WHO ARE YOU STANDING UP FOR?

     When I was younger I used to love going to amusement parks.  I would always be so excited when we pulled into the parking lot of Great America (that was when it was $8.95 to get in) and I'm screaming at my parents to hurry up because I am missing way too much by just standing here in the parking lot "getting things ready"!  I mean c'mon now let's go!  Once we got in my brother and I would run straight for the biggest roller coaster we could find and immediately take our place in line.  Several minutes later when our "slow" parents caught up, we'd be waiting in the line with eager expectation of careening down that first steep hill.  We eagerly talked about it with great anticipation as we waited an hour or longer to get our turn at "2 minutes of sheer terror and excitement".  Once we got on the ride, it was over almost before it started and we were off to stand in another hour-long line. 

     It always amazes me how people have no problem standing in long lines to have fun but when it comes to standing during praise and worship at church, all of a sudden they remember all of the maladies that prevent them from standing for long periods of time.  How do you think Jesus feels when we make excuses instead of giving Him our all during praise and worship.  We should be willing to stand for Jesus as long as it takes for the Holy Spirit to do His work.  But we have somehow shifted our excitement about the One who suffered to give us everlasting life to "amusement park rides" and "1st day sales of the newest video game".

     Remember Jesus stood for you even though you didn't deserve it. He suffered horribly because He first loved us.  We need to remember this sacrifice out of love for us the next time we don't want to stand up during the reading of the word, or when someone attempts to challenge us and we have an opportunity to stand up for Jesus and stand on the Word of God. This is an opportunity to sow into someone's life. We can't affor to miss out on this "meeting set up by God" to secure someone's eternity. This opportunity just may save someone's soul who is headed straight to hell.  So let the angels rejoice everytime a soul is rescued for the Kingdom. Stand up for Jesus and be prepared to be amazed at the resulting fruits of your labor. 

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“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33 NKJV)



"Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them". (Matthew 7:17-20 NKJV)


God bless you,

Robert T Sells
http://www.robertsellsonline.com/
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet
www.reverbnation.com/theanointedpoet

SALVATION: IS IT FOR ME?

     Today marks the 25th anniversary of the horrifying Challenger explosion.  I remember what I was doing that day.  I was at my dad's house watching it in the living room.  My brother and I were always amazed at watching airplanes take off and land, so watching the Space Shuttle take off was just that much better.  We sat in anticipation as they started the countdown (T minus 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 blast off!).  Well shortly after takeoff the space shuttle blew up in mid-air!  Oh my God I couldn't believe what was happening.  My heart went out for the astronauts and their families as the shuttle fell back to earth.  I was heart-broken.  Back then however I didn't know God. 

     Fast forward to today.  As we hit the 25th year since this awful tragedy, my mind shifts to thinking, "I wonder if they knew Jesus?"  It would be horrible to know that they died a horrible death without securing their salvation with the Lord. 

Well if you don't know God, you have an opportunity now.  John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life". It's not God's will that any man would die, but when they do, He has already offered a plan for us to have everlasting life with the Father. We just have to do 2 things to receive this gift of salvation. Romans 10:9 says, "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved".  So we must "believe" and "confess".  When we repent of our sin and turn to God, we will be saved. 

So in remembering this tragedy, can you honestly say that you know for sure you've received God's gift of salvation? If not, say this prayer with me, "Lord, I know I'm a sinner. And I repent of my sins. I believe you sent your Son Jesus to die for my sins. So I confess my sins now and I ask You to come into my life Jesus.  I thank you for saving me. Amen!"

If you said that prayer you are now saved. And if, God forbid, a tragedy should come upon you, you can be assured of an eternity in the presence of the Lord!  Thanks God for His saving grace and the eternal gift of salvation.  He sacrificed His own Son for all of us, not some of us.  Anyone who wants this free gift can have it.  All they have to do is believe and receive. Receive Jesus today! Tomorrow may be too late. 

Praise God!!!
Robert T. Sells
http://www.robertsellsonline.com/
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet
www.reverbnation.com/theanointedpoet

I'LL BELIEVE YOU FOR NOW GOD BUT...

