Stay Close To The Good Shepherd.

My Friend,

You will encounter many wolves in this life.

The wolves today come in many shapes and sizes but no matter what shape or size,

their ultimate goal is to misguide, harm you, and lead you away from The True Shepherd and path that is only found in and through Jesus.

The enemy of your soul, the evil one wants nothing other than to see your life and eternity destroyed. Don't allow him to do so! And don't allow people who mean you harm to misguide you.

No matter what, let me encourage you to stay close to The Shepherd as the closer you are to The Shepherd, the safer you are from the wolves...and there are many wolves in the world we live in today.

Jesus, your Good Shepherd, loves you unconditionally and wants to lead you through this journey called life!

The closer we are to The Shepherd, Jesus, the safer we are from the wolves. Stay close to The Good Shepherd!

Read, Study, Take to heart, and live out John 10:1–18.

You're in my prayers.

Your Brother and Servant,

Randolph Koch

Please help A Shepherd's Heart if you are able. Any amount $1 on up is a big help! https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-ashepherdsheart Here's one place that lists where you can connect with A Shepherd's Heart: https://linktr.ee/ashepherdsheart

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Difficult Roads Lead To Beautiful Destinations.

Read Isaiah 61:1-9, Romans 5:1-5, and 2 Corinthians 5:1-7 (and more) for encouragement from God's Word.

My Friend,

This life is riddled with seasons where we feel like we're on a rough or difficult road, but...with The Lord, His Word, and His Holy Spirit guiding us around every bump in the road or other hazard, we will ultimately make it through any terrain. He will also bring the body of Christ to help support you as well.

Some days you might feel like you're driving on four flat tires or driving a standard vehicle where only a 4 X 4 of road vehicle, but...don't give up.

Unfortunately, too many want to give up before they meet the destination ahead because the road looks hard, but you and I need to remember that Christ is our strength, shield, and guide.

He's better than AAA or any road side assistance and as you seek Him for wisdom, direction, help, and hope, He will freely give it to you...and you don't have to call a phone number to get a hold of Him and you never have to give Him your credit card number either! :-)

Friend, Let me encourage you to remain steadfast as God is with you and no matter what the road ahead looks like at present...as there is beauty up ahead as He will prevail and lead you safely through.

With The Lord, Difficult Roads Lead To Beautiful Destinations.

Trust Him!

Your Brother and Servant In Christ,

Randolph Koch

Please re-share this encouragement with others!

Here's one place that lists where you can connect with A Shepherd's Heart:

https://linktr.ee/ashepherdsheart

Please help A Shepherd's Heart if you are able. Any amount $1 on up is a big help! https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-ashepherdsheart

Life Is Like A Vapor.

My Friend,

As quickly as the spring rain evaporates from the ground once the sun shines on it, so does life itself evaporate. Life is short and we don’t know if we will see tomorrow. Why? Because mankind does not know the number of our days, only God does. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow let alone five minutes from now. Our lives, our own bodies are temporal and will not exist in current form forever.
 
In most cases we live in a fast paced world where our priorities can easily become out of balance and we may not have time or make time for the important things and people in our life.
 
In reality, we may not have time to repair the broken relationships or correct the mistakes we make although; we should make every effort to repair these things if at all possible. We may not have as much time to serve and bring more glory to God, as we’d expect, yet, we should make every effort to do so. We may not have another chance to tell our family that we love them and that they are important to us or more importantly show them we love them, which is so important! We may not have a second chance to tell a loved one, a friend, or even an acquaintance about their need for the Savior even though Jesus commissioned us to do so.

 

With all of these things said, we shouldn’t shrink back from the challenge, from life and say, “so what’s the point in doing anything if life is so short!?” Rather, we need to cherish the days our gracious Father gives us and live the life He gave us to the fullest – for Him!
 
As a believer, your life should be characterized in such a way that you build and leave behind a godly legacy where you’ve made a real difference in this world for God. Wouldn’t it be great to be marked by others who see you and proclaim, now there’s a person of integrity, they were friendly, they cared, they loved, and they lived their life well!
 
If you're reading this and have put off thinking about what will happen when you die, don’t put it off any longer, as you don’t know what tomorrow brings. Give your life to Christ.
 
For all of us, remember... Life is a vapor and from one vapor to another, let me encourage you in the remaining days you have to live, to live your life to bring glory to God and share His love with others.
 
Read, Study and Take to heart: James 4:13-15 and Hebrews 3:12-15

Your Brother and Servant In Christ,

Randolph Koch

Here's one place that lists where you can connect with A Shepherd's Heart:

https://linktr.ee/ashepherdsheart

Please help A Shepherd's Heart if you are able. Any amount $1 on up is a big help! https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-ashepherdsheart

Keep Jesus In The Center, Because He Is The Center.

Read: Matthew 6:33, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Romans 11:36, Colossians 1:16, John 15:5, John 15:16, Galatians 2:20, Psalm 34:3, Psalm 99:5, Psalm 145.

I recall the song, "Be the Centre" by Kathryn Sarah Scott, Michael Frye and I thought of it like a prayer asking for Jesus to be the center of everything in our lives. 

Part of the lyrics are: 

Jesus, be the centre Be my source, be my light Jesus

Jesus, be the centre Be my hope, be my song Jesus

Be the fire in my heart, Be the wind in these sails

Be the reason that I live Jesus, Jesus

Jesus, be my vision Be my path, be my guide Jesus

Everything we do as born again followers of Christ needs to be laser focused on Jesus, His Holy Spirit, and the Word of God. 

