On this day of worshiping the devil and all of this evil forces, I will praise the God of Heaven, and I will exult His name and worship in His presence.
I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for His love and understanding, and for giving me the comfort, the security, and the grace to live my life in this world. He has shown me what true love is, a selfless, sacrificial love that is powerful and enduring. His love embraces my heart in the morning, when I wake up, lift up my eyes and my hands to extol Him with my morning greetings, and my
declaration of "I love you", and I am delighted and filled with joy when I receive His answer back to me in my heart, "I love you too, sweetie".
He is the best father and parent I have ever known, and a gracious and loving Spirit that inhabits my heart, and fills my mind with His gentle promptings and guidance. He always knows just the right thing to say to encourage me, discipline me, express his love to me, and He knows the best way to transform my heart and mind to conform to the likeness of Jesus Christ.
When I am down, or lonely, He fills my mind with His reassurances, and I hear sweet gospel music in my mind, the music that I was taught to sing in the church and from the radio; the words of God swells up in me, I recite the words from my mouth, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ" (2 corinthians 5:21), "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (philippians 4:13). He fills my heart with joy as I sense His presence in the room and His Spirit touches my spirit with His love, and then I am ready to go on, praising His name.
He provides for me and gives me hope in what seems to be hopeless and helpless situations, always there when I need Him. Just recently, something that I owned stopped working, and it was an important piece of equipment, I didn't know how I would be able to function without it, it is always a nervous experience for me when I face a situation where I don't have the means to solve it myself. But I prayed to God in the spirit, letting the Holy Spirit to intercede on my behalf, and I knew that a solution would come, I just didn't know how.
The next day, a relative of mine called me out of the blue, and asked me if I was alright. I told her my situation, and she offered to give me the money to buy a new one. I was so happy, and when I came home with what I needed, I got down on my knees praising God for His providence. This wasn't the first time that God has provided for me, when I didn't know what else to do, but this time encouraged me even more, because now I know the thing that God has declared to me about my life and His plans for me will come true.
When the Lord declares a purpose or plan in your life, be prepared for its manifestation, especially if it seems like an impossible goal; that is how you know it comes from the Lord and that it is not your own idea, or the idea of the enemy whispering into your heart. He often gives us plans we never would have thought of, or believed we were capable of doing. The best part is that if the Lord wants you to do it, it means you already have the skills to do it, and He will give you the tools and resources to accomplish it.
He has encouraged me, healed me, transformed my heart and mind, guided me into righteous living, forgiven my shortcomings, and shown me what true love is. That is what my Daddy ("abba") has done for me. That is why I have hope for the future, and the courage to face each and every day.
Glory To Your Name Forever and Ever, My Sweet God, And Thank You, Jesus, For Coming Into This World, And Dying For My Sins, And Giving Me Peace And Rest In My Heart, And For The Gift Of Abiding In Your Presence Forever! Hallelujah!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Monday, October 31, 2016
Sunday, October 30, 2016
The Hands That Rocked The Cradle
Jeremiah Chapter 1 verse 5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
The Lord has always known you, from the very moment you were conceived, to the moment of your birth, and the moment you said your first word, probably 'mommy' or 'daddy'. He created you, He gave you to your parents as a gift of love, and they were to be your surrogate parents in the world, to raise you righteously in the presence of God, to get to know Him so that you may make the decision to believe in Him and become His disciple, a child of the living God.
That is why it is so painful to God, when we choose to turn our back on Him and go our own way, when women choose to abort their babies, for these 'fetuses' are not just a mass of worthless tissues to Him, He formed those children in the womb to be His children, to love and fellowship, and worship Him forever in perfect peace and harmony; there can be no higher calling for humanity than to have a close relationship with the One who made them.
Every child that has lost their life in this world, whether through abortion or through other tragic situations that happen in this world everyday, God had a purpose for them. He never throws anything or anyone away who could be useful to Him. He loves His children, all of us, but He knows who will believe in Him and love Him, and He knows who will rebel and never come to Him. This thought makes things seem fixed, as though the Lord chose who He would love as His own and who He would reject, but He gives everyone a chance to come to Him.
