Psalm 92:12-14 (KJV) is very encouraging: “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing”.

According to these verses we are going to flourish. We will have long, useful and fruitful lives. Not only that but we will grow old gracefully and still be fruitful, loving and contented in old age. Now that is a promise. However, all this is dependent on something, which is found in verse 13. It says "planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish....". Does that mean we have to live in church all week? I don't think so. What this means is that we need to be in the presence of God as much as possible and then all these wonderful promises will be manifested in our lives. Being in God's presence doesn't mean you have to spend all day on your knees; you can be mindful of his nearness while you are at work, shopping, doing chores or whatever. We can fellowship with God wherever we are and whatever we are doing. We can flourish as God promises every day.

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A BLOG by Norman and Jean Rawlings, authors of the book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”. Check out our web site for information on our book and more encouraging Bible based blogs. Fill out the: “contact us page” on our website and in the comments section REQUEST A FREE COPY OF A CHAPTER FROM OUR BOOK, click here: www.onthewayinlove.com    

A glorious early summer morning just leads me to want to praise God and thank him for all the blessings he pours on us daily. We should all have thankful hearts (Ps 95:2). We have only to look around us to see the blessings of God in his creation (Rom 1:20).

Every day when we wake up we need to thank God for life, family, loved ones and for God’s love, mercy, forgiveness and presence in our lives; how blessed we are. When each of our children were born I was always reminded that we are: “fearfully and wonderfully made” by the hand of our mighty God (Ps 139:14; KJV). He cares for us, each one of us (1Peter 5:7).

We are told to: “enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise” (Ps 100:4) and to: “come before his presence with thanksgiving” (Ps 95:2). God created our earth and he saw that it was good (Gen 1). He made us to fellowship with him (Gen 3:8-9).

The bible tells us that every good thing comes from our heavenly Father: “with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). He designed us to live the life that he does, an abundant life (John 10:1). He is so faithful and he desires and is so worthy of, our thanks and praise. As we give thanks and praise him our worries disperse and we are lifted into His presence (Ps 100:4; Ps 22:3). Spend some time today thanking God and praising Him.

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A BLOG by Norman and Jean Rawlings, authors of the book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”. Check out our web site for information on our book and more encouraging Bible based blogs. Fill out the: “contact us page” on our website and in the comments section REQUEST A FREE COPY OF A CHAPTER FROM OUR BOOK, click here: www.onthewayinlove.com    

"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Gal. 6:7b; KJV.) The Bible has plenty to say about sowing and reaping; in Matthew 7:2 Jesus was teaching his disciples and he told them not to criticize others because: "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again”.

According to this principle then if we sow love we will reap love, if we sow forgiveness we will reap forgiveness (Luke 6:37) and so on. The same principle is applied to what we hear (Mark 4:24); the amount of time we put into attending to the word determines how much we will receive from it. It also applies to finances; In Luke 6:38 Jesus tells us that if we give it will be given back to us in the same measure with which we gave.

In 2 Corinthians. 9:6 Paul wrote that we can either give sparingly or bountifully but that is also how we will reap. These scriptures are all telling us the same thing. Jesus, our supreme example, sowed his life so we could become children of God and enjoy everlasting life

I encourage you today to sow into someone’s life and enjoy the blessing that comes from that.

Please pass this on. All rights reserved.

A BLOG by Norman and Jean Rawlings, authors of the book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”. Check out our web site for information on our book and more encouraging Bible based blogs. Fill out the: “contact us page” on our website and in the comments section REQUEST A FREE COPY OF A CHAPTER FROM OUR BOOK, click here: www.onthewayinlove.com    

In Revelation Chapters 2 and 3 Jesus gives warnings and promises to the 7 churches. As we read them we can see that they are timeless and speak to us today.

He warns concerning losing our first love, our love for and obedience to Jesus. Jesus warns against sexual immorality and idolatry or things that became idols in our lives and cloud our love for Jesus. If we don’t guard against these influences we can become like the dead church of Sardis, where worldly influences had crowded out the things of God.

But now for the good news. My goodness me I can hardly write it down it’s so exciting. Let me try to summarize. Jesus said that the faithful would receive rewards when we go to be with him in heaven. He talks about a crown of life, walking in victory in an intimate relationship with Jesus, completely forgiven and vindicated. Jesus will honor us, we will be God’s possessions forever, ruling the nations with Jesus and sitting with him on his throne. We will eat from the tree of life and dine with Jesus; protected and dressed in white.

Our names are written in the book of life and Jesus says to the Father, these are mine; these are ours. Wow, that should brighten your day up. The world around us has nothing for us; let’s keep our eyes on Jesus. The rewards are awesome, if that’s a strong enough word!

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A BLOG by Norman and Jean Rawlings, authors of the book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”. Check out our web site for information on our book and more encouraging Bible based blogs. Fill out the: “contact us page” on our website and in the comments section REQUEST A FREE COPY OF A CHAPTER FROM OUR BOOK, click here: www.onthewayinlove.com    

In Acts chapter 2 and verses 42-47 we are given some vital characteristics of the early church, it was on the move, vital and growing. A major focus of early church life was an ongoing, constant devotion to the teaching of the leaders. There was no bible back then, only oral tradition and teaching. In our day and age, we have leaders who teach us and we have the bible. How much more we should make our bible the focus of our lives.

Fellowship was important to the early church. The Greek word here is koinonia; a fellowship centered on Jesus and with other Christians and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This should be a beautiful loving relationship of mutual submission and support. For early Christians this fellowship included eating together, particularly around the table of the Lord in Communion. Prayer was a pillar for early Christians and should under gird our lives today.

In the early church, there was a great unity and sharing of resources so that no one was in need. An awesome, reverential fear of God came on everyone and the church was a church of praise.

All of the above produced a church of power, signs wonders and miracles, with thousands being added daily. I see nothing complicated in the early church but a people walking in simple obedience and the love of God. Look at the results! When you think about it, our churches now should be no different.

Please pass this on. All rights reserved.

A BLOG by Norman and Jean Rawlings, authors of the book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”. Check out our web site for information on our book and more encouraging Bible based blogs. Fill out the: “contact us page” on our website and in the comments section REQUEST A FREE COPY OF A CHAPTER FROM OUR BOOK, click here: www.onthewayinlove.com