My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:  When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
Psalm 63:5-6

One will know and experience true satisfaction as praise flows from joyful lips as one remembers and meditates on Almighty God. O I have found that night time is a sweet time to spend time with my memories of the goodness, gifts, grace and mercy that the Lord has given and shown. There is nothing and I mean nothing that is in and of this world that can satisfy as God satisfies. If it's alcohol the devil says you need more and more. If it's money wall street says you need just one more dollar. If it is the latest and the greatest it will soon be yesterdays news. Take the time tonight to take heed of our two verses and experience for yourself true satisfaction. Your soul will know true satisfaction.

I wanted to thank everyone for visiting the website! March has been a month with many upon many coming to the website. I am grateful and thankful for all of you!  I also want to thank you for praying for my preaching and for the many prayer requests that I have posted! God is good and I am undeserving of His many blessings! Thank you for being such an encouragement to me!

I want to encourage you and pray that the writing below would bring glory to God and fire you up to be a prayer warrior in the army of the Living God!


Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain : and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Hebrews 5:17-18

One can know true purpose when they set themselves to being a man or woman of prayer. A life of prayer will be a life of love fueled with the desire to come up close to the Lord in the prayer closet while straining and contending on the behalf of another.  A life of prayer will be a life of labor that brings riches beyond that of monetary gain and earthly fortune.  The ground will be fertile beneath you from your tears and sweat.  The fragrance from such a life will be as the sweet smell of honeysuckle rising through the air on a summer morning.  A life of prayer will be filled with passion and substance.  Such a life will not be lived out in the presence of man, but in the secret place before the Almighty.  Ones steps will be bold in Christ Jesus for He made the way on Calvary’s dark hill that enables us to come.  The barrier was broken through His precious blood and the violent victory that He won on the cross. 

Set aside the mere trinkets of the desires of this world which are fleeting and cumbersome. Come today to the secret place of power and passion where purpose will be known. O to take prayer as serious as Samuel, “Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you” (I Samuel 12:23a.)  Be a man of prayer! Be a woman of prayer! Fix and set your affection on things above.  Look past this world and get into the arena.  Souls are teetering on the very edge that leads to hell.  Many are hurting and are in need of a touch from heaven. Come in the morning.  Come throughout the day. May the dew of heaven be found upon your brow deep in the night.  Find your place of purpose and pray while believing and believe while praying.  Pray earnestly knowing there are no super Christians only those who have a desire that is fueled by their trust in the living God that allows them to prevail in the prayer closet. 
 

I will be preaching the morning service at Mt. Olivet Missionary Baptist Church and teaching a Sunday school class today- I would appreciate your prayers!

Thank you for visiting and thank you for praying,

Bro. Tracy

“Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.  For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.”

 Proverbs 23:17-18

Have you ever taken a look around and thought to yourself that those who aren’t saved seemed to have smooth sailing and that they live without a care in the world; that all seems to be well with them more times than not?  Doubt sneaks in and our mind begins to wander and envy moves into our hearts.  Don’t be deceived, I have learned things aren’t always as they look.  One of Satan’s oldest tricks is deception and until the Lord calls us home or the trump sounds, we will deal with him and his deceptions. Don’t be lured in by the prince of deception, run everything through the grid system of God’s Word.

The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” (Proverbs 1:7a)  Our scripture tells us to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.  When one lives their life in the fear of the Lord, they will not entertain the thought of envying the sinners.  When we have a holy reverence for the Lord, our lives will not be filled with stumbling blocks, but our feet will be firm in each step we take.  I want you to meditate on these verses that pertain to fearing the Lord. 

·    I. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Psalm 147:11

·    II. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. Proverbs 14:27

·     III. Like as a father that pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Psalm 103:13

·     IV. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. Psalm.103:11

Knowing the final destination of those who reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and you being saved knowing your assurance of heaven, I pray that your heart will be filled with a burden for the lost and not envy.

  In Psalm 73:2-3 Asaph wrote, “But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” One will travel a slippery slope when they travel the path of envying the boastful.  I suggest that you take time to read Psalm seventy-three, it is wise counsel indeed.  It will always be better to learn from the experiences of others than to fall full face in our own foolishness.