Everyday, He sends His Holy Spirit into the world, expressing His love by spreading the Word of God far and wide; His servants, the pastors, preachers, teachers, and evangelists are moved by the Holy Spirit to proclaim His love, grace and mercy, and His prophets serve as watchmen to illuminate the word of God and to encourage His followers to keep walking the path that God has laid out for them.
The times are coming when the word of God will not be proclaimed as it is now, because of persecution and misunderstandings; the people who want to destroy the concept of God and live a Godless existence are now pushing harder than ever to force their point of view down our throats. They are not willing to see what happens to people and societies who exist without God, without hope. The world is falling apart literally at the seams, and they are in deep denial as to the cause. They want everyone to believe that if we just believe in ourselves and let everyone live their life as they see fit, without God's standards of living, that all these problems in the world would will just disappear, and melt away.
I am often amazed by some people who are desiring to leave this world to travel to some distant star and start up a new society, the perfect utopia, without God and without the troubles of this world. What they don't realize is that even if they had the means and the resources to travel to another world and start over, it would never work because the same problems that they would be leaving behind here on planet earth, will reappear quickly on this 'new earth'; the problems they would be trying to leave behind is within their own hearts.
Without the knowledge and wisdom of the Word of God, without the promptings and the power of the Holy Spirit, without God's love and mercy, we cannot hope to escape the problems that we have in this world. It is God's power, mercy, and grace that makes a difference in people's hearts, that changes their minds, that saves their souls. We replenish our spirits with His loving presence, and receive the confidence and hope for a better world, a better kingdom in the near future, when Jesus Christ comes back for His church, and defeats the powers of darkness, and reclaims this world for the Lord.
There is a hope for the future, but not in the 'wisdom' of man, nor in the belief that man does not need God to solve their problems; man has survived this long not because of their cleverness or their scientific advances, but because God has allowed them to so that He may recover all His children who wish to be saved and live in His kingdom, and to proclaim the Gospel of Grace to the rebellious ones, so that they may have a chance to survive and know true peace and a loving existence with Him, and so that no one on the day of judgement can accuse a righteous God of not giving humanity a chance to repent and to come to know Him.
There is coming a great revival, one that will shock and amaze the unbelievers, and give everyone all over the world a chance to come to know My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will move in mighty and powerful ways; miraculous healings, impossible conversions to Christ, the mending up of broken hearts too low to even believe in themselves or in love, the repentance of truly rebellious and evil hearts that thought only for their own safety and survival, who will come and give graciously to everyone and proclaim that Jesus Christ is lord! You will see a breakout of love and power and grace that will encourage all of His believers and will give us the boldness to stand for Him, the One who was pierced for our transgressions and who died for our sins. And the Lord will defeat the powers of darkness as the world plunges deeper into war, madness, and hate.
When you start to see these things, happen, my brothers and sisters, know that the time is near for Jesus Christ to come, and rejoice in His loving mercy; He will redeem us and the world will be left with very few choices; they must come to Christ and believe while they suffer under the devil's brutal struggle and war against God and His people, or live without hope or any chance of redemption.
Please pray that His Spirit will transform our lives and the lives of the those living in fear and confusion, already suffering for the mistakes of those who are in power, who have destroyed their hopes and dreams, and given them nothing but ashes, lies, and a meager existence at best; please pray for their deliverance from evil and that they will be led to see the light of Jesus Christ shining within our hearts and within the world. It is He who can give them grace, mercy, redemption, and peace, as citizens of the kingdom a God; the true hope for the new world that the Lord will bring in His Son, Jesus Christ.
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
The Lord has always known you, from the very moment you were conceived, to the moment of your birth, and the moment you said your first word, probably 'mommy' or 'daddy'. He created you, He gave you to your parents as a gift of love, and they were to be your surrogate parents in the world, to raise you righteously in the presence of God, to get to know Him so that you may make the decision to believe in Him and become His disciple, a child of the living God.
