Rick Costa

Teach me to do your will, because you are my God. May your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

– Psalm 142:10 (GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995))

Lean on the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you always.

Whom have I in heaven but you? and having you I have no desire for anything on earth.

– Psalm 73:25 (Bible in Basic English)

Before anything else we should be seeking desperately after God.

I will not accuse you forever. I will not be angry with you forever. Otherwise, the spirits, the lives of those I’ve made, would grow faint in my presence.

– Isaiah 57:16 (GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995))

Thank goodness the Lord is patient with His creation!

[A psalm by David.] The LORD is my shepherd. I am never in need.

– Psalm 23:1 (GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995))

Submit yourself to God as His little sheep and you will find you will lack nothing that you need to live.

Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is the Father who is compassionate and the God who gives comfort.He comforts us whenever we suffer. That is why whenever other people suffer, we are able to comfort them by using the same comfort we have received from God.

– 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (GOD’S WORD ® Translation)

Whatever we go through, God is always there to comfort us when we look to Him.  And not only that but through Him we can bring comfort to others.

Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence.

– 2 Corinthians 5:17 (GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995))

Once you give your life to God everything in your past is under the Blood of Jesus never to be brought up by God again.  You get a fresh new start.  Don’t let the enemy tell you you can’t serve God because of your past sins.  That person is gone!

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life present in him.

– 1 John 3:15 (International Standard Version (©2008))

Before you were saved it was so easy to say, “I hate that person for what they did to me” but once the Blood of Jesus washed your sins away when you didn’t deserve it, that hate had to be let go.  If you want to hate someone then hate the devil who inspired that evil that was done against you.

“A servant cannot serve two masters. He will hate the first master and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

– Luke 16: 13 (GOD’S WORD ® Translation)

Many people’s main focus is to make as much money as they can.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with making money but if you use “making money” as an excuse as to why you can’t do what you know God wants you to do then you are spitting in the face of the One who gave you the strength to work in the first place.  “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you!”

Now, suppose a person has enough to live on and notices another believer in need. How can God’s love be in that person if he doesn’t bother to help the other believer?  Dear children, we must show love through actions that are sincere, not through empty words.

– 1 John 3: 17-18 (GOD’S WORD ® Translation)

Generosity, whether financial or otherwise is something that should be automatic for a Christian.  Jesus wasn’t just a preacher but was a Man of action.

God establishes us, together with you, in a relationship with Christ. He has also anointed us.  In addition, he has put his seal of ownership on us and has given us the Spirit as his guarantee.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (GOD’S WORD ® Translation)

The angels, the devil and all the spiritual world can plainly see who belongs to God.  Why do you think the enemy is working so much harder to destroy you since you’ve been saved?  Thank God His angels protect us!