Faith, Mountains, and Molehills.

Read Matthew 17:20, 1 Peter 5:6-7, Isaiah 41:10, Matthew 6:27–28, Matthew 6:31, and Matthew 6:34

There's the old saying you might be familiar with that is, "Making mountains out of a molehills".  

Unfortunately, we as people of faith who know God's truth (or should), can still fulfill this old saying instead of fulfilling God's Word by responding in faith.

Due to our fear, doubt, forgetting the basic tools God has given us, as well as being guilty of overthinking, we can often create our own mountains and obstacles where there are none. Or, we can take the problems and obstacles at hand and make them far larger than they really are. 

Instead of responding in faith, we can go straight to fear, doubt, anxiety and more which always clouds our vision of God's truth.

In contrast, God's Word reminds us that our faith can move mountains. (Read Matthew 17:20)

The question is, will we allow The Holy Spirit and The Word of God to help us respond more often in faith rather than in fear and doubt?

Will we turn to God's Word and God Himself through prayer first instead of putting Him second while we get stuck in the thoughts of our own heads as well as our emotions? 

Will we strive to turn to God, the wisdom of His Word, the help of His Holy Spirit, Prayer, and Godly counsel more often during the times of problems and obstacles rather than our own thoughts, feelings, and limited wisdom? 

Whether our troubles are mountain sized or molehill sized, let us pray for one another that we'll turn to God in faith first and always and not give into our fears and doubts.

Let's strive to stop living the old life and really ask for God's help to walk in new life every day, in Jesus name.

Your Brother and Servant in Christ,

Randolph Koch

Be Filled

Hello,

Here’s a thought to meditate on today:

“Nobody buys a car and expects to fuel it up just once. Likewise, every time you gas up your car, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you again.” -Mark Driscoll

At the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit – the Helper Who Jesus said He would send, takes up residency within us to guide, convict, direct and empower us.

Each day following that moment we need ask The Holy Spirit to fill us anew!

Are you feeling like your tank is empty? Trying Asking the Holy Spirit to fill you and He will!!!

Next, quit trying to operate in your “own power” and operate in His as The Spirit will empower you!

Blessings,
Bro rlk

Walking in the Spirit

Here's Wisdom for all of us: 

"Instead of using "I'm Human" as an excuse to walk in the flesh, try using "I'm Saved" as a reason to walk in the Spirit!"

Boom! Can I get an AMEN!? Are you going to join me in rising to the challenge of striving to walk in the Spirit and no longer allowing our humanity to be an excuse for not doing so?

Let's pray for each other! You can do it with the help of God's Holy Spirit!...one step at a time brothers and sisters...one step at a time! Just keep walking!!

In Christ,

rlk 

Don't Quench The Spirit

We live in a day and age where the Word of God and His Spirit, Our Great Helper are devalued - sadly even within many churches today.

The fact is that The Word and The Holy Spirit really go hand in hand in the life of the Believer. Why, because the key to living a Spirit-Filled and Spirit-Led life is taking God's Word and actively living it out in your life. The more your life is saturated with God's Word the More Sensitive you can, should, will become to The Spirit's leading.

We can and do sometimes ignore the messages we hear and just the reality we know tell us that we need The Word of God daily in our lives because, "I've heard this before". Well maybe you need to actually hear and do something about it this time!?

We can also do things; we can make decisions that cause us to in essence sort of "dull" the voice of the Spirit in our lives. We can also blatantly ignore The Spirit's leading.

You and I need to actively seek to be walking in the Word and in The Spirit and I think today's devotion is a great reminder from a trusted devotional "My Utmost for His Highest".

Take this to heart and actively seek God's Word and direction for the Word and the Spirit each day! Stop trying to do things on your own because to be truly honest this thing called life, sorry but you don't really "got this"! You need His Word and His Spirit to truly live and more importantly live for Him!

Check out the below.

In Christ,
Your Brother and Servant,

rlk
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"Do not quench the Spirit" —1 Thessalonians 5:19

By Oswald Chambers

http://utmost.org/do-not-quench-the-spirit/

The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze— so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.

Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, “Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.” If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”— the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62 ; also see 1 John 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to “walk in the light” by recalling your past experiences when you did “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). When-ever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.

Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crisis, your life will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be.

The Holy Spirit

As a believer you need to be in The Word and you also need to grow in your knowledge of God The Father, God The Son and God The Holy Spirit as you continue your walk with The Lord.

For instance, let's consider the Holy Spirit. The Bible has answers regarding Who The Holy Spirit it? What His role is in our lives? When do we receive The Holy Spirit?...and more.

I heard a Pastor say recently that you don't receive the Holy Spirit until after you are baptized but I have to ask, is that what God's word says? Let me clearly say, no, that's not what the Bible teaches. Baptism is an important step of obedience however, physical Baptism has nothing to do with receiving The Holy Spirit.

We need to be Like "The Bereans" (See Acts 17) and take in what we hear and then pick up The Bible and then compare it to what God's Word says.

For further studies about The Holy Spirit here's some resources you might check out in addition to your Bible. :-)

Here's a useful article about receiving The Holy Spirit: 

http://www.gotquestions.org/receive-Holy-Spirit.html 

Then head here:http://www.gty.org/FOF

And Read and listen to Study #7 regarding The Person and Ministry of the Holy Spirit. I actually highly recommend the entire study (Foundations of the Faith) as important topics of your faith in Christ are covered in this study.

Be strong, Study God's Word and continually take everything you hear and read back to God's Word.

In Christ,

rlk