PASTOR JOHN COLLINS DAILY THOUGHTS: WEEDS

There will be seeds replenished regularly in our heart.
We need to decide which we will pull out and which we
will water.
Pastor John Collins, John Collins Ministries

PURSUING PEACE~PASTOR JOHN COLLINS

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” Hebrews 12:14-15 (NKJV).

Bitterness is something that we must be on guard against and we must have complete honesty with ourselves if we are to monitor our hearts so that we can repent if we find ourselves gone astray. Bitterness will creep up on you and it is easy to allow it to happen. We like to think of ourselves as deserving the best and we become very offended when others hurt us, reject us and when we perceive that we have not received our ‘due’.

We must be careful to find the balance of self-worth and humility. Sometimes people just don’t think things through with faith. Do you deserve health, happiness, wealth, love, respect, honor, recognition or to walk through this life without hurt? Does the Bible promise that? What about Lazarus? What about our dear Lord Jesus Christ who not only died on the Cross for us but was rejected, told he had a demon, was cursed and taunted, beaten and tormented and forced to carry his own instrument of death?

God does not want us to hurt but there must be a desire for God inside of us and we must come to recognize His lessons and His love. There will be seeds planted in our hearts; seeds of love, anger, hate, joy, bitterness, forgiveness and the list just goes on and is replenished regularly. We must make the choice about which seeds we choose to water and which seeds we choose to pluck out.

We are the children of God and we have Jesus. This world is evil and has no hold upon us. Our home is in heaven and if this is what we know then we should act like it. Remember that we are not promised a blissful life on earth but we are promised that blissful life in heaven, but you have to get there first.

“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper;I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” Hebrews 13:5-6 (NKJV).

LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN COLLINS

Pastor John Collins and John Collins Ministries are determined to change the face of Christianity and redeem the truth of the Gospel and the word of God. 

You can hear Pastor John Collins broadcast on AM and FM stations across the USA.  John Collins Ministries has a Youtube channel that posts regular podcasts of Pastor Collins.  John Collins Ministries has a channel on Blogtalk radio.  This country needs to hear the truth of God and Jesus. This world needs to hear and understand what the rules are in order to get to heaven.  They aren’t preached and they aren’t taught, and it’s time for people to hear to hear that truth.  Pastor John Collins and John Collins Ministries is bringing that message with passion and fervor.  Take the time to listen.  If you want to reach Pastor John Collins, contact him for preaching, prayer, revival, guest speaking at jcollinsministries@gmail.com. We need to get it right.

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS, DAILY THOUGHTS: 1 CORINTHINIANS "LOVE"

No matter how hard we try to deny it, we need love.  We are programming in our DNA for it, and that comes from our Father in heaven.  Love that is pure is holy, and that is what God expects from us.  We lost it, we messed it up pretty bad.  Too much hurt, too easy to say nothing and turn away from those around us rather that put the effort in to make things work or make it better, makes it all too easy to give up on true love.  That's the love God offers us, what He offers us through His Son Jesus Christ.

EVANGELIST JOHN COLLINS WRITES:

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NKJV).

The love that Paul describes here is holy and pure. It is not the love that so many speak of in this life. Too often people will claim to be in love, then out of love, then in love with another, there is puppy love, your first love, your last love, lust described as love and the list just goes on. You have marriages without commitment and parents without the desire to parent and you have the greatest love of all: the love of self but you do not have an abundance of holy and pure love.

Why is it that people do not have the capacity or desire to embrace a lasting relationship based on love and have a life that is committed to love? People are not committing their lives completely to God is why. It is when you truly understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and have committed to living your life as God has instructed us to live that you begin to know the love of God.

Having given your life to Christ does not make you exempt from hurt in this life but it does soothe the wounds that come. We learn from those things that cause hurt and we grow in our capacity to love. We must first dedicate ourselves to learning how to love in a pure way and that means that we must purify our hearts and forgive the old wounds so that we can heal. We need to be willing to lift others up and not ourselves and be willing to be patient in our lives. This generation of people carries around self-entitlement like a badge of honor. It is shameful and we need to get back to humble roots.
Jesus was humble and always had His priorities straight. Let this generation be willing to learn from Him and be willing to slow down and learn to desire the grace of God. Let your heart swell with love and pray it lingers and sheds light on another in the name of Jesus Christ.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV).

LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN

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