Andrew Golden's Blog, page 40

A Step In The Right Direction

Jeremiah 1:5

5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Psalms 139:14

14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Well today I kept seeing news stories of Roe v. Wade being overturned. Before you say it is the woman’s right, let me be clear, it stops being her right when the baby is conceived. That is a child, a living soul, a person made by God. I am thankful that as a country we are taking a step in the right direction. The people who claim that it is a woman’s right to kill an innocent child, you will stand before God one day. Now, it is time for the parents to raise thier children to follow the word of God. It is time for us to teach our children to save themselves for marriage. It is time we teach them right from wrong. If we do this then is the future we will see more steps in the right direction. We will see less people screaming it is her right and more people praying and turning to God for guidance.

Where Would I Be Without Him

Ephesians 2:12-14

12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

As I was driving my family today, a thought occurred to me. Where would I be without Jesus? If he had not been the ultimate sacrifice, the path would have never been paved. I realize now that without him, I would never have the eternal life waiting for me. I would never be worthy to stand before the thrown of God. I would be unworthy of the love and grace that he brought to us. So, where would I be without Jesus? I never want to find out.

Pleasing To God

Matthew 3:17


17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

As Christ was being baptized, the father announced that he was pleased with him. He was the perfect sacrifice for the sin of the world. He had no sin in his life and was the only perfect man to walk. We are supposed to be Christ like. So if God looked at you, would he be pleased or would he begin to show you things in your life that is unpleasant in his sight? That is what we need to ask ourselves every day. Before we do something, we should consider if it would be pleasing to God. Every single day we should try our best to have our appearance and actions be pleasing to God. You will never be perfect. Only Christ was that. However, we can do our best to be pleasing in the sight of God.

Speechless

Luke 1:18-20

18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.
20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

This right here is a prime example of a husband speaking before he thinks. The angel Gabriel is telling him he is going to have a child and he questions it. This man new the story of Sarah having a child in her old age, but yet he thinks he and his wife are too old. For that he cannot speak until his son is born. I was this same way when people would tell me I would have children one day. After so many miscarriages, I thought yea right. I was raised learning these stories, but I did not think it could happen. I was proven wrong. You see, God has the power to do as he sees fit, but we question too many times if he can actually do it. We as husbands have the problem of throwing our hands up and saying it is impossible. We should be the ones in our place of prayer telling God we know he can. Why have we become so pessimistic? Why do we forget the promises of God? God has given men families, houses, lands, and even riches. He has also given us the path of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Remember these things and do not question it. God may take your speech until his plan comes to pass.

Do Not Become The Enemy

Micah 2:8-9

8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.
9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.

I have noticed something occurring over the past couple of years. It is something I never thought possible. It is the fact that some churches have become the enemy of the word. They have cast out the very word of God and decided that God is accepting to all no matter if they leave behind their old lives or not. They teach that as long as you set on a seat Sunday, you are good to go. That is a lie. You have to accept Christ and become Christ like. Now it has become a thing to teach children this. They are being taught that it is the way the world is. Everyone accept everyone. It is being taught in school and churches just the same. Preachers are telling people it is okay if they sin while only caring about the offering plate. Our kids are not being taught the right way. Parents, it is time for us to teach them what the right way is. We need to get back into the word and learn it. Then teach our children the way we are to walk as Christians. It is up to us.

Put On The Image Of Christ

Romans 13:12-14

12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

As the sun rises, most wake up in order to begin their days. We put on our work clothes and head to work. Whatever profession we may choose, is the way we carry ourselves. What if we looked at Christianity this way? What if, as soon as we wake up, we decided that we could be about the father’s business? That is how we should be. We should wake up and not worry about what we do not have. We should wake up and look toward the father’s business. When we step out our front door, we should do our best to show Jesus to the world. We should not be yelling at our children or our spouses. We should not be yelling at the guy who cut us off on the freeway. We should stay calm. If we put Jesus at the forefront of our life, these verses are easy to follow. If we strive to be like him, it makes these verses impossible not to follow.

Hearts Desire

Psalms 37:4


4 Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

What does your heart desire? Does it desire to be famous? Does it desire to make a million dollars? Does you heart simply want to see lost souls saved? If you answered the first two questions with a yes, then you need to seek God because that is of the flesh and not our hearts. So many people want to use this verse for trying to get fancy cars and homes. The problem is in their endeavors to become rich so they forget about God. It says delight thyself in the lord and he shall give you your hearts desire. If we are serving God and walking in his path, then fame should not be what we are after. What we should be after is saving lost souls. Our heart should yearn for this very thing. We should desire a closer walk with God to the point we spend time asking him how to get closer. We should have a desire to shine a light to the world. We should desire for them to look at us and see God. These are the things we as Christians should long for.

Spiritual Fight

2 Corinthians 10:3

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

If we had a physical enemy, our fight would be easier. However, our fight is not a physical one. It is a spiritual fight. It does not mean we cannot fight the enemy. Because our fight is spiritual, we have to learn to fight a spiritual way. How we do this is simple. We hit our knees and pray. Prayer is our number one weapon. It is how we destroy the enemy without lifting a finger. It is how we end his assaults. Remember this the next time the enemy attacks. Remember to hit the enemy hard by simply praying.

Setting Traps

Genesis 3:15

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Today my wife yelled over seeing a snake in the yard. It was just laying there as if waiting for something to attack. I grabbed a stick and began smacking at it as I chased it through my yard. I have two small children and snakes are not known for being nice creatures. As I chased the slithering creature, it occurred to me this is how the enemy works. He will stay hidden and wait for his chance to strike. However, if you see the enemies trap, he will slither off. He retreats in order to plan his next scheme. I learned a lesson today. Just like now I know to watch for snakes hiding in my yard, I must watch for the traps set by the enemy.

You Cannot Hide It

2 Samuel 12:7

7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

A good friend of mine and I were having a conversation about this yesterday. When I got home, I had to read it. It occurred to me. It does not matter who you are, your sins will eventually come to light. King David had took the wife of another man, then had the man killed to cover up his transgression. Nobody would ever know. Well God sees all. It does not matter if you are the richest man or the poorest man, you will pay for your sins. The rich use money and power to hide their sins. The poor just try to hide and sin. Both think they can cover it up but a record is being kept. That record will be answered for. Just remember even David’s sins found him and he was a great King.