Well Done - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Well Done

- Now Think On This

by Steve Martin

"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'” Matthew 25:21 NASB


I like my steak medium well done, the way they do it at the Longhorn restaurants in Charlotte, NC (and elsewhere I am sure.) Not too dry, not too bloody, but just right. At least for my taste buds.

But that is not what this message is about. I thought I’d get your attention, for many of you like steak! Especially the beef from Iowa, where I grew up, for the cattle there are corn fed to get them real juicy.


This message is about being faithful, walking the walk we are called to as believers, and finishing the tasks the Lord has assigned for each one of us. He purposely created you and I for a specific work here on this planet – one in which the nations will know that He is the Lord, and the Lover of their souls. He always has, and continues to, look for a people who will believe in His ways, walk on His paths, and fulfill the Great Commission to take the Gospel, the Good News, to the lost and dying around us. That is His heart, and it has become mine. I hope yours too.

When my time has been completed here, give it 60, 70 or more years, I want to hear the words of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, say to me when I stand before His heavenly throne, “Excellent! You are a good and trustworthy servant. You have been faithful with a small amount, so I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and join in your master’s happiness!” Matt. 25:21, CJB (Complete Jewish Bible).

Without a vision, or where there is no revelation or prophetic purpose, Scripture says the people perish (Prov. 29:18). Being faithful in what we do requires the impartation of the Lord’s desires in our hearts, whereby His Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) gives us the goal and the objective in our living. If serving ourselves and our own pleasures has become our sought after achievement, our souls will become unfilled, having not what we have been created to do.

But knowing the purpose of our placement in the Body of Christ, and accomplishing the work the Lord has entrusted and gifted us with - be it service in the realm of business, education, media, government, family, religion or arts and entertainment - does bring the joy and happiness that is sought by everyone. It is not without much difficulty, temptation and trials, but it will bring the satisfaction that we have done that which we have been apprehended to do.

As Paul himself says, as our example and for our inspiration, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV

We all like appreciation, rewards, and being given the prize at the end of the contest or achievement accomplished. Being faithful to complete it to the finish line, the end of the road, is worth the fighting for and pressing on to that goal. To hear our Master say to us, once our lives here have completed their given days, will be worth the effort it has taken.

Keep pressing on to the end. Know your calling, do what it takes to be faithful in the daily walk, and look with hearts full of hope and longing for that day when He will say to you, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Love For His People. Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This #153 “Well Done” by Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (05.28.14) Wednesday at 6:10 pm in Charlotte, NC.

Pick Me - Overcoming Rejection & Disappointment - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Pick Me
- Overcoming Rejection 
& Disappointment 

- Now Think On This
by Steve Martin

“You did not choose Me, I chose you; and I have commissioned you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that whatever you ask from the Father in My name He may give you.” John 15:16 CJB (Complete Jewish Bible CJB)


When it came time to pick teams for the grade school lunch time recess kick ball game, I enjoyed taking the ones the other team didn't want. And then beating them with a team of "rejects."

What others saw as being no good at playing ball, I liked to take those unchosen guys and girls and win the game, just by the sheer determination we had, if not because of natural talent. We didn't win all the time, but enough to gain some admiration from the opposing players, and the satisfaction of taking what others had rejected and proving them wrong.

In many ways the challenge of “getting picked or not getting picked” goes on throughout our lives. Even as an adult, I've been on the receiving end of "We don't need you," or "Sorry, but you don't have the qualifications." It hurts. Being rejected goes deep into our souls and spirits. It makes you feel like giving up in the pursuits you have been longing for. You sometimes wonder, "What is it going to take, Lord? When will I get picked?"

At times I don't have the answer, or can't seem to hear what I long to hear from the Lord when rejection occurs. The temptation is to just want to stop and say, “What is the use in trying?” We can reach a point where it is hard to continue believing it really will happen as you had dreamed, hoped, or seriously thought that it would.

So what do you do? Run from the Lord? Run to the Lord? Hide in shame because you once were convinced something wouldn't happen again, but then it did. Then you are not sure if it will ever have the promised fulfillment. Resisting bitterness at that point also becomes a challenge.

Hoping in people or an upcoming event, even trusting in one’s heart desires can't always be counted on. There are just too many circumstances that are out of our control, or so it seems to be. Thus disappointments, rejection and unfulfilled promises will continue to happen. They happened to Jesus - right down to His crucifixion.

David knew the rejection of family, in regards to his own father and brothers. He was likely sent to watch the sheep to keep out of their way. When all the others went to the battle front, it was David who had to stay behind, and do what was a meaningless job to others, a lowly shepherd, especially when one has aspirations of greater roles.

