Standing Strong in His Grace

Five Minute Friday I do not know where I would be today If it were not for the sovereign grace of God.  Things could have turned out a lot worser than they really are. I could have almost been a casualty of death.  But I did not die in that car wreck. I can think of all the alternates I can name them all.  I could have been a high school dropout. I could have rejected God when He called me at the age of 18. I could have not gone to Bible school or even met or married my college sweetheart.  I would not have any kids today if we had not adopted our two sons. My life would have been very different today if I were even alive. The world could have locked me away and threw away the key... I could be in hell right about now.  When I think of the worst-case scenarios, which "almost" came true I can be more thankful of all those miracles called blessings I have today. Those decisions I made were actually in God' s plan for me. Otherwise, all you would see is my tombstone or worse

Today's Five Minute Friday Word is lonely. I don't have the foggiest clue what exactly to write so I'm just going to improvise and write whatever pops in my mind for five minutes...that is exactly what this writing exercise is all about so I'm doing awesome at this point! What do I think about the word lonely?  If I sit around thinking about it, you might say that that makes my lonely. We get so busy in our everyday hustle and bustle.  You wake up and before you know it, it is time to go back to sleep.  I am sure if we thought about it long enough, then we would get lonely. So how do you deal with being lonely? I am single at this season of my life.  Even though I'm divorced, but I'm not going to push it.   I have been there and done that and got the t-shirt that says "I am a divorced man, so don't rub it in!"  I do still get lonely at times, but it doesn't govern my day. I know that I do not wish to spend my golden years alone.  I don't th

I believe that at times We can limit God.  For that is like we are putting him in a box. It is as if we are saying to Him, "You can do this but can't do that in my heart..."  and the very fact is we are not thinking outside of the box ourselves. If we are doing that, we are putting others in a box too.  "What am I talking about," you might be thinking?  For example, you can get impatient and try to control your destiny. You can get ahead of yourself, without consulting Abba God first. If we are truly a born-again believer, you should be willing to call upon Him and be a doer of the word and not a hearer only.   You should be seeking to hear His voice, and not going out on our own. Is that not attempting to put GOD in a box? In fact, you are rejecting the hand that formed and fashioned you even within the womb! Thinking outside of the box means slowing down and waiting on God and not rushing ahead with your plans.  "Are you saying Yes when God has told you N

We can have a close relationship with God through Jesus by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We all have a place deep within us...a void you might say. We spent all our life attempting to fill this void and the only thing that will give us lasting satisfaction is for GOD to fill that empty void.  Nothing on this earth can come close to compare with His Spirit. If you have not experienced his fullness, you are missing out on a incredible move of God upon your life!! What is the catch to all this you might be questioning in your mind? How can this happen for me? Just pray and ask GOD to fill that place within you (that you have tried to fill with other things...)with the Holy Spirit. We ask then we wait for it to happen. You have to allow Jesus to come into your heart and He will come to you in a powerful way.

Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.  We cannot see it, but we can sense it with a knowing that something will happen. It is one of those links that is attached to faith.  We cannot have hope without Faith. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 Where would we be without hope?  We have to put our faith in something or someone. Put your hope in Jesus that He will give you the desires of your heart... Have you lost hope, and where can you find that lost treasure? Consider looking unto Jesus... Hope is a rare gift, but it can always be found.  It is something that you can reach for...it will never disappoint or fail you.  Abba will never abandon you, you can put your hope in Jesus and trust him!! You see, hope is one of those invisible traits in faith that inspires us to hold on with all we can. Jeremiah 29:11 says that "the Lord has plans to give you a hope and a future." We

  God’s grace is good.  That doesn’t mean we can get away with our sins.  What it does mean is that we don’t have to sin anymore.   As a true born again believer sins curse is broken off of us. We have the power to say “No” to all temptations that come our way.  We are not perfect and will still sin.  Jesus led a sinless life on this earth.  He was the perfect sacrificial passover lamb!!!  Praise ABBA!!!! The scriptures tell us all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  All glory belongs to Jesus.  He was the sinless sacrifice that took all our sins upon himself.   He nailed our sins to the cross! When he died we died to all our sins. As a believer we are raised immortal and his grace is freely given to us. Hallelujah!   Jesus was full of grace and we can overflow with that same living and saving grace.    We can come to him and worship Him in Spirit and truth. He is alive forever. We can say no to sin. We may be tempted but that’s not the sin.  The sin is when we by choice g

  Being a strong Christian means taking a fearless stand.  It’s not for cowards who are afraid of their own shadow.  We must face our fears with a holy boldness unctioned by the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Have you ever felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to make a wrong right?  Maybe Jesus told you to do something that takes boldness.  The enemy, That ole snake, knows what your afraid of and he taunts you to not go through with what God has spoken to your heart.  He brings out all his artillery to get you to stop you in your tracks to keep you from forging ahead.  Taking risks is all a part of being a Christian. A big majority of the time we must do the hard things.  Being a strong Christian is not taking the easy street.  Taking the narrow way takes courage and fearlessness.    Sometimes we have to take a leap of blind faith that takes leaning all of our weight upon him. For he will never fail you nor abandon you.  You can trust him with all your heart and soul.  …And when they prayed

 “ And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” Matthew 5:22 If Jesus himself said it why do we doubt our prayers. Sometimes the answer is to wait.  Praying is asking and bringing our petitions before his throne of grace.  Yes we do not get exactly what we ask when we ask God for something.  Sometimes the answer is “no.”   Why do we fuss and pout when we do not get the prayer request when we want it to happen.   We live in a very modern and convenient world and mindset. Our creator is our ABBA who knows what we need when we need it.   I tell you what….he seems things behind the scenes. If he is making us wait you better believe that the delay is for your own good.   He is our ultimate parent. We can leave our requests with him and he will not delay. Gods timing is different than ours.  God does not want spoiled b rats who think they deserve whatever they ask for.  He loves us with an everlasting love and knows what is for our own good. we think we know what we need.

This is a challenge I was going to do for the month of April.  I will post the website later.  Now It is on letter F.   I don’t know if I can catch up at this point.  I’m calling this the flop post! 😂   It was very difficult coming up with words for the alphabet this year to be honest. I did this challenge on my own three times last year on my own.  I will be getting a laptop next Tuesday.  It will make online writing a whole lot easier.  So I know I signed up for the challenge and some of you are wondering why I’m not writing yet.   I really want to do a prose book using my blog. I also want to do a fiction blog for a future book.  Well I was wanting to give you all a heads up.  I will be posting letters  A-E soon.  Going to attempt 2 posts a day. I don’t know how else to catch up?? Maranatha, Richard T Hicks

  There is nothing complicated about hell…in fact it is very easy to get there.    I can assure you it’s not one big party with lots of rock music and sex.  Who would want to actually feel hells torment without any grace, mercy or relief. I do not know about you but I do not wish to go there If you intend to take the easy street then by all means be prepared for continual weeping and gnashing of teeth and the torment of eternal fiery punishment. Hell is not a complicated choice!!  Who would want to go there?  I would never desire to go there willingly.   Jesus came to this earth he hung on that cross as a human being   He was God in the flesh. There is not  a whole lot of preaching these days about going hell…we need to hear more fiery sermons from pulpits on Sunday mornings!!! Unrepentant sinners.will all go to hell.  It’s high time we repented of all our sins, and ask God to forgive you of all sin. Sin is sin and Jesus desires us to be in the kingdom of heaven with him for all eterni