PASTOR JOHN COLLINS THOUGHT OF THE DAY: SEASONS

The helper and the helped.....

We are not meant to walk through this life alone.  “No man is an island” is truth.  Learning to accept and receive help and kindness is a life-long long process.

Pastor John Collins of John Collins Ministries says “Do not let your pride deny others of their opportunity to serve God by helping you. Do not lean too heavily in either direction so that you do not become a burden nor defensive…. This is true for all aspects of our lives. We will go through situations in our lives that will bring us low and sting our pride. We will go through times of being lifted up that will challenge our egos and tempt our pride. Both sides of this coin is needed to test our faith and teach us the ways of God. We must be able to become humble. It is not worth it to hang on to your ego or to cling to your stubborn pride. Be done with it and let it go because it will never serve you well. In order to enter the kingdom of heaven we must allow God to stomp our pride in the dirt. Be willing to welcome that huge piece of humble pie” (April, 2018).

By Pastor John Collins:

“Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, excercising lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,’ says the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NKJV).

“Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.” Proverbs 3:3-4 (NKJV).

A kind person with a kind heart will do kind things for others. Mercy and compassion will drive a person to be considerate of others and to take the time to help others out. Thoughtfulness comes in so many different ways. It can be helping out a friend to move, getting groceries for an elderly neighbor, helping someone change a tire, giving a few dollars to the homeless or it could be taking the time to hear out your son or daughter which will give them the confidence in your relationship to learn to act with maturity and transparency.

Jesus has said that we should love one another. He gave us perfect examples for doing so. What happens when we deny another the opportunity to help us when it is our time? Our pride can stand in the way of our path to heaven. To everything there is a season and time. As we go through life, we will not always be in a position of helping others. We will come to a time or times in our lives when we should be accepting the help of others. You see, this is important in our faith. God will bring people into our lives that will further the faith of both parties. Sometimes you are the helper and sometimes you are the helped.

Each of us cannot stand alone. We were never meant to. It is a give and take in this life. We need to learn to be compassionate and kind as well as learn to be accepting of that same compassion and kindness when we need to. Our bodies are deteriorating all of the time. You cannot expect a 70 year old woman to move her household furniture by herself. She has passed the age of being able to do so. The Levites that took care of the tabernacle did so from the ages of 30-50 years. Their strength was greatest during these years and their service was limited to that time. There are seasons in all of our lives of physical strength and those seasons do pass. Do not let your pride deny others of their opportunity to serve God by helping you. Do not lean too heavily in either direction so that you do not become a burden nor defensive.

This is true for all aspects of our lives. We will go through situations in our lives that will bring us low and sting our pride. We will go through times of being lifted up that will challenge our egos and tempt our pride. Both sides of this coin is needed to test our faith and teach us the ways of God. We must be able to become humble. It is not worth it to hang on to your ego or to cling to your stubborn pride. Be done with it and let it go because it will never serve you well. In order to enter the kingdom of heaven we must allow God to stomp our pride in the dirt. Be willing to welcome that huge piece of humble pie. Gobble it up and ask for more!

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3 (NKJV).

Love That Cross, Pastor John Collins

Pastor John Collins is an American evangelist.  Over the course of more than a decade, he has spread the word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ through revival.  He can be heard Sundays at 10 am and 6 pm on Heaven’s Country Radio at www.heavenscountry.com and across the United States on AM and FM stations. Pastor John Collins is determined to change the face of Christianity one church at a time, one person at a time.

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS THOUGHT OF THE DAY: TOUGH LOVE

 Pastor John Collins writes:

“Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!” Jeremiah 20:14 (NKJV).

Who has not felt despair pulling on their world that seems to outweigh any hope that may exist? This life is full of ugly truths and disappointing days that will rip your heart out if you let it. There are valleys and shadows of a darkness that is uncompromising. People who find themselves at low points may turn to substances, whether prescription or illegal or over the counter in order to dull their pain and put off the agony of reality. It is at these low times when you feel as though you have nothing to hang on to, nothing to live for and nothing to pull you out of the darkness that faith is most important. For some, it is these dark spaces that create faith and for others it is the place that creates the doubt that challenges one’s faith. Sometimes it is hard to hold on to what you cannot see.