In Psalm 27:7-14, David wrote, “Listen, God, I'm calling at the top of my lungs: "Be good to me! Answer me!" When my heart whispered, "Seek God," my whole being replied, "I'm seeking him!" Don't hide from me now!

You've always been right there for me; don't turn your back on me now. Don't throw me out, don't abandon me; you've always kept the door open. My father and mother walked out and left me, but God took me in.

Point me down your highway, God; direct me along a well-lighted street; show my enemies whose side you're on. Don't throw me to the dogs, those liars who are out to get me, filling the air with their threats.

I'm sure now I'll see God's goodness in the exuberant earth. Stay with God! Take heart. Don't quit. I'll say it again: Stay with God.” (THE MESSAGE)

Throughout Scripture there are words that we must rely on. We need to learn to run to Him, for He is the Solid Rock. "My times are in Thy hands." (Psalm 31:15 NASB) It is a verse I have had to hold onto as truth often, when all else seems to be otherwise.

The Lord knows our pain. He understands the doubts and fears we face. He calls us to Himself, to help give us understanding when these times of rejection and disappointment come to each of us. They will come, but He does respond.

Disappointing experiences will pass. Another day will bring new understanding and opportunities to replace what was dreamed about. It doesn't make it any easier when we are in the midst of it, but knowing He will work it out, in His perfect timing, will help get us to the next day, and beyond.

If rejected, if disappointed, if seeing the promise unfilled...call on His Name, the Name of Jesus, Yeshua. Keep the hope He gives within, and move on with the overcoming spirit He has given to comfort us in the daily walk.

I had to again look to Him, even today, to overcome disappointment and that which I saw as rejection. Thankfully He was there in my time of need. I was able to stand and overcome the disappointment and rejection.

As the Scripture at the beginning of this message confirms, the Lord God has chosen us; He Himself has picked us to be His children. What confidence and faith for the future we can have because of this. When the times come that bring doubt, discouragement and rejection, we can stand on His Word. He has picked you and me, and He promised to see us through to the end.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Love For His People. Inc.

  

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This #152 “Pick Me” by Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (05.19.14) Monday at 8:40 pm in Charlotte, NC.

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on our newest website: Now Think On This

Pursue Me - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Pursue Me

- Now Think On This

by Steve Martin

“But you, as a man of God, flee from these things; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you testified so well to your faith before many witnesses. I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before the Messiah Yeshua, who in his witness to Pontius Pilate gave the same good testimony, to obey your commission spotlessly and irreproachably until our Lord Yeshua the Messiah appears.” 1 Timothy 6:11-14  (Complete Jewish Bible CJB)

I woke up hearing His words, “Pursue Me.”

Laurie and I had been in Denver, Colorado for three days, spending time with our new good friends Morris and Carol Ruddick. (See note below.) We were pursing the next step in our journey with the Lord, and for several months had looked forward to this connection the Lord had begun to establish with them.

Knowing that our hearts are hard after His, Laurie and I were seeking to know more fully His will - that of the One Who knows fully His will for us. Having walked as best we knew how, thus far in our lives together these past 37 years, we have been made ready for the next step on the journey. Our hearts and lives have been prepared, with a strong foundation having been built, to allow Him to position ourselves for His ongoing eternal plans and purposes. And thus the first trip to Denver.

In seeking the Lord along the upward climb on the mountain path, we have seen Him direct our steps along the way. Having made geographical moves from Iowa, to Illinois, to Michigan, to southern Florida, and now having spent these past 20 years in Charlotte, NC, we have seen His faithfulness throughout those years. He has brought us to the point where we are believing Him to take us on to the next assignment.

His heart for the nations has been more solidified in ours for His people in the nations. To bring His Good News, beginning with salvation through His only Son Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, has become our desire. Blessing the families in the nations with His love, as He has blessed ours, is the calling we have received and accepted.

Hearing His voice along the way has been vital. Seeing the signs He gives us is always encouraging. Knowing His hand is upon us has kept us in pursuit of Him.

None of us knows the days that lie ahead. But knowing the God of Israel, the Almighty Creator personally as Father, is all we need. We have been known by Him, and through His grace we have come to know Him and His ways.

My encouragement for you today is to pursue Him. Call upon the Name of the Lord and you will be heard. His response to you, from His heart of compassion and courage, will lead you in the way you are to go; take you through the mine field of the enemy of our souls, and bring you to the mountain top view from His eternal window. From that vantage point you will see the bigger world picture as He sees it.

