By Mike Peek

If you do not believe in God who are you giving thanks to? We in America on the 4th Thursday in November celebrate an annual holiday called Thanksgiving. Most in this land celebrate this holiday, but what is it they are celebrating, is it Thanksgiving? I say to you if you are not giving thanks to the Lord you are not having Thanksgiving. Sure you are celebrating something; many celebrate time with family, many enjoy the parties feasting and food, many celebrate their wealth and prosperity, and for many more it’s shopping and buying things. It is a celebration for sure but is it Thanksgiving? The first official Thanksgiving service was given on May 14th 1607 near Jamestown Virginia. You may notice that I said service because that is what it was; it was a service in remembrance and giving of thanks to the Lord. There would be many such Thanksgiving services throughout the American Colonies, the most Famous of which is at the Plymouth Plantation of The Pilgrims in 1621. The lives...

I have enjoyed memorizing, meditating on, and writing about my Lord Jesus Christ as given to us through “The Gospel According to John”. I have reached a point in this gospel where the stories become larger, some more so than others. For example, I have begun to memorize John chapter 4, the story of the Samaritan women at the well takes up the first 26 verses of this chapter, then Jesus teaching His disciples about the harvest takes up the next 12 verses, then a shorter story comprising 4 verses of the Samaritans believing because of the testimony of the Samaritan women. Each of these stories vary greatly in size some are short, some are long; since it has been set before me by God to memorize, then meditate on these scriptures before writing about them, some changes will have to be made going forward which I think are good, because it will give me time to take in all that God has for us in this wonderful gospel. I typically memorize about 4-5 verses a week, since the first full sto...

I have been in a trial this past week and through this trial I have relied on my God, Jesus Christ; He has lead me to Psalm 17 which I have held onto all week and specifically verse 15. I have heard a lot of brothers and sisters in Christ over the years talk about their life verse, I however did not have one. Throughout the word of God there are a multitude of scriptures that I hold dear to my heart and many which stand high above others. Earlier this week one of my brothers in Christ who knew I was going through a trial sent me an email message by Max Lucado called “Contentment”. In this message Max Lucado asks the question: What if God’s only gift to you were His grace to save you? Would you be content? I pray to my Lord daily, I lift up to Him all the concerns of my life continually and I believe with faith that He hears all of my prayers and will answer them. As I told you earlier I have been undergoing a trial this week that has particularly hit me hard. Just like many of ...

(He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony as certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. ~John 3:31-36) Jesus is the Son of God, the creator of all things. John Chapter 1 told us that He was in the beginning with God and that He was in fact God, and that all things were made through Him (Ref. John 1:1-6). That He became flesh and dwelt among us, that God Himself became flesh. The Holy Spirit of God came upon Mary (a virgin) and she conceived and bore a Son and that Son was Jesus. N...

(John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ’, but, ‘I have been sent before him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He most increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.” ~ John 3:27-31). Sometimes or should I say often times we as humans want things that have not been given to us, often times we want recognition and that recognition is not granted us. We seek after the things we want and forget what has been given to us, we desire the things that someone else has been given and forsake what we have been given. John the Baptist is a great example of humility in action. He had gone o...

“After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and where baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arouse a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—Behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.” ~ (John 3:22-26) So now we continue with the Gospel According to John in Chapter 3. Jesus had finished His great dialogue with the Pharisee Nicodemus in which He imparted His Gospel, then departed Jerusalem and came into the land of Judea. We find Jesus and His disciples out in the land of Judea baptizing and teaching many, with many people coming to Him. It is estimated that this may have been a period of six months in which Jesus and His d...

“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that h...