I See Your True Color Shining Through!!!

  Fall is here! I LOVE to see beautiful colors,  especially the orange and yellow ones. We dont have as many this year, due to all of the Tropical Storms, etc we have had. But, as I was reading  in Psalm 1, the Lord showed me something about Fall leaves.

Psalms 1 described the Blessed man in the Lord. It describes how that man lives, what he does, and what his end will be. Verse 3 "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth is fruit in his season; HIS LEAF SHALL NOT WITHER, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." I looked up the definition of "leaf." It is "a flattened structure of a HIGHER PLANT ....that is attached to stem  directly or via a stalk." Does the Bible not say " I am the Vine, ye are the branches; He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." John 15: 5. We are the leaves on the Lord's Tree of Life, the "HIGHER PLANT." To become a leaf, we had to be BORN INTO THE TREE!!! "Ye must be BORN AGAIN..." John 3:7.

The color of the leaves of a tree tell a lot about the life of themselves. When they are first grown, or "born", they are green. Green is the color of life, and they are that color due to a chemical  CHANGE  that takes place in the leaf. "...old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." II Corinth. 5:12. Photosynthesis is the process of the leaf that creates the food fuel needed FROM THE SUN AND ITS LIGHT and WATER, to change the "bad" byproducts from carbon dioxide, into air, or oxygen. Being planted by the "rivers of water" don't we as Christians do the same? Our "food fuel" spiritually comes from THE SUN of RIGHTEOUSNESS HIMSELF(Malachi 4:2) and the Water of His Word gives us the life we need!He rids us of the "by-products" of sin as we spiritually grow in Him. "But GROW IN GRACE , and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ...." II Peter 3:18.

If verse 3 says "his leaf shall not wither", then how does this match up to the fall leaves???? Well, to the physical eye, the leaf outwardly looks to be perishing. It is "PHYSICALLY" dying. The break-down of the chlorophyll is what gives the leaves the beautiful colors that appear. Chlorophyll of the leaf is ITS OWN ENERGY SUPPLY, that makes the leaf depend on self for its life. As new Christians we green, new and tender in our spiritual life. As we grow, we should depend MORE AND MORE on the Lord for our STRENGTH! We should spiritually "breakdown" as well.  Paul said"....though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." II Corinth. 4:16. As we learn that "He must increase, and I must decrease," John 3:30, we "die to self". We should be in agreement with Paul when he said "..I die daily." I Corinth. 15:31. When we die to our own wants and desires and consume the Water of the Word for our fuel, others will see the Lord's beauty on us! We will not, but they will!!!! Is this not what happened to Moses when he came down from Mt. Sinai when receiving the 10 Commandments???  The children of Israel saw it and he didn't know it! His face shone so bright with the Lord that he had to put a vale over his face! Did not the men of the Sanhedrin say the same of Peter and John when they saw their boldness for the name of Jesus?? "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they MARVELED: AND THEY TOOK KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS." Acts 4:13. Our TRUE SPIRITUAL COLORS will come shining through when we have been sitting at Jesus' feet.

If we keep our Spiritual Man  planted by the Rivers of Water as the Psalms says, we will be strengthened daily and grow in grace by the Lord's power and might. Just like verse 2 says, our delight should be in the Law of the Lord and we should meditate in it day and night. Then we will bring forth fruit in our season and our inward "leaf" or man WILL NOT WITHER!!!  Inwardly we will be an EVERGREEN LEAF! Although it may look to the world that we are weak, feeble, and even dying. the beauty of the Lord can shine through us if we have been with Him!!! His true Majesty and Beauty can shine through us for others to see, bringing ONLY HIM honor and glory.

Save Yourself!!!!!!!!!!

Nope. NOT TALKING ABOUT SALVATION! ;) The Lord Jesus is the ONLY One and Way the anyone can be saved from death and Hell. He has paid our sin debt in FULL, and made the way for us. He has left us here, after we have ACCEPTED His Salvation for ONE PURPOSE ONLY: to live for Him and win more souls. BUT, we have to take care and control of our Spiritual Life and Walk with the Lord. THIS DECISION is up to us, and can affect our VERY LIVES!!!
Let's face it folks. This world is going to Hell, LITERALLY, in a "hand basket" as the cliche goes.BUT, we as God's children DO NOT have to be a part of it! There are three main areas of our Spiritual life that we HAVE to protect and keep pure with the Lord's help, in order to do so: 1) our eyes, 2) our minds, and 3) our hearts.