“Pursue Me” is what we are hearing. Today we will do so. I hope you do too.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Love For His People. Inc.

My latest book, MOUNTAIN TOP VIEW" 

will be available late May, 2014.

 Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This #151 “Pursue Me” by Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (05.18.14) Sunday at 6:40am in Denver, CO.

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on our newest website: Now Think On This

Note: Morris Ruddick is the author of six books, at last count. His ongoing theme is to teach others in the nations on how to build godly businesses, while understanding the Joseph-Daniel leadership concept, and based on the Jewish community model. They are all available on Amazon.com.

Morris & Carol Ruddick

Denver, CO May 17, 2014

The Joseph-Daniel Calling by Morris E. Ruddick (Jul 8, 2003)



The Heart of a King by Morris E. Ruddick (Jan 27, 2010)



LEADERSHIP BY ANOINTING: The Jewish Strategy and Biblical Model for Leadership by Morris E. Ruddick (Apr 30, 2014)




Righteous Power in a Corrupt World by Morris E. Ruddick (Oct 23, 2012)



God's Economy, Israel and the Nations by Morris Ruddick (Oct 28, 2004)



SOMETHING MORE by Morris E. Ruddick (Sep 22, 2010)

Let It Be? - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Let It Be?

- Now Think On This

by Steve Martin

“For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Romans 1:24 NAS


When enough is enough, one has to start pushing back, or even you yourself will start believing that what is being said is the truth. If any agenda is pushed far enough, what you once thought and believed to be right will soon become wrong, and what was wrong will then become what is “right.”

Wrong.

By adding little lies upon another little lie, in time you yourself may start agreeing with the ones who have spoken the longest, and the loudest. Step by step, what was once wrong has now become the new norm, and what was truth is said to not really have been the truth after all.

There are agendas being pushed forward in our society which makes it look like “their way is THE way”. What we began hearing back years ago, if even so softly then, has now decades later been brought to the forefront. The local and national media, proponents of a certain lifestyle, have said it long enough, and pushed far enough, where today even those we would have looked to, to be proponents of truth, whether in the church, education, politics or sports, no longer should be counted on for speaking the truth. For they themselves have succeeded in telling us that “this is OK, this is the norm, this is the way it is, so let it be. Just let it be.” They even celebrate and rejoice that “freedom” has now come.

I am not going to “let it be.”

If we stand by and just let it be, that which we know as truth, what we still believe as truth in the Lord’s Word, which is Truth - it will be completely thrown out, trampled down, and ridiculed to the point where those who stand for the Truth will find themselves standing alone. The evil agenda of the demonic forces will have succeeded in deceiving the mass population from the truth. In many cases they already have.

Watching the current broadcast news, listening to the voices in the secular workplace, hearing of that being pushed in the school system, if ever so subtle, has taken us down the road far enough to have given us what was written about in the Bible.
         
“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are  gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:21-32 NASU

Truth cannot be written off because people say it no longer is, or have even denied that there was any to begin with. What the Lord God Almighty has written, our Creator, cannot and will not be denied, no matter who say it has, or who has pushed it out of the way. The Lord will have His final say in all this.

“Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.” 2 Thess. 2:8-12 NASU

We must stand for the truth. We must not sit back and let our generation, nor our children’s generation, accept that “whatever will be will be”, and that it is OK for each to do as they feel is OK in their eyes.

There is a godly standard. There is a strong foundation of truth to stand on, that will not be changed. There is a time when we must say the “Let it be” words are not what it is to be.

Now is that time.

Steve Martin

Love For His People. Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This #150 “Let It Be?” by Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (05.13.14) Tuesday at 5:15am in Charlotte, NC.

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on our newest website: Now Think On This

What if… you are not raptured out first? - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

What if…

you are not raptured out first?

- Now Think On This

by Steve Martin

 “…First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn." Matthew 13:30 NAS


I have something for you to think about, just in case it is true.

How would you live today if you believed you were going to leave this planet tomorrow? Would you sit in your comfy chair and wait out the next 24 hours? Would you run to the nearest movie and watch one more action thriller, or play the DVR and view the make-believe TV fairy tale?

Would you consider writing a letter to a loved one, advising them of things to be on the lookout for, so they wouldn’t possibly make the same mistakes you made while living? Would you care about those who didn’t know what you know?

What you do, or how you respond and act while living, certainly may depend on your perception of what has been written, or has been spoken, into your life. We typically do that which we believe, whether we realize it or not. That is the way it is.

