Ed Christian's World

God Enthroned and the Secret of Joy…

What does the Bible say about heaven? In the Book of Revelation, heaven is described as the place of God’s throne. Isaiah 66:1 confirms it: “Heaven is My throne.”

It is the place where John saw God seated on the throne. Yet, there is going to be a time when heaven comes to earth, in a sense. It says in Zechariah 14:9, “The Lord will be King over all the earth in that day.”

When will heaven come to earth? It will happen when the Lord is enthroned on the earth. But we are to live a heavenly life now. How? The key is the throne. Heaven is the place where God is enthroned.

If you want a heavenly life now, enthrone Him. When you enthrone Him – over your will, your desires, your ministry, everything – He becomes the sovereign Ruler over your life.

So allow Him to truly reign as Lord over every part of your life and live in the blessings of heaven now, because heaven is wherever God is enthroned.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10

Enthrone God in every part of your day today and every part of your life. Blessings will come.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The “OY” Breakthrough…

The prophet Isaiah sees a vision of the Lord in the temple and he cries out “Woe is me, for I am undone.” In Hebrew this means “OY” used exactly in the Bible.

Although he sees himself undone, he hears the voice, “Whom shall I send?” and he answers, “Send me.” His breakthrough came when he was willing to confess his sins before God and God touched him.

Isaiah knew that he was unclean upon seeing the glory of God and cried out for help. How do you see yourself in the light of God’s calling? When we see God and hear His voice we will realize that we too are unclean until his spirit touches us.

Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5

The breakthrough in your life will come when you too see your life in the light of God’s revealing word. You can’t live a life of compromise anymore.

Come before him in prayer, tell him you can no longer live in sin. See your life in the light of God’s word; Tell him “I am ready.” Present yourself as a vessel and He will cleanse you and use you like Isaiah, you can say the amazing word “OY”.

Find your point of breakthrough as you confess your sins and become a new vessel ready to be used by God for His will in your life.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Josiah’s Surprise and Your Destiny…

The story of Josiah, the good king, launched a revival in Israel. He saw a tomb while he was cleansing the high place. He wanted to know what it was.

The people around him answered: “It was the tomb of the bones of the prophets of God, who rebuked this site centuries ago and foretold that one day you would come to cleanse this place.”

Imagine being Josiah and finding out that you would step right into a destiny that had been foretold centuries before? The Bible says that man’s steps are ordained of the Lord, not just for Josiah, but for all, for you.

There is a destiny over your life, just as high, just as holy, just as perfect. As you follow God, and only as you follow God, can you fulfill it. Walk in the footsteps already laid out because it says, “There are good works He has prepared beforehand that you might enter into.”

The only way to get there, is to follow the Spirit; follow His righteousness and you too will one day see how your life was foretold and purposed from the beginning of time.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29

Seek to follow in the perfect will of God today – and you will have taken many steps to enter into your prophetic destiny.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Encouragement of Weakness…

You deal with sin. All believers do. It can be discouraging and get you down. In Hebrews it says that we have a High Priest who sympathizes with our infirmities. The high priest is, of course, Jesus.

The word translated in the King James Version as “infirmity” is the Greek “asthenia.” It means “weakness.” It might sound like there is an excusing of sin when we talk about sin as a weakness.

There is no excuse for sin, there is only blood for sin, the blood of Jesus. So why call it weakness? For someone who practices sin, then sin is not a weakness, it’s their life. But for God’s people, your sin is a weakness and not the direction of your life.

You have a High Priest who knows your weaknesses and can sympathize. Make it your aim to give Him less to have to sympathize with. That which is not consistent with your goal or purpose, make it your aim to rid your life of all these weaknesses, because a weakness does not identify what your life is or what your life is not.

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. Psalm 32:1-2

Be encouraged today. Know that God sympathizes with your weakness – and let that encourage you to put away those sins once and for all.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love.always,

Ed

Batting a Thousand…

In baseball, there is a saying called “batting a thousand.” Batting a thousand means perfection – you get a hit every time, you never strike out and you never get called out. No one can do it.

In baseball, at the end of the year, they come up with averages – how well people did, etc. It turns out that 300 percent is really good; that is one out of three. Even baseball’s greatest players say that 300 is great.

In the Lord, good comes out of bad. If we are expecting perfection by never messing up, it is just not going to happen. Even out of falling, good comes. In God, even when we fall, if we repent and get up, it will be good.

So stop dwelling on the fact that you messed up. In God batting a thousand is not about never falling, it’s about getting up and finishing the course He gave us.

It’s not about messing up, it’s about repenting, coming back, hoping, and persevering. You just persevere and no matter what, my friend, you’ll end up in God’s grace, batting a thousand.