     I’ve believed God for healing from migraines now since I first got saved, which was November 2001. The truth is I’ve been having migraines now since the Fall of 1987. They have been so intense and at times I feel like I’m going to pass out from the pain. I’ve had headaches that last up to 4 hours or even longer in some cases. I have gone to the emergency room a few times over the years and sat there highly-medicated while waiting for the pain to go away. I’ve lost sleep, time at work, and sometimes had vacations and business trips interrupted because of debilitating migraines. I’ve been to doctors, specialists, psychologists, neurologists and many others. I’ve had MRI’s, EKG’s and x-rays to no avail. Just when I think the headaches are gone, they return. And in the last couple of years they’ve been exponentially more intense than they’ve been in the past.


     But through all of this, I believe God that I’m healed! I do what I do to get relief from the pain but I will never stop saying anything other than, “I’m healed”. Why do I say this? Because sometimes you can be in a storm so long that you don’t feel like God is even there anymore, even though you know He said in His word, “…I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). You get so deep into the storm that you can’t see, hear, or feel the Holy Spirit ministering to you. You begin to develop a hidden resentment towards God and ask the long-held anti-Christian question, “If God is who He is why is He allowing me to suffer?” This is the seed that you planted that the devil uses to grow his evil garden of despair. Why does he do this? Because the devil knows that the further he can get you away from thinking about God, the less you believe God can do what He said He will do for you. A scab begins to form on your heart, you stop praying and reading the bible, and before you know it you are just bitter against God and don’t know how you got there. Anger against God reduces your faith to zero and “...without faith it’s impossible to please God”, making Him totally ineffective in your life.

     Don’t allow the devil to enter your life through storms. Once you have prayed for God to intervene in your situation… LET HIM! Then believe like you’ve never believed before that God will do what He said He’ll do, because He will. God told the prophet Jeremiah, “And God said, "Good eyes! I'm sticking with you. I'll make every word I give you come true." (Jeremiah 1:12 MSG) Once you ask for God’s help, believe Him only! No one else can do what God can.

God bless you!

Robert T Sells
http://www.robertsellsonline.com/
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

I was one of many people who were glued to the TV watching the new episodes of American Idol.  However I was not ready for the last singer that came up to the microphone in Milwaukee, WI.  His name was Chris Medina and he was a Chicago native who came with a very touching story.  He and his girlfriend were engaged to be married when she had a tragic accident that caused her to slip into a coma and awake with severe brain damage.  Well instead of leaving her, the 26 year old Medina chose to stay with the woman he loves so he sang a song for her.  This touched me so much that today I felt led to write a poem about it. I pray you are blessed by it.

**************************************************************************

Unconditional Love

They met at Starbucks one day

They probably never thought

Life would carry them this way

They fell in love and made their plans

To marry each other

To become one together

To live as husband and wife forever

Who could’ve seen this coming?

The day that changed their life

The day that tragedy would befall

The woman who was going to become his wife

Just one accident changed the course

Of their well-planned and thought-out life

One life-changing accident

Caused his true love

To slip into a coma

Battling death every day silently

So she could remain on this earth

To live among us

As she fought for her life

Her family was there

Praying and remaining by her side

But one thing I didn’t expect

The man who was going to be her husband

Was doing something we do not normally see

He stayed there with her and the family

Helping to nurse her back to health

Dealing with her sudden inadequacies

And the numerous challenges she faced

Without a promise of future wealth

This man was very young

He had his whole life ahead of him

He could’ve moved on to greener pastures

And took up with another woman

Who could meet his every selfish need

From this day to every one after

He could’ve moved on

And enjoy the rest of his life

Without having to feed or clean

Push around or carry

The woman he would call his wife

But alas this was meant to be

This man didn’t want to find anyone else

Because he knew where his heart was

He didn’t need to marry anyone else

To fulfill what would’ve been an empty life

Because in his mind and heart

He had all he needed

In this beautiful woman he’d met

And he knew it from the start

“How could he leave her now?” he said

As he captured all those watching

With his sincerest, loving glare

“When she needed me most,

How could I leave the woman that I love,

When she really needed me to be there?”

So as I watched this man profess his love

For this woman who means so much

A prayer came to my mind

“Lord if anyone deserves your grace it’s them

So please heal her miraculously

Touch her with your healing hands

And stir up your Spirit in her voraciously

Let her rise from her fallen state

By a simple touch from you Lord

And let her be joined in marriage

To this special man who loves her

More than any man ever will or could.

