Friday April 22, 2011

GOOD FRIDAY!

There are not words big enough to say "Thank You"!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH JESUS!!

Let us never forget what He truly did for all of us.

Today may have been a day of morning, but we know Today our Glorious Lord Arose from the dead to ascend to Heaven's above and sit at the right hand of God and rule over all things. 

PRAISE BE TO OUR LORD & SAVIOR.

THANK YOU, JESUS

And thank all of you for starting this day with "God's Cup of Coffee". 

Godspeed,

James Boening

Wednesday April 6, 2011

Impact of Forgiveness!

⁴¹ Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. ⁴² But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

 ⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

"That’s right,” Jesus said.

I know that I have asked this question before:  Why does it seem like the people that have often lived such a flamboyant sin filled life, often times after being saved by our Lord & Savior get so on fire for the Him and do some great things in His name?  The answer is the small parable Jesus gave above.  Simple, short and brings it home in such an amazing way.  

I love how Jesus taught, He made things simple, He made things easy to understand so that are simple minds could have a description of reference in our everyday lives.  He didn't tell us because I said so, but took the time to teach us and leave us with words and stories that can still be used 2000 years later.  

I love Him for that and can't thank Him enough for loving me.  

I want to thank all of you for your support and for starting your day with "God's Cup of Coffee".

Godspeed,

James Boening

Friday April 1, 2011

We Are Weak He Is Strong!

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

¹ Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way, we never give up. ² We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this.

 ³ If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. ⁴ Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

 ⁵ You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

 ⁷ We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

 ⁸ We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. ⁹ We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. ¹⁰ Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

 ¹¹ Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. ¹² So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.

This is more scripture than I usually post, but it is such an eye opener to so many area's of our lives and struggles here in the enemies domain.  

There are people that the enemy has blinded there eye's to God's Glory.  Our bodies are fragile for a reason, so God's light can shine upon us and through us and make us strong.  He did this so that we could not rely upon our own strength and "will" to be sufficient.  For us Christians our bodies are not our's but a temple for His light to shine.  This world is not our home, we have been dropped behind enemy lines and have been called to spread the Good News at all cost.  Even to pay the ultimate price, death.  We must try and remember in the midst of the pressures, tragedy and utter disasters we find ourselves in, God has a plan.  He is returning in His splendid Glory and will be victorious in the end.  How awesome is it, that we know who wins the battle.

I want to thank all of you for you support and for starting your day with "God's Cup of Coffee".    

Godspeed,

James Boening

Monday March 28, 2011

"LOVE" of Money!

1 Timothy 6:9-10

⁹ But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

Money, Faith and our relationship with the Lord can often get sticky when our relationship with Him is not first in our lives.  We need money to eat, clothe and provide shelter for ourselves and our loved ones.  Also, the Lord wants us to have plenty and no where in the Bible does it say we aren't suppose to be rich in wealth.  The problem begins with a desire.  A desire to acquire wealth for the wrong reasons.  Often times we cloud our desires with what we think the Lord wants for our lives and we find ourselves caught in a snare or trap that takes us off course.  There is nothing wrong with having a lot of money, the problem lies within a single word, "LOVE".  The love of money is one of the enemies greatest traps.  

I can speak from experience, my inner drive to be "rich", clouded my judgement between right and wrong.  I put making money in front of my faith, my family and then my character.  Obviously it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure I did a lot of damage to myself and those around me.  We must keep Christ first.  When we don't, we find ourselves in the enemies whirlpool of destruction quickly.  We must remember money is not bad but the "love" of money IS!  

I have found that the greatest way to become "rich" in every area of my life is to walk and talk with my Lord & Savior daily and even hourly.  If we want to see the depth of God's Love for our lives, step out of your comfort zone for Him and watch God take you on a journey that you couldn't of imagined for your life.  Do what you know and watch God glorify you in ways you couldn't imagine.  He wants us to trust Him.  Give Him the first minutes of your day and the first portion of your pay and show him that He is the most important thing in your life and watch the inner peace well up within you and spill out onto those around you.  The sooner we realize it is all His and it's only on loan, the sooner we can walk within His "will" and "purpose" for our lives.  God bless all of you.

I want to thank all of you for your support and for starting your day with a "Cup of God's Coffee".

Godspeed,

James Boening

Sunday March 27, 2011

Clouded Thoughts!

Galatians 5:22-23

²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control.....

I'm not even sure this verse is what this will be about.  I just love to know we have been given all of these things through and from the Spirit of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ.