If the enemy of our soul wanted to deceive us, and spread a well-conceived thought that we would escape most of the end of the age’s events because we were getting out before it all happened, how would we respond to what is daily happening? Our care level would be very low, for we would act upon the belief that we wouldn’t be here anyway to experience it, along with those unfortunate ones who will.

What if the words Jesus (Yeshua) spoke to His disciples, about the end of the age, would occur as simply as He said they would, and not be twisted by preachers and teachers centuries later, arriving at conclusions He didn’t actually say?

Let’s look at one passage of Scripture, and just read it for what Jesus does say.

“Yeshua put before them another parable. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, then went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads of grain, the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’
He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants asked him, ‘Then do you want us to go and pull them up?’

But he said, ‘No, because if you pull up the weeds, you might uproot some of the wheat at the same time. Let them both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest-time I will tell the reapers to collect the weeds first and tie them in bundles to be burned, but to gather the wheat into my barn.’” Matthew 13:24-30 CJB (Complete Jewish Bible)

If you read it as simply as I do, then you too just read, “collect the weeds first”, right? But I thought the “wheat” was gathered first, or so we all have been taught as happening first, as being the truth.

So if, as Yeshua said, the weeds are taken out of the field first, doesn’t that imply that the wheat would be harvested, or taken out, afterwards? Sounds like that to me, if I don’t try to twist it around another way.
Sure, this is just one passage. Granted many others have been, and still are, used to “prove” we are going to be “raptured” (a word not even in the Bible) before the tribulation at the harvest time.

Of course there are many pre-trib, mid-trib and post-trib theorists who have expounded on Scriptures in the Old and New Testaments, teaching what they believe is the way it will be. I tend to take Yeshua’s word simply at His word.

What if the devil wanted to use all this confusion to get believers to just sit by and wait for the world to go to hell, because the rapture will occur to take us out beforehand anyway? He would have a field day, now wouldn’t he?

But what if we just took Jesus at HIS word, and do as He spoke to do, with one of His last commands, to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19, NKJV

Should not we take a different approach, that rather than waiting for the escape button to be pushed from heaven, taking us out while the rest are “Left Behind”, that we aggressively go on the offensive, obey Yeshua’s command, and take the Gospel message of discipleship to all the nations, knowing He will be with us “even to the end of the age”?

I think so, and thus am acting on HIS word.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People. Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This #149 “What if…raputred” by Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (05.11.14) Sunday at 7:45am in Charlotte, NC.

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on our newest website: Now Think On This

Burdens Lifted - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Burdens Lifted

- Now Think On This

by Steve Martin

"In fact, God wants to help you out of your troubles. He wants to take away your burdens that are crushing you. He wants to load your table with plenty of food.” Job 36:16

In 2010 I made my first trip to India. I say my first because I expect the Lord to take me back there soon again. The people of Hyderabad, Kamman and Muerchela touched my heart, as the Lord Yeshua had taken me there to touch theirs with His love for His people.

Traveling down the road with my good friend John Ebenezer, a pastor on the never-ending go, I was amazed at the load people would carry on their heads and back. They slowly walked along the side of the road, heading to their daily destination as they had done so many times before. From my vantage point the weight they carried seemed overbearing on their frail bodies.  It was a heavy burden to carry, and I wondered how they could do it day after day.

In the southeastern India big city of Hyderabad, having well over sixteen million inhabitants, we had stopped at a local store to get some provision for the evening meeting. Out front of the intended destination, wearing a sarai, a full colorful dress, a woman was carrying sand bags to the one man mixing cement for the construction job they had. I was able to capture a few shots with my Canon camera, as I watched in amazement as she quietly worked in the hot sun. What a picture it was, both in the natural and the spiritual. What a burden she had.

Carrying a heavy load is mentioned several times in the Word of God. The Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh, inspired the writers to share of the day to day efforts put forth by people, to simply get daily bread. We can read of the daily routine – getting up in the morning early hours, sweating through the day in the hot sun, and going back home to rest as best one can for the next day. And then only to do it all over again. As it is today for many in the nations’ populations.

The burdens we tend to carry weigh us down, in spirit, soul and body. The conflicts we experience in relationships; the stress we have in constantly carrying concern for getting the bills paid, raising the kids, or the sickness that drags on, drains our emotions and saps the life out of us. And then we go through it again the next day.

