Ed Christian's World

The Magnetic Principle…

I am sure you have seen magnets. The thing about a magnet is that if it is not attached, it’s going to draw all sorts of metal to it. It’s going to get weighed down, but if it’s attached to something else, then the other things aren’t going to weigh it down.

In the same way our hearts are like magnets. If our hearts are not joined they become vulnerable. They become joined to sin, to unclean things, to addictions, to habits, to indulgences, to idols, to money, to whatever it is.

The key is, when your heart is attached to Jesus, then we become free of all the rest. Your heart was made to be attached to Him, that’s why He said, My Yoke is easy. Be yoked to Him and you will not be burdened with all the rest of the stuff in the world.

Join your heart to Him and you will be free from every other thing that tempts you in this world. You will be free, just like a magnet that is joined.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29

Get real close to God today, like a magnet. Join your heart, soul, mind, and strength to Him. And you’ll be free of all those other things.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

That They Might Be Wirh Him…

It says in Mark 3:14, He appointed the twelve that they might be with Him. The Lord chose the disciples to teach them, to minister to them, to teach them to minister and to send them out to preach.

The first reason it says that Jesus appointed or chose them was that they might be “with Him.” They could not do anything else, if not first with Him. All ministry comes from being with the Lord.

You can only become as much as you are if you are with Him. If you feel like you are not really being sent into ministry, you don’t have your ministry, you are waiting for it or it is not really happening, maybe you are not really being with Him the way He called you to be with Him.

Do you want a great witness? You need a great “withness.” Spend time in prayer, communion, the Word, praising, loving, receiving, just being with Him. Then you will have a great witness and you will be great and mighty in ministry when you become great and mighty in being with Jesus.

He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. Mark 3:14

Take God with you after you start your day with Him. Stay in His presence, sing to Him and praise Him through your day.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Playing With A Plague

Have you ever had a cold? Of course, you have. But do you realize that those cold germs are trying to destroy you? If your body’s defenses did not fight off that cold, you would be dead.

It’s the same way with sin. Every sin has in its DNA a strategy to destroy your life. But we sometimes act as if sin is harmless. We think a little gossip here, a little lust or pride or greed or backbiting there, what’s the harm? We have the illusion that sin might profit us in some way, or provide pleasure, thrill or satisfaction.

But sin is not harmless! It is like a virus designed to keep you from fulfilling your God-given calling and take away your life. Why play with fire? 1 Peter 2:11 tells us to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. So at the first hint of sin, take action.

From now on, see that sin as a deadly virus. Whatever the sin, however subtle, get rid of it. Throw out even the slightest trace of it. Then you can live the victorious life to which you have been called.

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. James 1:14-16

Set up your defenses against the various attacks from the enemy who wants you to fall from fulfilling your calling. Flee from that sin as you would from a bad cold!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Living In The Ouranos…

In Luke 10:18, Jesus tells His disciples that He saw Satan fall, as lightning, from heaven. But the word ‘heaven’ in the New Testament Greek is “ouranos,” which means heaven or eternity. So it’s saying He saw Satan falling from eternity.

There is a real key here; the key of the enemy’s power. When the enemy fell away from eternity, he fell away from eternal things. This means that the power of the enemy is not eternal, but temporal, temporary. Things we experience in this life are temporal; things like panic, fear, emotions, temptations or temporary thrills.

When you live according to what’s temporary, you subject yourself to the enemy’s power, not the power of God. So the key to overcoming the enemy is in the word “ouranos.” To live the heavenly life is to live according to what is eternal.

Look to God and His eternal Word. Learn to look through the hardship to the eternal promises. Look through the fear to the faithful God. The enemy fell from the eternal, but you will rise when you look to it.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Overcome the enemy and all his strategies today by moving away from the temporary. Live above it, in the heavenlys, in the ouranos.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Enemy Whistle…

There was an old man in my neighborhood who didn’t want anyone parking in front of his house. When anyone would, he would run outside blowing a whistle yelling at them not to park there.

The people were intimidated and would move. It wasn’t true; they were allowed to park there, but because they believed his whistle, they lost their parking spot. He had no right to do that.

The enemy is like that man with the whistle. He says you have to stay in that sin, that bondage. You have to live in fear, worry, etc.; not the life God has for you. If we accept that, we miss it, even though he had no right to do that, even though the promise was ours.

