Tag: ascension

By Pastor Andrew Farland

Did you know that the Bible says that before you were born, God planned a life for you that was Good, Perfect and Pleasing?
It’s true! And God is willing to help you live a plentiful, purposeful, and peaceful life.
But before we receive that life, we have to agree to do whatever it takes to grab hold of it, and it’s available by God’s strength alone! Wanna know more?

Here are 5 steps to walking in the fullness of life as taught in
Colossians 5:13-26
1) Disassociate from your old self!
Make a clean break from the old life patterns like sexual immorality, impurity, anger, greed, and other evil desires. If you make this conscious choice, God promises to help free you from your past!

2) Spend time learning and discovering God’s character!
Read your Bible daily and ask for God’s wisdom. God promises that if you believe what you ask for, you’ll receive it and that if you seek Him with all your heart, you’ll find Him! God wants to reveal Himself to you!

3) Put everything you learn into practice!
James 1:22
tells us not to deceive ourselves by only hearing the Word. We must do the Word. God expects us to put into practice what we learn! God predestined you to be conformed to His image. God is always ready to meet your will with His power!

4) Make an allowance for others’ faults.
It is easiest to forgive others when we remember how much God has forgiven us! We all fall short, and we can learn to be more loving, kind, and patient while others are also becoming more like Christ, too!

5) Let God’s peace rule in your heart!
Never is there a time in the Bible where God commands us to worry! God wants our trust. Over 365 times God commands us to turn worried into trust by allowing God’s peace to guard our hearts!

John 10:10
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Be encouraged today because God is with you.

By Pastor Andrew Farland

It’s ridiculous to think that your suffering is always because you did something wrong, and now God is getting you back. Let me say it again . . . ridiculous!!

Job was considered the most righteous man of his time and yet he suffered. We are hard-pressed to find a more righteous mature Christian man – or a person who suffered as much as he did. Not only that, but amidst that suffering, Job’s friends tried to convince him that he must have done something wrong! What help, right?! But in the end, God vindicated Job, and He dealt with those who gave this honorable Christian that bad advice. Why? Because He knew how foolish their claims were when they were convincing a righteous man that he was wayward.
What was the truth? Job didn’t do anything wrong and yet he still suffered.

Here’s the lesson of the day:
Suffering and pain visit everybody. We all have to get through challenges. But here’s the comfort: You can know today that if you are going through a difficult time, everyone else is too! Maybe not today, but at some point, they also will go through fiery trials . . . it’s a part of life.

Here’s what I want you to know: while you’re traveling through these dark and scary places, you are sheltered by the love and care of God. He cares about you and your situation. You can trust that He’s got your best interest at heart, and He will help you through it as long as you continue to trust Him.

Matthew 5:45
“For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”

Be encouraged today because God is with you.

By Pastor Andrew Farland

God never promised any of us a rose garden.
Even in the center of God’s will for your life, it won’t all be easy!
Going through valleys is normal and inevitable. You are either in one now, just got out of one, or are going back into another one. God is more than the God of the mountain tops; He’s the God of the valleys too!

Think about Joseph and Job in the Bible. These were two men that were righteous and who sought to honor God with their lives! They didn’t do anything wrong, yet they both had to endure hard days and much suffering. It seemed like their journeys took them through valleys more often than not, but in the end, they came out on the other side!
The same can be true for you. Just because you are going through a hard time doesn’t mean you did something wrong.
Hard days happen to everyone.

The Bible says that the rain falls on the just and unjust alike!
I want to remind you today that no matter what you are going through, God is with you. He is faithful, and He will lead you through every valley!

Deuteronomy 11:11
“The Promised Land you are about to enter is a land of hills and valleys.”

Be encouraged today because God is with you.

By Pastor Andrew Farland

People seem to fall into one of three types of categories: those that are in a struggle, those coming out of a struggle, and those about to go into a struggle!

But with God, no matter which group we find ourselves going into or coming out of, we have a reason to be thankful and joyful! Your circumstances might make you sad, angry, depressed, or rejected. Any of those emotions might tempt you to drop your head and look down at the ground under your feet.

Stop looking at the situation you’re in.
Instead, lookup
Taking our eyes off of our situation and putting them onto our Savior changes everything. God promises to keep in perfect peace those whose eyes are fixed on Him, and that’s because He is our joy.
That joy exists regardless of the reason for our struggles if we’re just willing to look up and see it.
He is our reason to be thankful!

HABAKKUK 3:17–18
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

Be encouraged today because God is with you.