“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”  (Mark 11: 23 KJV). 

This passage of scripture is powerful.  It’s implications overwhelm the mind.  Is it really true?  Can we actually do that?  Yes, we can.  But we must be careful to make the proper application. 

When faced with a mountain (obstacles, setbacks, disappointments, hardships, and difficulties of every kind) we are not to speak just whatever comes to mind, but we are to speak what God says in His Word!  The late author and speaker Judson Cornwall once said:  “You  do have the right to speak to any mountain.  Just be sure that when you  speak, you  speak what the Lord told  you to speak.  When you do, then you can expect the mountain to be moved.”   

The power of what is spoken is not in what we say, but in what God says!  The Lord of the universe always backs up His Word!  There is power in His Word.  And when His Word is spoken in faith (absolute confidence and trust in His Truth) then His power is unleashed into whatever situation we may be facing.  And we can expect the mountain to be moved in God’s time and in God’s way.  So just keep speaking to the mountain what God told you to speak.  The mountain must move.  It has no choice. 

The perseverance in speaking is not to convince God to move.   It is  to convince the evil one and the mountain he has created,  must yield to the Name of Jesus and the Power of His Word.  The adversary will  resist until he is convinced that we are convinced of the absolute truth of God’s Word.  Once that is established he (the evil one) and the mountain that has been created by him has to move. 

Rev. James Black

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36 KJV).

It is important for us in the Body of Christ to be reminded of the fact that through the love of Christ that was demonstrated on the cross and the power of His Mighty resurrection from the dead,  we have been delivered from the wrath of God!

In John 3:36 Jesus declared that “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him.”   When we were outside of Christ we were the “children of wrath.” (Eph. 2:3).   In other words, were under the judgment of a Holy God.  God is so holy that by His very nature He is required to pour out his complete judgment upon sin (of any kind).   But Jesus took our place  upon the cross.  There our sin was placed upon Him!   And the full weight of God’s Holy wrath was poured out upon Him instead of us!  Then He offers to anyone who will personally accept and receive what He alone has done for them,  total forgiveness and deliverance from the wrath of God! 

That is the good news of the Gospel!   Because of our sin, we were all under the judgment and the wrath of a Holy God.  But now, because we have surrendered our lives to Jesus, we have been completely forgiven and delivered from that wrath!  (Rom. 6:23, Eph. 2:8-9).   

The revelation and the understanding of that truth should cause us to humble ourselves in love, adoration and worship before Him!  Each time we gather as the redeemed of God we are celebrating our deliverance!   That is why we gather. That is why genuine worship  is filled with humility, awe, wonder and unspeakable joy!  The amazement of being loved, forgiven and delivered from the wrath of God should cause us to be grateful and desire to worship Him with abandon! 

James W. Black

“But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20). 

When we think about prayer we often think in terms of  what we need or want to say. We  concern ourselves about saying the right thing.  Or we concern ourselves about not knowing what to say.  And because we may not seem to be as  eloquent in our expression as others,  we think that our prayer will not be heard or received before the Lord.  We forget that prayer is not about the eloquence of the words but the attitude of the heart.  Prayer, like everything else in the Christian life,  is  a matter of the heart. 
If our heart is fixed upon Him (that is  we genuinely  know Him, follow Him, and seek to please Him)  then everything else falls into place. 

One of the aspects of prayer is learning to sit silently before the Lord.  Although the Lord welcomes us into His Presence and delights for us to express to Him what is on our heart and mind  (Phil. 4:6), it is equally important for us to learn to simply sit silently before Him.  Why?

Because when we are silent, we have the opportunity to reflect upon the wonder, the majesty, they mystery and the awesomeness of God Himself.  Picture in your mind what the Lord has revealed about Himself in scripture.   Think about His Person.  Think about the attributes He has revealed about Himself.   His grace.  His love. Her mercy.  His forgiveness.  His goodness. His provision. His faithfulness. His holiness. And above all His great salvation!  Think about His power that is revealed in creation. (Ps. 19:1).

In the silence, picture in your mind what the scripture reveals about the Lord seated upon His Throne! (Isaiah 6:1-6). Picture the myriad of angels along with the redeemed giving Him honor praise and glory! (Rev. 5:9-14). Then think about the fact that this awesome God knows you personally by name!  And this awesome God, longs for you to be there with Him in eternity! 

But most importantly, in the silence  we give the Lord the  opportunity to speak to us personally.  And it is there in the silence that we learn to recognize His voice.  (John 10:27).

James W. Black

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”  (Luke 16:10 KJV). 

Most who are followers of Christ would not think of engaging in things we call “big sins” (stealing, adultery, lying, etc.).  And sometimes we can pride ourselves (if we are not careful) in not doing those things.

