(3 Reasons Why You Have) No Excuse

Praise the Lord! It's been awhile since I've posted anything, actually it has been nearly two months and as the title of this post suggest I have no excuse and neither do you for not accomplishing what the Lord God has asked of you.

You may have to pause and ask yourself what has Jesus asked of me. Before you get carried away with the list of great exploits that God has called you to, missionary service, preaching, teaching and saving the nation start with this basic thing: after preaching for three days and feeding at the very least 5,000 men with five barley loaves and two fish Jesus crossed the sea to Capernum and began preaching again. He urged the men not to seek after meat that perishes but everlasting life and someone posed a question, "...What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them,This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent." John 6:28-29

Don't get it twisted God wants you to use your gifts to serve him but he doesn't need you to save one single solitary soul and until your spirit has been renewed he can't even use you. What he wants from you is simple, he wants you, all things were made by him and for him, Colossians 1:16

Yet you must be sanctified if you are going to be a tool for the Master to use. If Jesus is going to use to do anything then you must be a clean vessel. Here's where the plot thickens this is the part where damage ourselves, with little white lies, with quarrels, and idle speech but we have no excuse, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with temptation make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. " I Corinthians 10:13

Is it clear why you have no excuse for cussin' out the lady who stepped on your foot, or sneaking out to have cigarette because your boss is working on your last nerve, for talking about Brenda behind her back just because you don't like her?

1. You have no excuse because the situation, temptation, or trial that you are facing is not some original one that God manufactured just for you but is one that someone on this planet has experienced and has already overcome.

2. Though it may seem like you can't take it, like you're being squeezed by a vice grip the truth is you can take it. You may feel like if this kid doesn't jumping up and down on the bed I'm going to tear that backside up but you can make it with going berserk, wrap your head around this real good, this temptation is not more than you can bear and God is faithful.

3. There is a way out of this temptation that does not lead to sin. He has made a way of escape for you. This way, is Jesus Christ, he is the way the truth and the life. If he resides in you then the way of escape is within you. Call on his name and he will deliver you.

Don't read this and allow it pass over your head as if you don't need some fine tuning, backup one verse in I Corinthians 10 and you will see where the word warns us to be careful if we think we have attained unto righteousness and the results of our vain imaginations, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." I Corinthians 10:12

You have no excuse when you give in to temptation. When temptation falls upon you if you can't remember the reasons why you have no excuse remember our triune God. remember the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost lives in you. Stop and pray:

Father God, please lead me through this wilderness. Keep me in your way and do not allow me to stray in the mighty and precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen

 

WORSHIP SONG SERIES: "God Has Signed My Name" by Walter Hawkins and The Hawkins Family

Praise ye the Lord and bless His holy name! Blessed be the Lord God Jesus Christ who is our rock and our salvation!

It's been a while since I posted something in this category but I pray that the worship hasn't stopped. Now that I'm back let's worship the Lord together. Let's not look back at the past but rejoice in our present estate, let's celebrate that our names are written in the Lamb's book of life, let's rejoice and celebrate that we are free from the bondage of sin.

As our nation prepares to celebrate it's independence, let us also celebrate our independence. Sin no longer has dominion over us. We are able to keep are tongues, able to resist temptation, able to love our enemies, and pray for the salvation of their souls without seeking retaliation or retribution.



This freedom was brought with a price the precious blood of Jesus Christ. As you march onward remember that you are no longer a citizen of this land but an ambassador of a foreign country. Let your walk be a praise to God that honours and glorifies his name, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

God Bless You, Beloved and Our Nation!

WORSHIP SONG SERIES: ENCOURAGE YOURSELF BY DONALD LAWRENCE & THE TRI-CITY SINGERS

Blessed be the name of our God, Jesus Christ! Because of his power we don't have to be moved by the things that we see, or led astray by the works of the enemy. Yet sometimes we are. Everything isn't always going to go our way every day but they will work to our benefit no matter what any man may say.

With a great mighty God who has made promises like that on our side should our head be cast down? Should our shoulders slump? Should our mouths be empty or filled with praise no matter what the opposition or onlookers may say?

The truth is you won't feel good everyday. This flesh likes to act up and is not interested in serving God. Your knees don't want to bow down and your eyes have no interest in being lifted up, especailly when you don't get your way. There are times when nothing has happened, you just wake up in a funk and find your shoulders and head already slumped with a feeling of defeat putting the squeeze on you.

You know what you have to do? Wrestle, flip defeat our, box your way out, encourage yourself in the Word, which is Jesus. Jesus is the word of God, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1. David encouraged himself in the Lord in the midst of his distress and the Lord defended him in a mighty way.

"And David was greatly distressed: for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God." I Samuel 30:6

David's back was against the wall and everything that was dear to him in the land had been taken away except for his confidence in the LORD his God. Is Jesus your LORD? Is your confidence in Him? Then encourage yourself in Him. In the victory that His shed blood has given you. In the power that his shed blood has given you, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19




Shake that devil off of you this week, instead speak over yourself and be encouraged in the Lord. Knowing that he has plans of peace for you and your expected end is already written and is much greater than any feeling in your flesh or circumstance set before you. Jesus is waiting to receive you with a crown of glory, call you by a new name, and clothe with a robe of righteousness. Be encouraged in the Lord!

For Further Reading: I Samuel 30

-Nigeria

Mother's Day Prayer

"Lo, children are the heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. " Psalm 127:3

God is good; blessed be the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ! Today is Mother's Day. A day set aside to celebrate mother's, the vehicle in which the Lord has chosen to bring us into the world. As we honor man let us remember to honor the Lord.