“And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Luke 18:9-14


A religious man or woman does not always equal a godly man or woman.  I believe the greatest lessons we can learn about ourselves come from the tough questions we ask ourselves.   We sometimes have a distorted view of ourselves because we refuse to examine our own heart yet we will look through a magnifying glass at the lives of those around us.   In this parable the Lord Jesus pulls back the veil of the self-righteous and religious and reveals their love for themselves and their attitude towards those around them. Their life is a show built upon self and all that they supposedly have done.

  Notice how the Pharisee is quick to let God and those who are in the temple know his good deeds, he says,” I fast” and “I give tithes.” Don’t miss how his prayer insults the man beside him. Consider the posture of the two. The Pharisee stands proudly as he presents his prayer for all to hear.  The publican (or tax collector) is standing away from others and won’t even look towards heavens direction.  He doesn’t come looking to impress God and man.  He comes as a man broken before God asking God to be merciful to him a sinner.  Look at the blessing from God for the humble and broken hearted publican.  Jesus said, “I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.”  The Pharisee thought so highly of himself that he couldn’t see the sin of pride within his own heart.  He was high minded and far sighted.

 There are two attitudes we can choose from today, humble before God and exalted by Him or highly exalted by ourselves and eventually humbled by God.  Which posture will you choose?   

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. Genesis 6:5-18

“… the thing that’s really disturbing about Noah isn’t that it is silly, it’s that it’s immoral. It’s about a psychotic mass murderer who gets away with it, and his name is God… What kind of tyrant punishes everyone just to get back at the few he’s mad at? I mean, besides Chris Christie.” — Bill Maher speaking about the new movie, "Noah."

We have, as a nation, sunk to an all time low. My heart is grieved and yours should be as well.  The Bible says,"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy" (II Timothy 3:1.) Blasphemers- We see it more and more in the days we are living in.

We need a stirring and a shaking. We need to rise up out of our complacent position and take a look around.

We Need A:
I.Burden- That is crushing
II.Burning- That is continual
III.Brokenness- That is contagious

"We know that all things work together for good to them that love God."

 Romans 8:28

 
“Upon some points a believer is absolutely sure. He knows, for instance, that God sits in the stern-sheets of the vessel when it rocks most. He believes that an invisible hand is always on the world’s tiller, and that wherever providence may drift, Jehovah steers it. That re-assuring knowledge prepares him for everything. He looks over the raging waters and sees the spirit of Jesus treading the billows, and he hears a voice saying, “It is I, be not afraid.” He knows too that God is always wise, and, knowing this, he is confident that there can be no accidents, no mistakes; that nothing can occur which ought not to arise. He can say, “If I should lose all I have, it is better that I should lose than have, if God so wills: the worst calamity is the wisest and the kindest thing that could befall to me if God ordains it.” “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” The Christian does not merely hold this as a theory, but he knows it as a matter of fact.” –Charles H. Spurgeon

 These words flowed from the pen of Charles Spurgeon years ago and I pray that they will speak to you today.  Charles Spurgeon had health problems that dogged him through the biggest part of his ministry.  He often dealt with gout that would leave him bedridden for days on end.  This man that God used in a mighty way through his preaching as well as through his pen often found himself in the dark room of deep depression.  Twelve years into their marriage Mr. Spurgeon’s wife Susannah was bed ridden and home bound with a debilitating chronic illness.  I wonder how many times this husband and wife must have had their Bibles open to this section of scripture in the Book of Romans.  In the throes of illness and pain I can imagine them day after day fixing their hearts and minds upon the Lord Jesus as they uttered, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.”

God is in control. He knows all and sees all.  When we learn to rest in God’s truth and not wrestle with every situation that has us perplexed, victory will be our companion and peace will fill our hearts and lives and even more importantly God will be glorified.

Obstacles are opportunities to watch God move mightily in the life of every believer. Our faith is built in the stream of everyday life and not on the waves of emotion. The Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10.) We surrender ourselves to the fact that God is in control and that He cares for us and has a plan and purpose for our lives. We move forward by faith as we allow Him full control to guide us moment by moment and day by day- It will be a life lived and not just time endured. That is real living! That is living, at its best.

It is through Jesus Christ that the lost sinner can be saved. It is through Jesus and Jesus only that one can have their sins forgiven and be born again. I thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ and the price He paid on the cross for the sin debt owed by mankind.