© 2011 Robert T. Sells – all rights reserved

YOU WERE CHOSEN!

     When I was 11 years old one of my friends asked me if I knew I was adopted. I said, “What are you talking about?” He told me because I don’t look like my mother and father (I am dark brown and my parents were EXTREMELY light), then they are not my parents. One other thing he said I will never forget. He said, “Don’t ever tell them or you will hurt them forever”. Well I went home that night and asked my mom and she was honest and told me that my brother and I were adopted. She said they weren’t our “real” parents by blood but something far better because they “chose” us! What a liberating statement that was for me! Ever since that day I told my friend to go somewhere because I had it better off than him. I was CHOSEN!! Yesss!!!! Well my brother and I lived one of the best lives two boys could live. We had two loving parents in the home who brought us up to be responsible men. They didn’t give us everything we wanted but we didn’t need to worry about anything because they were our providers. We were blessed but even a child who is not in a two parent home, as long as the parent loves them unconditionally, cares, and provides for them, they are going to be alright.


     Well this is the same thing with God! He chose us from before the beginning of the earth to be His children. Jeremiah 1:5 in the amplified version says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” God loves us unconditionally and no matter what we do we cannot possibly separate ourselves from His love. There is nothing we need that He can’t or won’t provide. We are totally taken care of up to and including our eternity! There is nothing that God hasn’t left out.

     So take a moment to thank God for His goodness and mercy because without Him we wouldn’t be – period!

God bless you!
Robert T Sells
http://www.robertsellsonline.com/
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet

Follow the Template!

Tonight I just finished putting a new toilet paper roll in the downstairs bathroom.  As I was opening everything up and reading the instructions I saw there was a template that I'm supposed to put on the wall first.  I was wondering why and I almost didn't do it until finally I decided to stop being a stubborn know-it-all and used it.  Man that made all the difference!!  When I used that template, all 4 of the screws I screwed in to install the mounting brackets lined up perfectly! I put the ends on and attached the toilet paper and WOW! 

Well God showed me even in this small, insignificant situation that when we follow the template He has setup for our lives we can't go wrong.  Every screw will line up, every bracket will fit and the final product will be everything God wants us to be. God talks about this template in Jeremiah 1:5 when He told Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

God has given us a template to follow called the Bible! All we have to do is line up with it, drill holes and mount the Word in our hearts according to God's directions and we cannot go wrong! We will become the best we can be because we will become what God wants us to be.  So follow God's template for your life and bear witness to the fruit that will follow.  Your life will be blessed beyond measure!

God bless you!
Robert T Sells
www.robertsellsonline.com
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet

Turn Back to God and Live Again!

     I was just having a discussion with some friends and I started reading a passage in the Bible and the Lord showed me something.  The scripture is Hebrews 3:12-13, which says, "See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called 'Today,' so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness."

     As a country we have continually turned away from God more and more and the decades and centuries pass on.  This country was supposedly founded on a belief in God's principles but today it has been turned over to a reprobate mind. Romans 1: 28 (message bible) says, "Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!"

     The thing is God won't "force" Himself on us.  We have been given to ability to freely "choose" to love, follow, believe, and serve God.  If we don't choose Him, He WILL NOT choose Himself for us! 

     Choose God now before it's too late. Choose to turn from your wicked ways.  As a society and a nation we need to choose to return to making God a priority. One day soon there won't be time to choose.  One day Jesus will return for His church. And the scriptures say that "... the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).


God bless you!
Robert T. Sells
http://www.robertsellsonline.com/
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet

Are You Who God Says You Are?

     My pastor taught a sermon yesterday called, "Who Told You That"? And that is my inspiration for writing this today. 

     So many of us have been told by someone in our lives that we won't amount to anything, that we will always be a loser, that we won't be successful in life because we don't know the right people, or have enough money or whatever.  The truth is that whether you were told this by your teacher, boss, mother, father, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, guidance counselor, pastor or priest, if God didn't say it, IT IS PROBABLY NOT TRUE!!

     You see we can be anything we desire if we start believing God's word over everyone else's.  There is no authority higher than God and because of that we have the right and the power to be whoever God says we can be.  Who did He say we can be? 