The psalmist tells us that children are the heritage of the Lord and his reward. He has entrusted, us mothers, with these very special beings with the sincere desire that we would raise them up in the way of the cross. What a noble, honorable, and special charge the Lord has bestowed upon us women. On this day here at The Carpenter's House we would like to pray for your strength in the Lord and honor Him.

As you read this prayer accept the words for you and think of the mothers that you-say this prayer for them as well:

Father God, in the precious name of Jesus, I come before your presence with thanksgiving. Thanking you for bringing us out and bringing us through, thanking you for that special job called motherhood in which you have anointed and appointed us to do.

Lord, I thank you for my mother. I thank you for using her to bring me into this world.

Lord, I pray that you would make manifest the reason in which you placed me in her care and I pray that you would provide me with the wisdom to use it as a testimony unto your honor and glory.

Lord, I pray that you would continue to bless every mother with the strength necessary to perform the work you have entrusted them to perform. Bless them with the courage and conviction to raise their children, your children up in the word. Bless them Lord with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.

Lord, I pray that you let your peace rest upon them and cause them to dwell in safety forever trusting in you. That they and their seed may live abundantly upon this land.

Lord, I pray for those mothers that know not the joy of your salvation. I pray that you would not turn your face away from them, instead, please let your mercy and grace abound unto the salvation of their souls.

Lord, I thank you for every mother whether good or bad, for you see the end of thing and hath the power to use any situation unto your honor and glory.

 Lord, I pray that it begins with me and with my family. Raise up a standard in which the enemy cannot penetrate. Use every mother in this family as servants and ministers of the mighty gospel of Jesus Christ, in the precious name of Jesus.

Let the church say, AMEN!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

FROM THE CARPENTER'S HOUSE

TESTIMONY TUESDAYS: His Grace is Sufficient For Me

Praise ye the Lord and bless His holy name! God is good and He is good all the time. It's been awhile since I posted something for Testimony Tuesdays. What I envisioned happening in this series hasn't been happening and I slacked off from posting in this section.

I had planned on this section being a meeting place for Chrsitians to celebrate the goodness of God and inspire each other through the sharing of their testimonies. That hasn't quite happened, but I shouldn't be seeking my own glory; I shouldn't be reveling in my works alone, but the work that God has done. Maybe my plan hasn't come to fruition, so that I wouldn't get a big head or glory in what I have done but what the Lord has done. Pride is a dangerous thing and the Lord resisteth the proud but gives grace to the humble, James 4:6. And I don't want him to resist me. I want to be pleasing in his sight, Not glorying in my own strength is a lesson I had to learn, just as Paul had to learn, and we all have to learn how to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that we may be exalted in due season, I Peter 5:6.

In II Corinthains 12:1-10 Paul gives his testimony of how he received a divine  revelation but to keep him in check he also received a thorn in his side. He sought the Lord in prayer three times for this thing to be removed and the Lord responded, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Paul learned not to glory in himself but to glory in God even in his infirmities. You might say this isn't an infirmity but let me ask you this: when things don't go your way doesn't it make you sick? (To thine ownself be true) The truth is it makes me sick.

But the glory is not mine, my success is not mine, the success of this series or this blog is not mine, but God's. When I don't get the results I want out of life, or the success that I seek, his grace is enough to brag about. 

This Tuesday, my testimony is this: To the only wise God, Jesus Christ, be the glory, honor, power, and dominion, for the things which he has done, is doing, and will do for His grace is sufficient for me.

Let the church say, AMEN! 

PRAYER FOR THE LIVING

"The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down in silence." Psalm 115:17

During this week tornadoes have wreaked havoc throughout the south. The death toll has been estimated at nearly 300, thus far. Devastation of this nature usually causes people to question to God. Why did this happen here? Why now?

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Often a spirit of hopelessness and desperation will overcome the survivors and a somber mood full of lamentations is taken up for the things and people lost. But what really should come out of this is an open conversation with the Lord. For it was out of the whirlwind that the Lord spoke to Job, Job 38: and 40:6. If we listen carefully we can hear what he is saying:

Pray, pray, and when you're done praying pray.
Pray for living, pray that they would be saved. Pray that they will be comforted. If 300 people are dead then there are 300 families that have suffered a loss. Pray that they will lift up their eyes unto the hills from whence cometh all of our help. No matter how it gets there, no matter who is used to perform the good work it all comes from him that is good, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Pray for the living. Pray that we will all recognize the frailty of our lives. Pray that we all recognize the power and majesty of God; that we recognize that he has the final say in our lives whether we serve Him or not (although it is much better to be in the service of the King).

"Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4:14

Pray for the living. Pray that we recognize now is the only time we have and now is the acceptable time for salvation. Pray that help comes soon, pray that restoration and healing begins now in the hearts of all men, in Jesus name. AMEN.

If you would like to help the survivors of this disaster by volunteering or making a finanical donation to the Red Cross please CLICK HERE




   

NOMINATE THE CARPENTER'S HOUSE FOR THE BLACK WEBLOG AWARDS

Praise ye the Lord and bless His holy name!

Do you love what you see here, would you like to help spread the good news that Jesus died for us on Calvary? Well here's your chance and it only takes two clicks and a few keystrokes.

Nominate The Carpenter's House for a Black Weblog Award, please.

Take a minute or two to nominate The Carpenter's House for the following categories:

• Best Faith Based Blog
• Blog to Watch

Simply CLICK HERE to show your support to The Carpenter's House. Copy and paste the url, http://www.goingtothecarpentershouse.blogspot.com/ into the categories.

"...That thou doest, do quickly" John 13:27, the Nomination Period Ends Saturday May 7, 2011

For more information about the Black Weblog Awards CLICK HERE