Signing Off!

Good Morning! Gen 37:27 Come lets sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood. We all know the story of Joseph and His brothers selling him into slavery. And how that must have really torn Joseph apart for that. Well I have thought and prayed hard on this. And because of my selfishness and love for money I too have done something to a brother of mine. And even though this brother has forgiven me, like Joseph did his. I cannot forgive myself at this time. As of today I will no longer be sending the Views of a Sinner text or emails. I cannot preach Jesus to you all when I am not truly living it myself. I thank you all for all the years you have let me share Him with you and I pray that you find some Daily Devotional that will help you stay walking the narrow road. As for me I have to take a Break from this and get myself back on track with Him. Which means concentrating more on just me and Him and not worrying about getting this out every morning. It has been almost 5 years since I started this and they have been good. Thank You for letting me share Jesus with you and letting me into your lives a little. Something I always tell my recovering buddies is that we fall sometimes, but what it all comes down to, is do we stay there? Or do we pick ourselves up dust ourselves off and get back on the road. And that is what I'm doing at this point in my life. Some Dusting. So once again Thank You for letting me come into your lives a little each day. And Please Keep on Keeping on with Jesus and His Word. I will always Harp on this. Jesus is the Way,the Truth, and the Light and none of us will get to the Father except through Him. HABD! Your Brother in Christ. Daniel D.

Who Really Rules?

Good Morning! Psalm 35:17-18 O Lord how long will you look on! Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions. I will give thanks in great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you. Will God rescue us from trouble? When we ask for His help, and He doesn't seem to answer, the pressure cooker we're in may steam up our faith, too. Like the psalmist, we may question if God will come to our aid before we're cooked. In such a situation, we're likely to promise God anything, if He'll just show up on time. But God can't be manipulated. Tell Him you'll give Him half your income if He gets you out of this, and He's not foolish enough to believe it. He can't be forced into doing your will, simply because you're feeling uncomfortable. He may even have you in that pressure cooker for a reason. David didn't promise God half his kingdom when he needed help. He offered something that was probably much more valuable, his praise. God values our attitude toward Him much more than earthly thing. David promised God praise because he knew God would come through for Him, not because he planned to manipulate his Lord. Past experience had shown David that God could be counted on if he brought his problems before the King of Kings. When you need help, bring every concern before your Lord. Like David, you may explain every hurt that has knifed into your heart. Then trust that God will come through for you, and tell Him how glad that will make you. But don't put the pressure on the King, because it is He who rules over you, not the other way around. HABD?

Change of Mind!

Good Morning! Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. I don't know why but this Vs always makes me think of an office gossip fest. Maybe its because gossip is so clearly not something God engages in, or because gossip is so hard to stop in its tracks. Perhaps it's also because the mentality that promotes it is so difficult to change, and it does so much damage to both the gossiper and the one talked about. But when I think of God's thought and mine, its easy to imagine I'm naturally about as mentally delightful to God as a gossip fest. I continually fall short of what I should be. Not only can my speech be doubtful, but the actions that result from it can be far from Godly. I'm sure many of us have experienced the same weakness. If God had left us in that situation, we'd be utterly miserable. Even our best efforts at change fail easily, no matter how much we want to be different. But God offers us His Spirit, not just as an encouragement, but as a heart changer. He enters into us and begins to redesign that gossiping speech. Suddenly the things that come out of our mouths are truthful, kind, and fair. No longer do they reflect the blackness that painted our hearts, but the rainbow colors of His blessings. Our ways, to become His. I'm glad God's thoughts and ways are different from mine. Without that difference, I'd be stuck in the muck and mire of my own thoughts, without escape. But today, I'm free to dwell in His thoughts and ways. Thank God today that He gives us that freedom! To Change our Minds and our ways of thinking. HABD!