Jeremiah 1:5 says, “ Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

1 John 5:4-5 says, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our[a] faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

     There are many scriptures in the bible where God is defining who we are.  The challenge now is whether you're going to believe God's word over man. When you believe God you open up unlimited possibilities for your life.  When you believe God you are able to become the very best that God has for you.  When you believe God you become heir to the promises of Abraham. When you believe God you will become more than a conqueror! 

     Believing God's will for your life causes you to become more than just another person. It allows you to become a change effector or a change agent.  You no longer are bound by the limitations that man puts on you and you will become finally the man or woman God intended you to be from before the beginnings of the world!

Who will you believe?

God bless you!
Robert T. Sells
www.robertsellsonline.com
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet

Where Will You Go When You Die?

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:14-16 - KJV)

***********************************************

     I don't know how many times I've watched movies before I accepted Christ and saw people die and didn't think anything about it.  But as I grow closer to God when I see a movie where someone dies the first thought in my head is, "I wonder if they accepted Jesus", even though it is just a movie and they didn't really die. When I read the paper or watch the news and read of someone dying it's always the first thought on my mind. I will often say a prayer and ask God to "have mercy on their soul".   But the truth is if they died without accepting Christ then there is no hope for their soul. This is not God's desire for us.  1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."




     We tend to take it for granted that when we leave the house in the morning we will return home after a long days' work.  But how many people left the house for work or just going to the store to get a paper and gallon of milk, only to get into a horrible accident or die from a robbery attempt or even have a heart attack in the grocery store parking lot!

     The truth is we never know when our last moment will be on this earth. So we should make it a priority to accept Jesus right now instead of waiting. The Winans sing a song called "Tomorrow" that simply says, "...better choose the Lord today. For tomorrow very well may be too late".  If you've been thinking about it, do it today! You may not be here tomorrow.  And where you wake up after you fall asleep in death is going to be where you'll spend eternity! Think about it. 

     If you want to accept the wonderful gift of eternal life with the Father today, just say this prayer with me.

"Jesus! I know you died for me to save me from my sins. I believe you are the savior of the world. I repent of my sins and I ask you to come into my life today Jesus. I believe you are the son of God and if I invite you into my life, I will be saved. So I thank you Jesus for coming into my life. I turn from my sinful ways of the past and I welcome the opportunity to serve you forever.  I thank you Lord for I am now saved."

     If you just said that prayer and believe what you've said, you are now saved!!  Now go and tell 3 people about what just happened to you.  Here is a link to a daily bible reading program to get you started.  Getting into the Word of God will begin to renew your mind and help you to grow in Christ.

Choose your bible reading plan here

Ask God to lead you to a full-gospel, bible-teaching church to help you grow in your new rebirth.  Glory to God for the angels in heaven are rejoicing!! 

God bless you!
Robert T Sells
http://www.robertsellsonline.com/
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet

I'm Sleeping Through This Storm!

     There have been many trials I've been through since becoming a Christian and giving my life to Jesus.  But none have been more trying, persistent, and ongoing than migraine headaches.  I can remember times even late last year when I can hardly work, or I've been sitting in the Union Station garage screaming in pain while waiting for this migraine to leave but it wouldn't.  I eventually had to go home that day so I never got out of the car and walked the 2 blocks to my job at the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower). I drove home with a massive headache with one eye barely open. By the grace of God I made it home in about 1 1/2 hours. Another time my wife was able to leave her job and drive me home. Then there were the number of times I've spent hours in the emergency room of the local hospital waiting for some kind of relief from these headaches!  I have struggled for years (since August 1987) with these migraines. I've prayed to God for years to take them away, went to the altar and had pastors, deacons and elders pray for deliverance. I've even sown seed and asked God to grant me a spiritual healing (that was in my early Christian days), but to no avail. I still to this day get horrible migraines in spite of seeing several doctors, neurologists, and specialists. They seem to go away for a while then at a random time they come back again and last about 1 - 3 months. 

     I say all this to say that this is a storm (a squall as it is called in Matthew 8:24, KJV) that has invaded my life and I can choose to let it overtake me and stop me from operating in the ministry God gave us; or I can choose to trust God that everything will be okay through the storm and continue forward in this mission in spite of the pitfalls I encounter.  I believe that's what Jesus was doing when He was sleeping in the boat during a furious storm. He wasn't concerned about what was going on around Him at that moment because He knew they were going to the other side! This shows us something about faith.  Even in our darkest hour, we shouldn't be afraid because God is always there with us.