That is why it is so painful to God, when we choose to turn our back on Him and go our own way, when women choose to abort their babies, for these 'fetuses' are not just a mass of worthless tissues to Him, He formed those children in the womb to be His children, to love and fellowship, and worship Him forever in perfect peace and harmony; there can be no higher calling for humanity than to have a close relationship with the One who made them.
Every child that has lost their life in this world, whether through abortion or through other tragic situations that happen in this world everyday, God had a purpose for them. He never throws anything or anyone away who could be useful to Him. He loves His children, all of us, but He knows who will believe in Him and love Him, and He knows who will rebel and never come to Him. This thought makes things seem fixed, as though the Lord chose who He would love as His own and who He would reject, but He gives everyone a chance to come to Him.
Everyday, He sends His Holy Spirit into the world, expressing His love by spreading the Word of God far and wide; His servants, the pastors, preachers, teachers, and evangelists are moved by the Holy Spirit to proclaim His love, grace and mercy, and His prophets serve as watchmen to illuminate the word of God and to encourage His followers to keep walking the path that God has laid out for them.
The times are coming when the word of God will not be proclaimed as it is now, because of persecution and misunderstandings; the people who want to destroy the concept of God and live a Godless existence are now pushing harder than ever to force their point of view down our throats. They are not willing to see what happens to people and societies who exist without God, without hope. The world is falling apart literally at the seams, and they are in deep denial as to the cause. They want everyone to believe that if we just believe in ourselves and let everyone live their life as they see fit, without God's standards of living, that all these problems in the world would will just disappear, and melt away.
I am often amazed by some people who are desiring to leave this world to travel to some distant star and start up a new society, the perfect utopia, without God and without the troubles of this world. What they don't realize is that even if they had the means and the resources to travel to another world and start over, it would never work because the same problems that they would be leaving behind here on planet earth, will reappear quickly on this 'new earth'; the problems they would be trying to leave behind is within their own hearts.
Without the knowledge and wisdom of the Word of God, without the promptings and the power of the Holy Spirit, without God's love and mercy, we cannot hope to escape the problems that we have in this world. It is God's power, mercy, and grace that makes a difference in people's hearts, that changes their minds, that saves their souls. We replenish our spirits with His loving presence, and receive the confidence and hope for a better world, a better kingdom in the near future, when Jesus Christ comes back for His church, and defeats the powers of darkness, and reclaims this world for the Lord.
There is a hope for the future, but not in the 'wisdom' of man, nor in the belief that man does not need God to solve their problems; man has survived this long not because of their cleverness or their scientific advances, but because God has allowed them to so that He may recover all His children who wish to be saved and live in His kingdom, and to proclaim the Gospel of Grace to the rebellious ones, so that they may have a chance to survive and know true peace and a loving existence with Him, and so that no one on the day of judgement can accuse a righteous God of not giving humanity a chance to repent and to come to know Him.
There is coming a great revival, one that will shock and amaze the unbelievers, and give everyone all over the world a chance to come to know My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will move in mighty and powerful ways; miraculous healings, impossible conversions to Christ, the mending up of broken hearts too low to even believe in themselves or in love, the repentance of truly rebellious and evil hearts that thought only for their own safety and survival, who will come and give graciously to everyone and proclaim that Jesus Christ is lord! You will see a breakout of love and power and grace that will encourage all of His believers and will give us the boldness to stand for Him, the One who was pierced for our transgressions and who died for our sins. And the Lord will defeat the powers of darkness as the world plunges deeper into war, madness, and hate.
When you start to see these things, happen, my brothers and sisters, know that the time is near for Jesus Christ to come, and rejoice in His loving mercy; He will redeem us and the world will be left with very few choices; they must come to Christ and believe while they suffer under the devil's brutal struggle and war against God and His people, or live without hope or any chance of redemption.