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

If you mess up today, don’t beat yourself up over it. Get up, repent, and start over again in the grace of God.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Having A Little Talk With Your Mind…

In Psalm 42:11, it says, “Why are you cast down, my soul or my mind? Why are you disquieted within me?”

The word for soul is also mind in the Hebrew. So it says why are you depressed? Why are you down? How many people talk to themselves? Many people enjoy talking to themselves. There is something biblical about it.

It is good if it is done right. We have an idea that our mind is our mind and that’s it. Our thoughts are our thoughts; this is me, this is how I am, and that’s the end of it.

But look at the scripture and understand. There is something much more that is so important. You can talk to your mind. You don’t just accept your thoughts; you can question your mind and your feelings.

How about talking to your mind? Talk to your heart. Don’t just accept it, but talk. You don’t have to be stuck with your mind. That’s the good news. You can change.

The word for repentance means to change your mind. You can change, and it all starts when you learn the secret of talking to your mind.

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm. 42:11

Talk to yourself today. And any thought, any feeling, anything that is not of God, talk yourself out of it!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Making Him Pleased…

In Colossians 1:10 it speaks about making our aim to please God. It’s hard to imagine. Can you imagine God being pleased by something you do? It is hard for us to think we can actually do something that pleases Him.

We think we are never good enough and certainly we aren’t on our own. Some of us may have tried to please people and they are not pleased. Or maybe you had a father or mother who could never be pleased.

He is not a father who could never be pleased. It is His will to be pleased by you. It is His will that you please Him, that you walk in such a way that He is pleased, like a father who delights in his children.

You can please Him. God wants you to be blessed by pleasing Him. Make it your aim to make Him smile. Enjoy pleasing Him in everything you do and in all different ways, because it is His will to be pleased by you.

Make it your will in everything you do to please your Heavenly Father.

So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, Colossians 1:10

Today have one goal – to make God smile!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Shoppers and Receivers…

Imagine a week before Bethlehem; Joseph turns to Mary and says, hey, do you realize we only have seven days until Christmas? We had better get our shopping done.

But the real Christmas had no shopping in it. It was not about consumption. It was about receiving a gift, without shopping. You go shopping for what you want. I want this, I don’t want that, etc.

So people go shopping through the Bible and take what they want. I don’t want this, or this is what I like. I don’t like this verse. I don’t like that kind of thing, I don’t like that side of salvation. But when you receive a gift, you don’t shop. You just receive what is given.

The false Christmas is about shopping. The true Christmas is about a gift. They didn’t shop for Messiah, they just received what was given. God doesn’t want us picking and choosing what we like in the faith or in the Bible or in doctrine or what we agree with.

Don’t spend your life shopping. Rather, focus on receiving what God has given you, because God will only give you His best.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Matthew 7:18

Don’t shop for or settle for second best. Receive God’s will for your life, unconditionally. And it will end up the best.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Fighting With Joy…

Maccabees is not a part of the biblical account, but it is part of the history of God’s workings. It says that the Maccabees carried on Israel’s war joyfully. How do you carry on a war joyfully?

Paul said in 2 Timothy 4, “Fight the good fight,” or “I fought the good fight.” You can even hear joy in it. Fight the good fight of faith. When you fight the good fight, it is actually a joy. The good fight is not tiresome.

It is when you are not fighting the good fight that you get tired. But when you fight the good fight, the fight of faith and have victories of faith, it gives you joy and power. Fight with joy and let your joy be a fighting joy.

The joy of the Lord is your strength. In the end times there are a lot of fights going on. That doesn’t nullify the fruit of the Spirit. You are still going to have joy.

Fight with joy. Have fighting joy in your life, and your life will be a joy. You will have finished the course having fought the good fight.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12

Fight your good fight today – with the power of joy!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Epiphany Syndrome…

 2 Thessalonians 2:4 it says:”The anti-Christ will proclaim himself to be God.” That is the spirit of the anti-Christ which is already here, proclaiming man as God.

When man seeks to get rid of God, he ends up making himself as God. If you yourself are god, then you lose the power to know God – that’s the problem. Even as believers we can fall into the epiphany syndrome.

When we see ourselves as the center of everything or when our concern is about ourselves above everything else, when we live as if we were the most important thing, we are falling into the epiphany syndrome.

But, if we can break away from that, empty ourselves of self and self-centeredness and live in true humility, then the true God will manifest Himself in our lives.

Those who exalt themselves come to nothing, but those who humble themselves will be filled up with the presence of God. Stop trying to be God and your life will be filled with the manifestation of the Living God!

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10

Get rid of the “me” syndrome that may have a hold on you and replace it with the “God” syndrome. It’s all about Him.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed