Pastor Norman

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt 11:28-30; KJV). How often when trials, tribulations, challenges and difficulties come our way our first reaction is to try to work it all out on our own. In the Greek, to labor means to toil, to be weary, fatigued, to work hard. To be heavy ladened, in the present context, means to be loaded up and overburdened spiritually. God says he will give us rest if we ask; this means a cessation from toil, a refreshing. When I studied out these verses recently, what went off in my spirit like a rocket was the full meaning of the Greek for “yoke”. Jesus told us to take his yoke upon us for it is easy. Taking His yoke is to submit to his authority, to do things his way, not ours. It is not so much Jesus putting his yoke or a burden “on us”, but Jesus coming along side and we being coupled to him. Jesus imparts his power and answers to us and shares our burdens with us to help and assist. If only our first reaction to challenges would be to pray and activate Christ’s yoke. What a Savior, what a God we have, what love. Have a burden free day.

Pastor Jean

“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but an encouraging word makes it glad” (Prov 12:25; AMPC). That encouraging word can come from the Bible, or it can come from someone else, another Christian who is in tune with the Holy Spirit, “Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45b; NKJV). (See also Luke 6:45, Prov 15:28, Prov 18:21). You never know when you will have an opportunity to speak that encouraging word to someone but if we stay full of the word and filled with the Spirit, we will be ready. If we ourselves are the one in need of that encouraging word then we must do what David did when he was in trouble, (the Amalekites had burned his city and taken the women and children captive), so “he encouraged himself in the Lord” (1 Sam 30:6; KJV) and God gave him a plan which led to victory! The Bible is full of encouragement; we need to find ourselves a verse that pertains to our situation and “stand” on that verse, speak it out loud and meditate on it until it brings peace and uplift to our hearts and minds. The Bible has the ability to do that (Heb 4:12). So, don’t allow yourself to get weighed down with anxiety today; go to the word, feed on it and be encouraged; at the same time always be watching for an opportunity to encourage someone else!

Pastor Norman

King David said, “I will praise You with my whole heart” (Ps 134:1a; NKJV). “You” being God. None of us need much time to consider why we should praise God. Psalm 145 lists many reasons: His greatness, His works and acts, His goodness, His mighty name, His majesty, and righteousness, His mercy and compassion, His glory and great power, His love, His word, promises and provision and the list could go on. As a country boy, I have only to look around me at His creation to want to praise Him. So, who should praise God? The answer is easy, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Ps 150:6; NKJV). When should we praise God? Again, King David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Ps 34:1; NKJV). The writer of Hebrews said that our praise is to be a sacrifice to God (Heb 13:15). The book of Psalms is full of songs of praise. The many Hebrew words for praise in the Psalms paint a picture of loud, passionate praise; wild and infectious with lifted hands, spinning and dancing. Praise must emanate from our hearts with the openness of a child. When King David brought the ark up to Jerusalem he whirled and twirled saying that he would be undignified and humble himself before the Lord in heartfelt praise (2 Sam:13-22). Praise was an important part of the life of the early church (Luke 24:53; Acts 2:46) and therefore should be a natural part of our lives, not just in church but at all times!

Pastor Jean

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and those who keep those things which are written in it” (Rev 1:3; NKJV). According to this verse we will be blessed by just reading (and obeying) the book of Revelation (even if we don’t understand it). The word blessed can be translated as extremely happy. There are actually 6 specific blessings found in this final book of the Bible. Revelation 14:13, “Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds will follow them” (NLT). This infers that we should be doing some good works while we are on the earth (so they can follow us). The second blessing is found in Rev 16:15 which tells us we are blessed if we are spiritually prepared for the Lord’s return. Thirdly, Rev 19:9 tells us that we are blessed if we are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. If you have made Jesus the Lord of your life then you are invited, in fact, you are the bride! Then Rev 20:6 says, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.” If you are a Christian, whether you die naturally or are raptured, then you are part of the first resurrection. Finally, Rev 22:7,14 assure us that, “blessed are those who do His commandments, that they have the right to the tree of life.” Hallelujah! Read the book of Revelation and be supremely blessed.

Pastor Norman

The apostle Paul described the struggle he often contended with, his new nature (spirit or heart), that resulted from giving his life to Jesus Christ, wanting to serve God but his soul (mind, will and emotions), wanting to live in sin like the world. This struggle originates in our thoughts. We need to, “set our minds on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2; NKJV). As Christians, Paul tells us not to walk according to the dictates of our soul or fleshly sinful nature but under the direction of our spirit, directed by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:1-2). Paul went on to say that to be carnally or fleshly minded results in a life of sin and suffering whereas to be spiritually minded brings peace and the God kind of life (Rom 8:6). Paul exhorted us, “not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2; NKJV). We do this by, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:56; NKJV). This involves immersing ourselves in God’s word. Jesus gave up His life for His church, “to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word” (Eph 2:5b-6; NLT). We need to think God’s way not only at church and in our prayer times but during everyday life; God is interested in every aspect of our lives. We speak what is in our heart (Luke 6:45); our words will show how much our thoughts are directed by the Holy Spirit, but remember also that, “The Lord knows the thoughts of men” (Ps 94:11; NKJV). Food for thought!