My thoughts seem to be jumpy and unfocused.  I normally pray, read some scripture and the thoughts flow like a stream straight from the Lord.  I rarely have to think about the next sentence or how to begin or end.  Today is different, I find myself in a place of  unsettling with something on the home front and battle with giving it over to the Lord.  It's always difficult to see someone you love, hurt or doing the hurting.  I guess it's even more difficult when both happen.  It's easy to teach or write when your own mind isn't in a whirlwind of darting thoughts and emotions.  Once again we must remember, as children of God, He will give us opportunities to allow His grace and strength to be sufficient, because when we rely on ourselves to persevere or take something head on without the Lord leading the way it can not and will not end in a way that will Glorify the Lord.  I have a saying that I know is not mine but I use often:  when in doubt, PRAY!  Spend time with Lord let Him heal the hurt, let Him wrap His arms around us and see us through, let Him carry us when we can't see where to go from here.  When we do this, I promise we will find a peace that no other can supply, we can and will Glorify God by surrendering our lives to Him.  Remember this, for all of us parents out there; when our own children are hurting or in need, don't we come to there need and want good for them.  Our heavenly Father is no different, except His love is far more unconditional and far more transcending than we can really grasp.  If this seems a little clouded or all over the place, its because I feel exactly that way.  May the Lord cover us in His Spirit and send His Angels down to protect us and fight the battle we can not see but know it's there.  

Remember what the Spirit produces and remember how much He Loves Us.  Thank goodness He loves us and thank goodness nothing can pluck us from His hand. 

I want to thank all of you for your support and for starting your day with a "Cup of God's Coffee".

Godspeed,

James Boening

Saturday March 26, 2011

CHILD or ADULT?

1 Corinthians 13:11

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

This scripture seems so basic.  Here on earth we have given an age for infants, children, teens and as my wife and I say, a man child for the early twenties.  We set expectations and allow for mishaps at certain ages in our children's lives according to the earthly age.  We also expect our children to leave the childish things behind and become responsible adults. 

I'm sure I can speak for most of us when I say; we would not be happy or find it very acceptable if our children at the age of twenty something were playing with dolls or any type of childish toys and still living at home.  Just as disappointing as we would find this for our own children, God is telling us in this scripture the same thing.

The beauty of our relationship with the Lord is not age driven.  You could be seventy and find Christ and accept Him as your Lord & Savior (not that I suggest that), but God is always there and waiting for us to join His family.  At that moment we become an infant in our relationship in Christ.  Some of us mature quicker and some of us, like myself are hard headed and take a longer bumpier road.  We must remember this verse and ask ourselves what childish things are we holding onto that are stopping us from becoming a grown-up in Christ.  Remember just as our children are always born into our families and no matter what age they become, they are always are children.  The same is with our Lord & Savior, once we are reborn in Spirit through Him we will always be His and He wants for us to leave the childish things behind and become grown-ups.  The sooner we come to Him and give our lives to His service the sooner we can become mature in the word and teach and help others become adults in Christ.  

We should and are called to go out into the world and bring the word and love all as Christ loved us.  The only way to do this is to leave are childish things behind.

I want to thank all of you for your support and for starting your day with "God's Cup of Coffee".

Godspeed,

James Boening

Sunday March 20, 2011

God's Plan (Often Complicated)

John 6:70

⁷⁰ Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.”

This would be hard to understand if we didn't know the end of the story.  Jesus was so at one with God (He was God), in the flesh that he  knew God's plan, will and purpose for his life.  Can you imagine being so connected to the Father that you could make the decision to choose the one person that would betray you and bring you to your death?  Could you imagine not just choosing him but bringing him into your inner circle, teaching him and treat him the same as the others?  

For all of us battling something or trying to figure out why this person or situation is going on in our life?  I say this;  It's very difficult for us to have the connection with the Father as Jesus did while here on earth. I won't say it's impossible, but difficult.  Because of our lack of unshakable connection to God, He loves us too much for us to wander into a direction not of His will.  His plan is so much bigger than today's circumstance or situation.  We must hold tight to His promises and the unconditional LOVE He has for us.  We must remember He knows the end of the story for each one of our lives.  He knows how and what the ripple effect of this circumstance or situation will be for the good of His great plan for our lives.  

It's no different with a mother or father allowing one of their children to fall down when learning to ride a bike, we know that they won't severely get hurt but we also know that they will learn a lesson that you can get hurt riding a bike and that's why you must be careful.  This may seem trivial to the situations we find ourselves in as adults, but I promise God is just trying to teach us something.  The sooner we stop and find the reason why, the sooner God can glorify us for His plan.

It's sad to me that it took so long for me to realize in my own life the amazing truth in this song and video I've attached.  It's not a world of me!

I also want my wife to know how much I love her and that God has a plan for both of us and His plan is greater than we could ever dream.  I will love you for eternity.

I want thank all of you for your support and for starting your day with "God's Cup of Coffee".

Godspeed,

James Boening