However, we sometimes fail to realize that we must be just as diligent in guarding against what we call the “little things”; things like looking at someone and thinking that  because they are not “like us” that we are somehow better than they are.  It is easy to look at someone from another race, culture, social or educational background and be critical and condemning of them because they are different from us.  We forget that every human being is made in the image of God. 

We must also be diligent in guarding our thought life.  Christians can have unholy thoughts enter their mind just like anyone else. We must guard against allowing those thoughts to stay and take root.    We have been given the ability, through Christ, to capture those thoughts and cast them out of our minds.  (2 Cor. 10:5).

Diligence is also required in cultivating our personal relationship with Christ.  It is easy to become so busy in life that we push our relationship with Christ to the bottom of our priority  list.  We think that just going to church will be sufficient.  But church only enhances and encourages our relationship.  It is no substitute for cultivating  own personal relationship with the Lord. 

There are many other things we could name.  But the point is that if we neglect the little things, we can easily find ourselves doing things that we never thought we would.  It is in doing the little things that we build the foundation upon which we can stand against the bigger things that come against us.

James W. Black

“And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, ‘Follow me.’ And he arose and followed him.” (Mark 2:14 KJV). 

Matthew (or Levi as he was called here) was a businessman. He was engaged in the business of collecting taxes  for the Romans.  It was a lucrative profession. The Romans set a fixed rate for their  taxes.  The Tax Collectors could arbitrarily add a percentage to the amount that was collected.  That was their compensation.  And they became quite wealthy as a result.  But their wealth came at a cost. Because they were Jews who worked for the hated Romans, they were considered to be traitors and thus they were ostracized for the most part by their own people. 

 But one day, Jesus stopped  by Matthew’s place of business.  Jesus looked at him and said:  “Follow me.”  There was something about His words and His gaze  that  penetrated Matthew’s  soul. And he got up and followed Him!   That decision changed his life.  He would never be the same again. 

Jesus is still extending that invitation today.  It is the same for everyone.  His invitation is to:  “Follow Me.”  He does not invite us to preach, teach, be a missionary, sing, or serve in the  kitchen.   No.  He simply invites us to Follow Him!  And when we do, He alone  leads us to where He wants to go.  And  He alone empowers us to follow. 

We often make the Christian  life hard or difficult. We come up with all kinds of rules and regulations.  But all that Jesus asks anyone to do is to “Follow Him.”  Nothing more. Nothing less.  And  It is only  when we choose to follow Him that we experience the joy that He promises to bring.  All that we have to do is simply go where He goes, do what He does, and say what He says.  And if we do, we will be like Matthew.  We will never be the same again. 

James W. Black

“For I am the Lord, I change not…” (Malachi 3:6 KJV). 

One of the things that we all face in life is change.  Life is constantly changing.  Our children who at one time were toddlers are now grown and have children of their own.  Many of our loved ones have passed into eternity.  Places we once shopped have been torn down to make way for something new.  The highways we once traveled have changed.  Change is an inevitable part of life.  Some change is good.  Some of it is not.  And sometimes it is difficult to adjust to the change. 

But the one thing that does not change is the Lord Himself.  He makes that declaration in His Word.  In (Hebrews 13:8) the Word of God declares that Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Which affirms His Deity!).  The Lord’s unchanging nature should be a source of comfort for us. In a world that is constantly changing, the Lord never changes!

We know and serve the same God that Abraham did.  Not another God, but the same God!  He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and He is our God too!  The God of the Old Testament is the same God revealed (through Jesus) in the New Testament (Col. 2:9).  Jesus reveals to us exactly what God is like (John 14:9).  Jesus reveals to us the love, compassion, mercy, and grace of God.  He reveals the holiness of God.  And He reveals the justice of God that was satisfied on the cross for us! 

He is the eternal and unchanging God.  He is the anchor for the soul and the beacon of light and hope in the midst of the darkness!  Cling to Him!  Rest in Him!  Trust in Him!
He is always with us (Matt. 28:20)!  And He is always for us (Rom. 8:31).  He never changes!

Rev. James W. Black

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which  are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  (Rom. 8:1 KJV). 

We live in a broken world.  One of the results  of that brokenness is the fact that each of us at different times face condemnation from a variety of sources.  Some people condemn us whenever we make a mistake, never recognizing their own weakness and tendency for failure. Others condemn us when we do not measure up to their expectations.  Then there are those who condemn us simply because we disagree with them, regardless of the irrefutable facts that support our position.   We see that all across the spectrum of our society today. 