This reality in life deeply effects both our natural and spiritual state. Sometimes it can be so overwhelming that we want to be as Job’s wife spoke to him in Job 2:9-10, “Why do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God, and die!” But he answered her, “You’re talking like a low-class woman! Are we to receive the good at God’s hands but reject the bad?” CJB

As I observe people around me on the job, stress levels at a peak, or those walking the streets, while constantly on the go, I find myself drawing near to the Lord, pressing in to experience more of His care, for them and myself. Resting in His peace, finding the shalom He has given, and trusting in the promise to cover us in His grace, puts my heart at ease. Just knowing He understands and provides for everything we need lifts the heavy burden we often feel we have to carry alone.

Having that peace in our heart, that our burdens don’t have to rest squarely on our shoulders, but on His, gives you and I the break we need. As we seek Him, in order to know of His love, to do His will, and walk in His grace and provision, we experience the sense of contentment and assurance He alone provides. He is there to carry us along, and the burdens we have.

We are not called to bear it alone. Jesus, Yeshua, has made a way for us to keep our eyes fixed on Him, and to rest in His Almighty love. As we turn to Him, giving Him once again the concerns that want to load us down, we can find that His load is light.

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 NASU

You don’t have to carry that heavy daily load by yourself. He has made a way, and we are to walk in it. Call upon Him today.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People. Inc.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This #148 “Burdens Lifted” by Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (05.07.14) Wednesday at 5:00 am in Charlotte, NC.

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog.

When God Speaks - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

When God Speaks

- Now Think On This

by Steve Martin

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8 NAS

What if God said something to you today, yes even today, that might totally catch you off guard? Out of the blue comes that still, small voice speaking into your spirit. You had no expectancy. No clue. No advance warning. He just spoke.

Has it happened before? Well, let’s see. Saul on the way to Damascus? Moses and the burning bush in the desert? Maybe a little more dramatic for most of us, but it happened.

So let’s start with something more down to “our level.”

During the night, while sound asleep, a dream occurs. Normally you don’t remember your dreams, or if you do, you put it off as just another thought that just so happened to occur during the hours of 3 am - 5 am and you can only remember a few details about it.

But you do remember part of the dream where there was movement going on in your life, and with that night time thought it actually put an expectation of something good coming your way. Was it God? Was He speaking to you, catching you when you didn’t have the other 100 thoughts running through your stressed mind? Maybe so. It has happened. It will happen.

Many people are hesitate in listening to God - they are afraid He will say to them, “Go to Africa.” Or maybe this, “Share your testimony with Rachel,” whom you already know would never want to know of it anyway, or so you have already told yourself many times already when the thought came.

God is speaking today. He didn’t quit speaking and creating after the six days were done. He didn’t just sit down on a big heavenly lounge chair, letting the world go on by itself, from that point forward. He is actively involved in the matters of the nations, of the cities, of the lives of each individual, whether they want to recognize Him or not. His love over rules their lack of it.

The Lord is setting up His final plans and purposes for the redemption of the nations. After sending His Only Son Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, the first time, He has been preparing for His return. God the Father has been active in the lives of all through the centuries, revealing Himself in countless ways – through dreams, visions, His mighty acts of creation. Even through the many countless wars and unrest occurring on all the continents, God Almighty is continually trying to reach you and I. He is speaking.

And what if God spoke a directive to you today? It will be His attempt to further reveal His perfect plan, that He wants you to participate in. He is preparing for that coming movement just up the road, that is certainly coming, that you need to be involved in. Would you know of it? Would you act on it?

Would you respond as Isaiah did, when we read this, “And then I heard the voice of the Master:  “Whom shall I send?     Who will go for us?” I spoke up, “I’ll go. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8, The Message)

Would you say as Mary did, “Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me   just as you say.” (Luke 1:38, The Message)

In order for the Lord’s will to be done, there must be a people willing to hear and obey, to go when He says go; to walk where He says walk; to speak when He says speak. To move when He says move.

Many are weary with the life they are living, or the challenges they daily face. But as my good friend Morris Ruddick says, “There is something more.” He even wrote a book with the same title. Because there is.

Many of you are looking for an adventure, out of the routine, and have been prepared, ready to act upon the acts of God. I know am. 

I encourage you today to be listening, to be expecting, to be watching for that rhema word, that NOW action word from the Lord - for you. And then when God speaks…

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People. Inc.

  

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Go here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 

Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)

Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  

martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  

Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Blogs: Love For His People,   Now Think On This

Full website: Love For His People

YouTube: Love For His People Inc.

Now Think On This #147 “When God Speaks” by Steve Martin 

Date: In the year of our Lord 2014 (05.01.14) Thursday at 7:45am in Charlotte, NC.

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on our newest website: Now Think On This