Old habits die hard, the saved life comes easy!

 It’s hard to give up old habits. Sometimes, when forced, we can appear to reform, but without a major rebuild of heart and soul we soon revert to old ways.

Noah brought a pair of Ravens on the Ark with him. For a year the ravens appeared to change, but to no one’s surprise, once released they returned to old habits.

 A raven was called an unclean animal because it feeds on dead things. For a year, the raven changed its diet because nothing on the ark died. The raven changed its habit but not its taste.

 In a similar sense, many people come to God in an hour of crisis. They pray and ask God for special considerations after a major sickness, tragedy, or failure. They make promises to God that are real at the moment. 

For a while they change their habits, they attend church, and seem to be different; yet, on the inside they are still the same people. A truly repentant person becomes a new person, not just a person who attends church. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” There is no substitute for being “In Christ.” 

    The raven took advantage of the safety of the ark and diet of fresh foods it offered for a year, but at the first opportunity, it intended to go back to its old ways.  

 

    We are new creatures in the Lord. We have no “taste” for worldliness. We are focused on Christ and him alone.

Father to the fatherless

 Have you noticed the number of fatherless homes there are today?

  The latest official reports estimated that there are 25 million people who are from single-parent homes where the father is unknown or absent from the family he begat.

  That’s a big problem. John Sowers, in his book “Fatherless Generation,” says society is paying for this breakdown in families with higher crimes and a cultural shift that’s really taking a toll.

  We can’t undo what already exists, so he suggests that we all become mentors for the fatherless kids on our street. Fathers and grandpas have a lot to offer and you’ll be surprised, often our efforts to give advice or be a friend will be accepted.

  God is our spiritual father and we are all his children.

  When we work with the kids of fatherless homes, they see the hands of God and they hear the voice of God when we speak.

  Through our concern, they come to know that God, working through us, reaches out to them in love.

   Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

   Let’s pray for the fatherless families and also for the baby daddies that don’t know how to be fathers.

   Until then, let’s show the kids the love of the father, which is in heaven.

Stay on the path, it leads to glory

 Despite our burdens, every believer should march on, singing the words of our anthem: "God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might, led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray!"

 If we stay on the right path God will be for us. Romans 8:31 reminds us that "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

    

If we stay on the right path, it won't matter about the burdens because Romans 8:37 says, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

If we stay on the right path, it won't matter how many barriers are placed in front of us because we remember that Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me"

Troubles don’t matter when you know the Lord is with you!

 When the Lord is with you, you can call on him, like great-grandma did when she said, "Lord, I'm down here waiting, please don't pass me by!"

Psalm 55:22 “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

Walk with me Lord, Walk with me! While I'm on this tedious journey, I want Jesus to walk with me.