Check the connections!

James 4:7-10  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Over the past month, I decided to purposely disconnect from all social media and I must say, despite the craziness in the world — I found myself more at peace, by simply disconnecting.

And speaking of being disconnected, one missionary tells of his experience about being assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering this problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years.

When a new missionary came to take over his station, he proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started. As he was talking, the young missionary picked up the hood only to find that the only trouble was a loose cable. He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and the engine roared to life.

For two years, needless trouble had become routine — but the power was there all along — and the only thing that was needed was a better connection!

So it is for us as believers, we can walk through this life stumbling and struggling … having a loose connection with God — or we can determine to be steadfastly connected to Him — and His unlimited power.

As James clearly says, “Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you,” so we have the choice to be as close or as distant as we want to the King of Kings!   God’s decision to be intimate with us was already made when He displayed His love for us through the sacrifice of His Son!   Now it’s in our hands … what kind of relationship do we want?

So let’s resolve to spend some time under the hood, double checking those connections, and making whatever adjustments necessary to get better connected to God — and His omnipotent power. Amazingly, if you go through the self-inspection process — you’ll begin going through personal revival — and true revival begins one person at a time — perhaps it’ll be you this weekend!

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When Ruth pledged her alligence to Naomi and to the God of Israel, it wasn’t based on, “What ifs?” or circumstances. It was a faith rooted in her devotion to Naomi and God even to the point of death!

This season of the Resurrection also occurs during a significant Old Testament feast day, the feast of “Firstfruits” (Hebrew, “bikoreem”). When Yeshua (Jesus) rose from the dead he was the firstfruit of the resurrection. On that day the keys of Hell and Death were obtained by our Lord. The apostle Paul connected the resurrection with the feast of Firstfruits in his letter to the congregation at Corinith. “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

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I’ve heard so many Christians ask, “How can I get more of the Holy Spirit?” As if the Holy Spirit is some kind of power or force that we can control or weild. What we should really be asking is, “How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?”

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When we think of a good citizen, we probably think of a law-abiding, productive contributor to society who takes pride in his country. I’m sure all of us would like to be thought of as good citizens of the countries in which we live. My wife has dual citizenship, she’s both Israeli and American — I guess that means she has to work extra hard at being loyal!

Right now, around the world, many are celebrating the holiday of Pesach (Passover) reminding us of the time that the Lord led His people out of slavery in Egypt.