     As I go through this storm, I will continue to praise God at all times and lean on Him for strength. This is what God meant when He said, "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." (Hebrews 11:1 - NLT)  So continue to rest during the storms you encounter in your life. Rest in the peace that God is in control and He will never leave you nor forsake you. 

God bless you!
Robert T Sells
http://www.robertsellsonline.com/
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet

When You Run to God You Run to Life!

     I remember a recent trip we took for the ministry to Shreveport, LA to attend an independent author/artist event.  It was last September in 2010 and it was an awesome event. We got to meet a number of great people, sold some books and cd's and ministered poetry at a local poetry club and Morningstar Baptist Church on Sunday morning.  The weekend was a blessing but here's the point to this blog. 

     We stayed at the casino hotel there in Shreveport and if you've ever been there you'll see that they have many, many casino hotels in the area. Well our event was hosted right next door to our hotel (which was beautiful by the way).  The parking lot was connected to the casino by a catwalk so every day when Marlas and I came into the hotel parking lot, which was day or night, there was a constant flow of people coming in and out of the casino.  Now the interesting thing was there were people getting out of their cars who had many disabilities. Some were walking on crutches and there were a few people I saw get out of the car and remove their motorized chairs so they could make it to the casino from their cars! Amazing!

     I asked God what would we be like if we had that kind of overwhelming desire that no matter what happens to us we WILL be in the house of God when it's time to learn, grow, praise and worship together!  Imagine if people had that kind of fortitude when it comes to attending church on Sunday or any other day.  No matter what they wouldn't let anything, including physical limitations stop them! How much could we do for God if we made that our priority.  The Lord showed me how people will flock to the casinos to give away their money to the devil and his kingdom but won't give nothing but a crinkly old dollar at church instead of paying tithes, which helps to keep the Kingdom of God operating and growing.  The benefit of paying tithes is in the following scripture: "Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer [insects and plagues] for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine drop its fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts.  And all nations shall call you happy and blessed, for you shall be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts". (Malachi 3:10-12, amplified)

     When we get to the point of trusting God instead of the things of the world we will begin to see God work in our lives in amazing ways! When we get on fire for God we will "see the salvation of the Lord" as He told Moses after telling him to cast his staff over the Red Sea right before he parted it so the Israelites could escape. 

     Change your focus starting today and you will find that when God becomes the center focus of your life, you will never be the same again.

God bless you!
Robert T Sells
http://www.robertsellsonline.com/
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet

God Will Bless You Beyond Measure!

I can remember the first time I know God blessed me and that was when I was in an accident on the highway in NW Indiana.  I was traveling down I-80/94 after grabbing some chicken tenders from Burger King.  I had just left a conference I was giving in Chicago and was on my way home now after getting some food.  I was passing a car in the third lane when I hit an ice patch and my car took off, spun around across the 3 lanes and went up underneath a semi-trailer between the front and rear sets of wheels! I was dragged for a while beneath the truck, finally released and flipped back across the lanes, came to rest on the wheels after hitting the center median.  How horrible!  I was extricated from the car and immediately taken to the hospital.  After several x-rays it was found that I had bruising in my chest and glass in my eyes and forehead, but NO BROKEN BONES!!!  I left the hospital that night and stopped at White Castle on the way home.  I was hurting physically and mentally shaken up but I was fine!

God truly blessed me that night with another chance at life.  And I didn't even know God at that time.  As a matter of fact I was telling people at my conference to "not go to church" on Wednesday nights to come to my conference. They can get their lives right with God after they get their money right.

Boy was I wrong!!! I didn't come to Christ that next day or even in the next year, but eventually I was led to Christ and I finally understood who protected me that night and who is still protecting and blessing me today.  I married the woman God intended for me to be with and since then God has continued to show Himself faithful in our lives. 

Here's the thing I want you to understand.  God wants to bless you in many ways. Many have nothing to do with money.  But a blessing from God is eternal and it WILL change your life, whether it's money, health, wisdom, or relationships.  Allow God to move in your life and in spite of what you may go through, you will be blessed beyond measure. 

Glory to God!
Robert T Sells
www.youtube.com/theanointedpoet
www.reverbnation.com/theanointedpoet