Then in addition to that, for those who are followers of Christ, we face the condemnation of the evil one.  He condemns us and reminds us of our past. 
He condemns us and points out our failure whenever we  slip up and do something wrong as a follower of Christ. (Note:  We all fail at times! ) He condemns us by telling us that there is no possible way that God could forgive us, much less love us; especially after what we did.   That of course is a lie!

And there is the condemnation that we bring upon ourselves.  We beat ourselves up because  we feel that we should be more spiritual or more mature than we are.  We get disappointed in ourselves when we compare ourselves to others. 

But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus came to set us free not only from the penalty of our sin, but also from the condemnation  that sin brings upon us!   The experience of  freedom begins with genuine repentance before God.  We agree with God that in light of His holiness our act or actions was sin in His sight. (1 John 1:9).  Repentance means that we surrender  to the cross, renounce our sin and turn from it. In exchange,  we receive His forgiveness, love and grace.  We receive His cleansing, renewal and refreshing.  We enthrone Jesus upon our heart and resolve to walk in  Him submitting to His power operating within us.  When we choose to do so, we discover the liberty and freedom of no longer walking in condemnation!  Jesus sets us free from the condemnation of others, from the evil one, and from the condemnation we bring upon ourselves!   That is real freedom!  And only Jesus can provide that for us! 

James W. Black

“And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” (Luke 24:31 ESV).

     The reality the Jesus is evident to all  those who want to see Him.   He is revealed in and through the creation (Psalm 19:1, John 1:3, Col. 1:16).  He is revealed in and through The Word of God (Heb. 4:12, Rom. 10:17).  And He is revealed in and through the personal lives of those who have received His message of grace, forgiveness and salvation and have experienced the transforming power of His Spirit!  (Rom. 8: 15-16). 

      Although  Jesus is invisible  (at the moment) to the natural eye, yet He is visible to us in the spirit and through the everyday events and circumstances of life.  Jesus illustrated this by pointing out that the Holy Spirit is like the wind.  We do not see or know how or where it originates or where it goes when it passes over us, but we can readily see and know what it does (John 3:8).  The ability to recognize Jesus depends upon whether or nor we genuinely desire to see Him!  All throughout scripture, the Lord revealed Himself to those who genuinely wanted to see.  He did that for Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Daniel and He still reveals Himself today.  Some revelations are dramatic, such as Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3:2) and Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9: 1-6).  The majority however  are quiet and simple like those two disciples in Emmaus,  who were having an ordinary meal with a stranger until their eyes were opened and they realized it was Jesus.   

      That is how Jesus most often reveals Himself to us today; in the simple,  everyday, ordinary things of life.  In those  times, like the disciples  in Emmaus, we may not immediately recognize Him at first.   But when as we look more closely upon  the moment, the  event or the circumstances we  have experienced our eyes are opened and we suddenly see Him .  We see that He was there right in the midst of of it!  He was  operating and working in that situation all the time!  That revelation is given to us by The Holy Spirit who opens our eyes and enables us to see!  That is why those who do not know Him and those who have no interest in Him, never see Him.   Jesus always hides Himself  from those who do not care to see.  But He is always revealing  Himself to those who do!  (Jer. 29:13). 

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature…” – 2nd Peter 1:4

The promises of God are without equal!  The promises of God are absolute;  meaning that they will be fulfilled!   The Character and the Power of God are behind each promise that He makes!  They are greater than we can possibly imagine.  As the hymn says; we can “stand on the promises of God.” 

But it is important for us to understand that there are different categories of God’s promises.  Some of the promises of God are unconditional; meaning that they apply to all people at all times.  Such is the promise of Salvation. It is offered to all who believe (that is put their complete trust) in  Jesus.  His love, forgiveness, and amazing grace are available to all who call upon Him in faith!  (John 3:16, Rom. 10:13).  This promise enables all who put their trust in Christ to experience the life-changing, transforming power of the Holy Spirit and receive a new life!  (2 Cor. 5:17). 

There are some promises that are specifically for the Nation of Israel.  They are God’s Covenantal Promise unto them. (Gen. 12:3). Some promises are conditional; meaning that we have a responsibility for those promises to be fulfilled.  If we honor, obey Him and meet the conditions He has asked, specific blessings will follow. But if we walk in dishonor and obedience certain curses will follow as a result.  (Deuteronomy 28).

All of God’s promises are given out of His love for His people!  They are designed to bless His people!  All of His promises are given to enable His people to experience the goodness of God in their lives.  One of the greatest ways we can grow in our faith is to begin walking by faith in the promises that God has given unto us.  As we do, we will experience the reality of those promises being manifested in our lives.  And we will begin to experience God in our daily lives! 

Let us be thankful that we have such an awesome God who makes such astounding promises to us! 

Rev. James W. Black