Having Full Joy

Good Morning! John 15:10-11 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Fathers commands and remain in hi love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Overflowing joy! We tend to connect that with a feeling of freedom. When a wonderful, unusual event occurs or when we are released from a burden or a problem or maybe a fear. This is how we respond. But do we also associate joy with obedience to God? Maybe not as often. Yet the "this" Jesus talked about in the above verse was the obedience that caused the disciples to remain in His love. You can''t separate Christian love, obedience, and joy. They work together to describe Gods Kingdom to us. As long as we set our ideas above Gods and don't take His commands seriously enough to obey them, we won't feel the intense joy of knowing Him deeply. Separation occurs, because we will not submit to Him. We tacitly said we don't believe God knows what He's talking about in His Word. And He takes that very personally. As long as we intentionally disobey God, we cannot experience full joy. But those who seek to do His will, though they don't achieve it perfectly, experience an increasingly profound relationship with Him. God knows our weaknesses and does not require perfection before He communes with us. But He desires that we commit ourselves to Him and follow His Word. When we consistently walk with Him, He connects with us and aids us living out His Word. The more we live for Him, the more our joy communicates itself to the world, just as God ordained. Finally, in heaven, we'll become completely joyous, as we meet with the God we have trusted so long. As our delight in our Redeemer pours from us, we'll sing His praises eternally. HABD!

Heading for High Places

Good Morning! Habakkuk 3:18-19Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds feet, And makes me walk on my high places. Though he waited for an invasion of his country, Habakkuk the prophet still rejoiced. Fears of the damage his enemies could do could not deter him from trusting in the one who saves. This is something I have noticed in myself here of late. Is that I do not put all my trust in God when it comes to trouble in my life. Like Habakkuk, we need not despair in danger or trouble. No matter what our situation, we're called on to exult in God. That doesn't mean we nearly lose our minds and declare wickedness good. But like the prophet, no matter how bad the situation around us, we can rejoice in the One who has saved us. We too, can visit the high, protected places by trusting our Savior. How many of us when problems arise in our lives think about praising God at that time. Probably not many of us. But you see when we can do that, when we praise Him for all the things in our lives, that is when we can look at our problems with a different perspective. Because God has the power to lift us up. To lift us out of that despair and discouragement. He gives us Hind feet to climb the mountain of problems in our lives, and look down on them from a Higher Place. A place where He is there with us. Some one told me the other day, and it made so much sense when He said it. Our lives are not about us, they are about Jesus Christ. And when we put our trust in Him, Our Savior there is no Condemnation. So today if you are having problems or troubles in your life. Look to Him, cause He can take you High above them all. HABD!

Always God Powered!

Good Morning! 2Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Have you had a day when you felt you were an awful Christian. Believe me I have had a few of late. Maybe you thought you'd let God down so much that He'd never want to connect with you again. As embarrassment covered you, you didn't feel as if you could honestly call yourself a Christian anymore. On that kind of spectacularly bad day, take heart. God has given you everything you need to be righteous, and isn't planning on taking it away. He isn't looking to get rid of you or demand your resignation as a Christian. Maybe that's because He didn't expect you to be perfect on your own in the first place. He promised to give you all that you needed to please Him, but not simply through your own effort. We have all we need for the godly life because God is glorious and good, not because we are. We're not trying to become little gods, but to live daily in the power of His Spirit, which He's already given to us. Because His Spirit fills our souls, we can be cleansed, redirected, and serve our Lord. So the next time you have a bad day, remember, you're not doing this in your power, but His. Ask Him to cleanse you of all sin, show you the way you need to go, and start walking. Then remember you're heading toward His glory and goodness. And that when you are doing that nothing can stop you. HABD!

Laboring for all the wrong reasons!

Good Morning Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.You know as Christians some of us believe that work was brought on by sin and that it is a disciplinary action brought on by God for the sin of Adam and Eve. This is a very mistaken belief that can ruin the way we look at doing work on a day to day basis. In Gen 1:26 God said, "Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. Well weather you know it or not God is a laborer, He is a worker! After all, look at all the things He has created, even us. (Vs 27) and in Vs 28 He commissioned us to work for Him. To have dominion over all living things on earth. So you see we had a job to do long before sin ever came into the picture. In Colossians 3:23 Paul tells us, What ever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working unto the Lord, not for men. My mom used to tell me that all the time, and still does today. See I think that is where we all miss the point of Labor. Cause I don't know about you, but alot of times, wait let me rephrase that. Most of the time I don't want to go to work. Because it is a chore! So for me today on this Labor Day instead of looking at it as a day off we need to look at it as a day to do something for the Lord. After all I don't think He has gotten a day off since that 1 He rested on way back when. Cause once we sinned, we needed Him all the time from there on out. So today join me in changing our attitudes about working. God built the House you live in, and I'm not talking about the one with the roof over your head. But the one you walk around in. So lets use them to work and glorify Him everyday. When we do that we will never labor in vain! HABD!