The enemy is just like the man with the whistle with no legitimate authority; a thief. Stand on the word; call his bluff. Because Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” That’s the truth. Everything else, my friend, is just a man with a whistle.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27

Meditate on the authority of Jesus and take authority over the enemy’s intimidation.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Forbidden Tree…

There are many books about things that God didn’t reveal in the Bible. Consider Eve eating the fruit of the tree in the Garden of Eden. God gave Adam and Eve every tree to eat from; only one did He forbid. Eve focused on that one outside of God’s will and ate from it.

Similarly, David had everything, but He focused on that one outside God’s will–Bathsheba. Human nature has always been seeking life outside of God.

We do it too. We tell ourselves that it is of God. Maybe it’s just a little outside His will, but we still want to indulge in it. The truth is, there is nothing outside of Him. It’s all in Him–every revelation, mystery, fullness of deity, true joy that lasts. Everything is in Him.

Whatever you thought you wanted that was outside of God’s will is not good. The only good is inside Him. Imagine how much we would have avoided if Adam and Eve stuck with all the trees of the garden instead of focusing on the one.

The same with you. Stop focusing on what you don’t have. Rejoice in what you do. Seek everything in Him.

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:3-5

Don’t be deceived by the “green grass on the other side of the fence…” it may contain a sinkhole of misery. Keep your eyes on Messiah and rejoice in your blessings and live!!!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Throwing Jonah..

We read about Jonah through Jonah’s perspective. But we can learn something more through another’s perspective – the crew. The crew had problems–the boat, the wind, the storm. But their real problem was Jonah.

Once they realized that, they threw him overboard; no more problems, just smooth sailing, nice and quiet. But for Jonah, he was swallowed by the fish. For them, their problem was over; they threw it overboard.

Similarly, you might be dealing with continual problems in your life. The real problem may not always be the problems that are in front of you, but something deeper. Perhaps not everything in your life is going wrong, but there is something in your life that is not in the Lord’s will…not God’s best.

Until you deal with that thing, and throw it overboard, you are not going to solve the other problems. You may already have a notion concerning what it is or you might have to seek for it. But if there IS something, that something is your Jonah. Deal with it, throw it overboard once and for all, and the storm will cease. You will have smooth sailing.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Find a quiet place to pray and seek God’s will for your life! Take steps to rid your mind and life of anything that’s against His will! Throw it overboard!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Your Bag Of Miracles…

A farmer has a bag of seeds filled with things such as the promise of life and fruitfulness. If the farmer doesn’t put the seed into the soil, it remains like a promise unfulfilled.

The Bible is a bag of many seeds. Every seed or word is filled with life and promise; a potential forest of fruitfulness, victory, love, joy, promises of God, miracles, and abundant life. It’s all there, but it’s only unlocked when you take the seed out of the bag.

Take the word, the verse, the truth or the promise out of the bag; water it with faith, and apply it to your life. Take it with you into the dirt, the muck, the messiness of real life; your work life, home life, emotional life, your daily life, your thought life. Let it get inside of you.

The one who hears the Word and takes it to heart is the good soil who will bear much fruit. Do you have a bag full of promises, blessings, power, and life? It’s all waiting to touch your life. Take it out, apply it to your life and you’ll be blessed 100-fold with blessings of power and life.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11

Take a word from the word of God – a seed. Apply it throughout the day to the soil of your life.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Your Choice – Your Shannah

The word in Hebrew for year is Shannah. But the word Shannah comes from the Hebrew for the number two. And the word year in Hebrew means “the second time, the repetition, the repeat” – for each year is like a repeat of the year before.

We often live our lives just this way; we continue to do the same things: the same mistakes, the same stumblings, the same fears. It’s just a Shannah – a repetition of what went before. But the word Shannah also means “new, the second, the second chance.”

So each Shannah, each year, is given to give us a chance for newness in our life. A new beginning to do the things we never do but should, to make the changes we know we should. It’s up to you to choose which one it will be.

In the power of God, He wants this Shannah to be something new and different, for “brand new” things, for overcoming and for victory. For in the new birth, all things will become new for you – but you need courage to break out of the repetition and into the newness of life.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Do something new today – take a new course – a new action – step out in faith – break the routine – do something unexpected of the old you – but part of the new you God has called you to become.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Gate Of The Year…

‘God Knows’

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown”.
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way”.
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God’s thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.

Minnie Louise Haskins 1908