The human spirit is amazingly resilient. We are tougher than we realize. The truth is that there will come a time or many times in a person’s life that will leave you low and wanting to curse not only the world but your place in it. We are created with a great capacity to feel great emotions both high and low and we are capable of great compassion for each other and need to find the ability to have compassion for ourselves, not in any superficial or selfish way but in a way that allows us to let God into our hearts in order to be healed by Him. We need to choose to not allow pain to overwhelm us when we will be confronted with pain every day, whether or not that pain is our own personally or collectively. You see, when there is hurt in this world we need to make an even greater effort to love more. The more that we can genuinely love, beginning with loving God, who in turn allows us to love ourselves, not selfishly but with compassion and the ability to forgive ourselves so that we don’t go on punishing ourselves for past mistakes, bad choices or tragedies that we internalize and take on guilt for and that allows us to be able to love others with sincerity and truth. We have to be able to see the big picture as well as the little picture at the same time. Not only do we need to realize that God does have a plan and that He has not forgotten us nor forsaken us but know your life matters, what you do and who you love matters and that love needs to allow for forgiveness, acceptance and hope to shine through the darkness.

If you have not experienced pain of the soul that sucks the breath right out of you then you have not lived. If you have not stood back and felt awe for the world we live in then you have not awakened to the truth of God. The entire human experience will bring both despair and joy beyond imagination and knowing both allows you to be a better person and a person of compassion and truth. God is good and will not leave you alone. Do not grow bitter for having known the darkness because without it you could not appreciate the light.

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassion's fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!’” Lamentations 3:22-24 (NKJV).

LOVE THAT CROSS PASTOR JOHN COLLINS

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS, DAILY THOUGHTS: GOD IS CALLING.....

.....DO YOU HEAR HIM ~ PASTOR JOHN COLLINS

“Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”  Isaiah 45:22 (NKJV).

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18 (NKJV).

God is calling you.  Will you answer?  God wants His people to wake up and pay attention.  There is nothing that any person has done that cannot be forgiven.  There is not a person that is unable to be saved for the price has been paid, but there are many who are unwilling to believe and claim the prize.  Unfortunately, there are many who think that they have already claimed it and have never truly understood the value.  How is it possible that a person who genuinely knows the gift that has been given can go into a church on Sunday morning and greet and meet with fellow believers, drop a twenty on the offering plate and by the time that they pull into the driveway of their house be back to living and sinning with abandon?  It happens, too often.  We all know it and that is why there is so many who just see Christians as hypocrites and judgmental fools.

Repent!  For the kingdom of God is at hand.  How is it possible to repent if you don’t have any conviction in your soul for the sins that you have committed?  How is it possible to come back to God if you think that you are already there, that you have never left or that your efforts are good enough?  Whose standards do you live by?  Don’t you know that the human heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things?  How does that work, exactly?  Well, we fool ourselves and most of all we justify ourselves.  We have determined what is right and wrong in our own eyes and we have stopped living according to God’s standards as a people.  We look left and we look right and then we look in the mirror knowing that the best way to feel good about doing something that is wrong is to get another to join you and if that doesn’t work then find a reason for your desires whether that is a hurt, a reward or someone else’s fault.  Honesty comes at a price and belonging to God comes a price as well.  Salvation is free and offered to one and all but you have to choose to accept and that acceptance has a price.  You have to agree with God to want to obey God and you have to obey God in order to claim salvation.  You cannot just live your life according to your own moral code and your own rules and redeem your ticket to heaven.

God wants people in heaven who want to be in heaven.  God wants people to live in love and peace in the kingdom that He created that hold dear the things that He holds dear.

God cherishes goodness, love, charity, kindness, meekness and sacrifice.  God really loves sacrifice but you must know that sacrifice is not a sacrifice unless you willingly give up something that you hold dear or once held dear.  Where your heart is, there also is your treasure.  Do you value your desires and pleasures more than you value God?  Most people want what they want in life.  In order to claim the prize you must decide if you truly want it and if you do, then you need to learn what God values and what God views as righteous behavior and seek to value those things and do what is right in His eyes and then you can receive all of the promises.  It is easier than many think and there is nothing that would prevent anyone from claiming salvation.

God is willing, are you?

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.”  Jeremiah 17:7 (NKJV).

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS, BELIEVE THAT

Pastor John Collins is redeeming the Gospel through John Collins Ministries and Love That Cross.  He can be heard Sundays at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. with Marty Smith on Heaven's Country Radio at www.heavenscountry.com.  He is available for guest speaking, revival, prayer, ministry or to simply talk and can be reached through his personal email at jc65777@yahoo.com.