Always Blessed!

Good Morning! Ecclesiastes 7:14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider; God has made one as well as the other. Therefor a man cannot discover anything about his future. My mom always keeps reminding me that God can always make Good from bad. I am one of those people that always gets freaked out when all kinds of stuff starts happening in my life. Like right now my car is broke down, and my girlfriends car is broke down, so my mom was kind enough to loan me her Van. Well then on the way to work yesterday her Serpentine Belt on the Van broke. I went Crazy! Well all my mom kept telling me is settle down, your not trusting in the Lord. Well to make a long story short the belt got fixed and at the same time her Van got checked out because she is taking a trip in Oct, so it was all good. And it is all good, cause it made me realize that no matter what is going on in my life Good or Bad! God has a role in it. And as long as I am trusting in Him and not mySELF, things will work out for the best. (Rom 8:28) In Phillip 4:12-13 Paul tells us, I know what it is to be in need, I know what it is to have plenty. I HAVE LEARNED TO BE CONTENT in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. What I am trying to say today is we Christians always feel blessed when all the Good things are happening in our lives, but why don't we feel that when we are going through some bad. Cause like my mom says, God can even use the Bad for Good. So today if life isn't all you think it should be. Look to Jesus, thank him for the Good things in your life, then thank him for the bad. Cause you never know when He is going to take them and make them another Blessing. HABD!

The Meaning of Grace!

Good Morning! Sorry about yesterday, but I'm having car problems. Some of you might say, This might be a consequence of the sin I committed. Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that Grace may increase. Oh! And by the way thank you all for your comments and support on my text the other day. Everyone was so supportive. Except for some who I think that just because they have a Theology degree they know exactly what the Bible is telling us. But all I can go by is what the Word and Spirit tells my heart when I read it. And today I'm going to tell you what the Meaning of Grace is to me. The other day I used the Vs about he who has no sin cast the first stone. And it was brought to my attention what Jesus said to the woman who committed Adultery later. He said, Go and sin no more! Now Jesus being God, had to know this woman would NEVER sin again. If this was so He could tell us all not to sin again and He would have never had to go to the Cross. But that is the problem, we are sinners everyday in Thought, Word and Deed. Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying that we can deliberately just go around living our lives in sin and not face consequences for them. But that same Grace that forgives me of them, is the same Grace that helps me get through them. In 1John 2:12 He tells us, I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name. It doesn't say some of your sins, or these ones here are, but those there aren't. It says all. I believe just as Jesus told that woman "Go sin no more!" He tells us that everyday. But He knows we can't live up to it. Meaning of Grace: And that is where Grace and Mercy step in. Sometimes I think to much Theology is not a good thing. We miss the SIMPLE Truths behind Gods Word and Gods Love for us. And it can make us sin by being Judgemental. Because today I want to share the Real meaning of Grace. Alot of you never knew me when I was using or living that lifestyle. And some of you do and where worse than I was. So you know where I am coming from. But let me tell you, I have done some things in my life that some of you could not even think about doing. I have done things in my life that if I told some of you, you may not act it at first, but afterwards you would probably try and avoid me where ever we were. And some of those things some people have still never forgiven me. Maybe you have some things like that. But let me tell you one thing I do know is God forgives me. In Heb 8:12 He says, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." and here's one from 1John 3:20 Whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything. My heart was condemning me for what I had done, but God is telling me His Grace is bigger than that, and that guilt has no room there. So today I feel good because of Gods Grace because He knows my heart and He knows I am striving to do the right thing in His eyes. So today if you can go and sin no more. My hat is off to you. And I hope your not deceiving yourself by thinking you can. Me! I can only do my best not to. But when I do and you should grab a hold of this concept and truth. When we do sin, Gods Grace and Mercy is there. It came in the form of a man named Jesus Christ. And He came not to condemn us but to save us. If you notice Grace and Guilt both start with the same letter. Which one do you want to feel today? HABD!