5/6/2019

Proverbs 2:1-9 (KJV)
¹  My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
²  So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
³  Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
⁴  If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
⁵  Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
⁶  For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
⁷  He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
⁸  He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
⁹  Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

We as humans need to have a daily immersion in the Word of God. We need this so that we can know and understand the way we should live in the good times as well as the time of testing and trials that we will live through. As 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 states, the type of person we are comes forth where people can see it when we are under fire or being tested. Moreover, the world watches us when we are under fire such as a death of a loved one or major illness or loss of income. It is during this time that Christ will shine forth as gold to those around us. IF we have immersed ourselves in God through reading the Bible, talking with God (not just asking God for things) and learning the way that God wants us to act.

4/7/2019

This last week I received a call from Sister Finn in Missouri and she was telling me about a sermon she had preached and it inspired me so much, she was asked to send it to be put in our newsletter or Express. So expect more on this subject. Then I started preparing for Sunday school and it is about the same woman, however from a different viewpoint.

You can find the Biblical story of this unknown woman in John 4:4-42. We modern Saints of God call her the “Samaritan Woman” because she lived in Sychar, Samaria. She was a woman who had had many husbands and was living with a man that was not her husband. Today that is not as big a deal, as it was in Jesus’ time. It is likely that the average woman had little to nothing to do with her, so she was just coming to the well at the time that Jesus arrived.

Jesus had been traveling for quite a while since the Bible states he was “wearied with his journey.” He had his day’s travel planned so that he might be there on that day at that time just to meet her need; just as He is here today to meet our needs. The difference between Christians today and this woman is that she was not expecting it and it filled her heart with a happiness and passion to share what Jesus had done for her.

Today when people have prayed and Jesus has met their need, they accept it as an everyday occurrence instead of a divine answer. We have lost our passion (Merriam-Webster Dictionary states that passion means an emotion then it further states intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction). We no longer get so excited about what God has done and is doing in our lives today.

However, this woman, this example of how we as Christians should be, became the starting point of a great revival. She was so excited that she left her “waterpot” and went straight out to tell the people what Jesus had said and what He had done for her. Her reaction to what Jesus did for her caused a citywide revival.

Have you let your passion for spreading the Gospel of Christ die? Is your excitement so weak that it is not even reaching the ones nearest you? The time to win the lost is now and the tool we need to do this is the “passion,” the “thrill,” the “excitement,” and the desire to talk to others Christians and sinners alike about what God is doing for us.

C.I. Wilson

3/30/2019

While taking a break from working on my husband’s newest book, I went to one of my favorite websites and read (while listening to) an article about better communication.

https://mychurchnotes.net/topics/relationships/5605-4-rules-for-better-communication

In this article, he brings out ways for us to communicate. Why do we need to know the best way to communicate? Because God has given us the position of “Lead others to Christ” and if we want to progress past the beginner stage then we need to know the best way to communicate; not just talk but to “share or exchange information, news, or ideas.”

If we cannot share the “news” about Jesus where people can understand then how can we “Lead others to Christ?” The one main thing about being a worker in the position of “Lead others to Christ” we must first have the information that we get from having a one on one relationship with Him.

Have you given your heart to Jesus? Have you made Him your number one “BFF” or at least working on having Jesus as your very best friend? If you have made Jesus your BFF then you will want to share so take time to read what Proverbs has to say about communicating.

C.I. Wilson

3/24/2019

While reviewing my Sunday school lesson this morning, I reread Esther’s words: “if I perish, I perish.” This is a thought that many missionaries have shown throughout the ages. They face trials that they could have passed up on by staying at home. However, they had the same determination that Esther showed. God is where they place the hopes, their future and their happiness. God comes first in their lives. Many missionaries go places that the average Christian will never go, because they have received the mission to go.

This mission came, because they asked God for guidance and had a willingness to go. Not every Christian is asked to be missionaries to foreign countries; they might receive the call to the hardest mission field, their own family. This does not mean that they should not have this same determination of “If I perish, I perish.” Your own family will remember every little bad thing that you have ever done and hold it against you. Yet by living before them the way that God wants us all to live, they can be won for Christ.

Christians of all nations have to make that same decision, if we do not live by the Word of God our souls will perish. Some Christians face physical death when they accept Christ into their hearts while others face spiritual death by living with the same friends they had growing up. We all face death, physical or spiritual and must determine in our hearts and mind that if we died it will be for Jesus.

Esther 4:15-16 (KJV)
¹⁵  Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,
¹⁶  Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

Will you become a modern day Esther and tell God, “I will do your will and if I perish, I perish.”

C.I. Wilson

3/17/2019

Psalm 118:1-4 (KJV) ¹  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. ²  Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. ³  Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. ⁴  Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

Merriam_Webster defines Mercy as: ¹compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject. ²a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion

            While reading my Bible this morning I went to Psalms 117 to read and it was good because it talks about praising God. The Lord led me on into chapter 118 and into His mercy. The first four verses tells us who should give thanks for God’s mercy and verse four hits us right on the nail. We who fear the LORD should be proclaiming the mercy of God endures to this day.

            Many times, I have sat in a testimony service and that was all I did. Sat, just like so many others and then we wonder way the churches stopped having them. Do we, Christians, every say too much about God’s mercy on us, not that I know about. In years gone by when the church had a testimony service all most all the adults and some of the children stood and if nothing else gave thanks for saving their soul and then most went on to tell how God’s mercy endures even to the present.

            Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote the words, “How do I love thee, let me count the ways.” It is God’s place to love us and our place to count the ways. How does God show us that he loves us? Let me get you started counting in a general way:

1. He sent his son, Jesus, to die for our sins
2. He sends the sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, rain, clouds, . . . for our enjoyment
3. He gives family and friends that love us
4. He gives health
5. . . .

And the list goes on until we die or turn our backs on the Lord, our Savior.

By: C. I. Wilson