Our eyes do more for us than allow us to physically see. The images we see through them send messages to our brains and put thoughts in our minds! What we look at affects our wants, thoughts, and desires. An example from Scripture is Lot.Genesis 13 tells of when the Lord had blessed him and Abraham with cattle, so much that it caused conflict with their herdsmen,and they had to separate. Abraham told him to choose what part of the land he wanted for his dwelling, and Abraham would take the other. Verses 10 & 11 says, "And Lot LIFTED UP HIS EYES, and BEHELD all the plain .....that it was well watered. THEN LOT CHOSE all the plain of Jordan..". Lot made the decision of what to do based solely upon what the land LOOKED LIKE! He saw the physical beauty of it and selfishly chose the "best plain". BUT, look at what verse 12 says. "..Lot dwelled in the CITIES of the plain, and PITCHED his tent toward Sodom." One thing led to another. His EYES had affected his chose, which then affected where he spent most of his time, and HOW he pitched his tent, or home. It was a domino effect. We CAN NOT look at the things of this world and make decisions based upon how they look! We have to control what we allow our eyes to see! One simple 'second-glance' can be destructive to our walk with the Lord and our testimony! Lot eventually lost the respect of his family, his wife (FROM A LOOK BACK), and his testimony. That is a high price brethren! It all started with a look!  What are you looking at? What do you watch for entertainment? Most of what is on television, Internet, etc, is NOT SPIRITUAL! We cannot make things that are demonic, evil, witchcraft, or even "scientific" , pure, or righteous! Our world has been fascinated with zombies, vampires, goth, etc as NEVER BEFORE! Sadly, MANY of God's people have become wrapped up in it as well! Brethren, these things ought not to be!(James 3:10). We should be "LOOKING UNTO JESUS...". Hebrews 12:1 Would you sit and watch what you normally do with the Lord in the chair next to you? WE ARE! We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit and we are subjecting our Lord to the filth of this world when we watch wickedness! The Holy Spirit should convict us of this sin when we are doing so. If we are not, then SOMETHING is WRONG! WE need to check up and make sure we are saved,or either our conscience is "seared with an iron." I Timothy 4:1 & 2 speak about this EXACT thing! "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly (clearly or plainly) that int he latter times some shall DEPART from the FAITH, giving heed to SEDUCING spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; HAVING THEIR CONSCIENCE SEARED WITH AN IRON." We can become sooo burned on our conscience from the effects of sin, that it doesn't even bother us anymore. Save yourself from what you are looking at brother and sister in the Lord!
Our eyes next affect our heart! Jeremiah said so in Lamentations 3:51 "Mine eye affecteth mine heart ..". We can't argue with God's plain Word! The more of sin that we feed our eyes with, the more we will become hardened to it in our heart. The way to get the victory over this is to PURPOSE in our HEART to obey the Lord and walk with HIM! Daniel PURPOSED in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat and that he was going to serve the Lord! (Daniel 1:8). He could have easily enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a season, being away from family and the life he was used to, but he knew there would be a price to pay! Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep they heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." "Ye are the children of light, and the children of the day; we are NOT OF THE NIGHT, nor of darkness.... But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the BREASTPLATE of faith and love;" I Thess. 5:5&8. The Breastplate is our spiritual armour of our heart. Young people, what do you look at or participate in when your family or no one else is around? The Lord knows because He sees all! Purpose in your heart TODAY that you will follow the Lord. Save Your Heart!!

Lastly, our eyes affect our heart, and our heart affects our minds. We, through God's help, can control what our minds think. Will we always? No, because we are human. That is why we HAVE TO DEPEND on the LORD JESUS and His strength alone to do so! He knew that we would battle this DAILY, so He gave us the ammunition to fight back in His Word! "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of HIS MIGHT!" Eph. 6:10 "For to be carnally minded is DEATH;but to be spiritually minded is LIFE AND PEACE." Is your mind in constant turmoil? Maybe it is because you need to trust on God fully for help in keeping your thoughts on spiritual things. "Thou wilt keep in PERFECT PEACE WHOSE MIND IS STAYED ON THEE because he trusteth in thee." Ish. 26:3. How can we do so? "'Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any VIRTUE, and if there be any PRAISE, THINK ON THESE THINGS." Phillip. 4:8. To be carnally minded is spiritual AND PHYSICAL death! If we continue in our minds to feed on the flesh, it will mortify our spiritual walk and testimony, and our very lives! Some sins affect our physical health, (i.e.  smoking, drinking). The Lord does talk about sin unto death I John 5:16. If we continue on in sin WILLINGLY, the Lord can take us on home to glory. He will not suffer reproach to His HOLY NAME. Christian brother or sister, SAVE YOUR MINDS!!


 WE need to SAVE OURSELVES!. May the Lord help us today when we look at things.May we put a guard or blinders on our physical eyes to protect our hearts and minds. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink or WHATSOEVER ye do, do ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD." I Corinth. 10:31 "See then that ye walk CIRCUMSPECTLY (wary and unwilling to take risks), not as fools, but as WISE, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." Ephes. 5:15 &16.
 Today may the Lord help us to be busy "Rescuing the perishing" instead of having to waste time Saving Ourselves!! "But I keep my body under subjection:lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." I Corth. 9:27 "Take heed unto thyself, and unto doctrine; CONTINUE in them; for in doing this thou shalt both SAVE THYSELF, and them that hear thee." I Timothy 4:16.