. People given over to hatred have become instigators who take pleasure in unrighteousness, stirring up much conflict. These are wolves who prey on the quiet, the shy, the passive, and sometimes insecure Christian. These wolves seem to become bolder and more aggressive as the days go by.

I pray, “God give us a voice to speak your TRUTH in love and never out of anger or frustration as the world is doing.” May we NEVER join the ranks of those who stir up strife in these Last Days. Why? Because its reward is never peaceful but full of conflict. Jesus didn't get defensive with those who came against Him, even to the point of killing Him. He is our great example of a peacemaker.

To be angry is not a sin, but to let that emotion rule is what Satan desires, especially in the lives of those who follow Christ. He desires to confuse, hurt, and eventually destroy you. We must be aware that Satan wants a foot in the door of our hearts.

Many are struggling to know how to defend the Word without being defensive or offensive. They are confused with all the chatter from the enemy, but have a great desire to defend what they believe to be Truth.

Lord, cover us in your righteous love and grace that the words we speak will be a light to someone's path and not a blinder to their vision of YOU. Transform us, Lord, into the people you created us to be, People of Courage, Hope, and Love speaking words of life to the lost.

Proverbs 10:11, "In the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked." Be A Well Of Life!