Please pray that His Spirit will transform our lives and the lives of the those living in fear and confusion, already suffering for the mistakes of those who are in power, who have destroyed their hopes and dreams, and given them nothing but ashes, lies, and a meager existence at best; please pray for their deliverance from evil and that they will be led to see the light of Jesus Christ shining within our hearts and within the world. It is He who can give them grace, mercy, redemption, and peace, as citizens of the kingdom a God; the true hope for the new world that the Lord will bring in His Son, Jesus Christ.
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Saturday, October 29, 2016
When God Says No, There Is A Reason
I woke up this morning after having a wonderful dream, and in the dream I saw myself in the mirror, I was wonderfully dressed and looking beautiful; I was supposed to go somewhere, but I was still hesitant and concerned about my appearance. The person who was with me assured me that I was fine and that I looked well. Also, in another part of the dream, I found myself 'gardening', I was spraying the gardens of people's home with water from a hose, and the neighborhood was green and lush. As I woke up, God told me that everything was going to be alright.
In many times in my life, God has had to reassure me and to let me know that He loves me, and that He will never leave me or forsake me. It is never easy to live the christian walk, when everyone around you is living the way they want to live and they seem content in what they do. They often seem to have 'luck' or 'favor' on their lives; I've seen people get their own way on the job, in everyday circumstances, in bad situations, and on the streets. If I didn't know any better, I would think that doing BAD is better that doing GOOD.
Just thinking about the providence of God makes me smile. He gives us what we need to survive in this world, and He understands our wants. He doesn't always give us our wants, because He knows what is best for us. We may be born again believers, filled with the Holy Spirit and power, we may be master prayers and stellar worshipers, but we always have to be mindful that we still have to wrestle and deal with our fleshly nature.
We often have thoughts and impulses that are not Godly; some of the thoughts come from our inner desires, and some of them come from the enemy. We are constantly being bombarded by messages that stimulate those desires, that is why we need a constant diet of the Word of God and the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit to resist them. Sometimes we have to let go of some of those wants and desires because they come in conflict with the will of God for our lives.
God has shown me what His will is for my life, and it was interesting in that some of what He wants me to do I would have never thought to do for myself, and I was hesitant to believe that I could do it; that is why His constant reassurance is helping me to go through the steps necessary to accomplish His goals for my life. I've learned I have to see myself the way God sees me, so that my circumstances don't overwhelm me. He knows that I have the ability to be a force of good in this world; when I took the first step the Lord helped by keeping me upon the path that He has for me, and He helped me to stay focused on Him and not on my daily issues; He gives me rest when I need it in His presence.
When God says no to your requests, It means He as a better way, a better solution to the problem. You may have great plans for your life, and His plans may be different from your own; He may want you to do things that you never would believe you could do, but in the end if you follow His lead, you will found peace and joy in your heart, and you will accomplish more with His spirit and guidance that you would ever be able to do on your own.
It may look like everyone else around you have perfect lives, and they may seem happy, but you never really know what is in a person's heart unless the Lord reveals it to you. There are many famous people, celebrities, politicians and potentates, living lives of luxury and power, showing the world what it is like to live by the world's standards; these are the same standards the give 1 percent of the population everything they ever wanted while the rest of the world scrambles to survive on what's left. They look content and fulfilled, until you start to examine their lives from God's point of view.
Let the Lord guide you when examining your own life, and He will show you that you have just as much power and influence in your life and in the lives of the people around you as you need to fulfill God's plans for your life. You are a child of the Most High God, and your inheritance pales beyond the paltry billions of dollars a few people in this life have acquired; all the finer things in life will one day be destroyed by sin, war, greed and the passage of time. His grace and mercy shall never be destroyed, and when you have the favor of God on your life, no one will be able to stop you from fulfilling your destiny.
Psalm 138:3
“In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.”
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
In many times in my life, God has had to reassure me and to let me know that He loves me, and that He will never leave me or forsake me. It is never easy to live the christian walk, when everyone around you is living the way they want to live and they seem content in what they do. They often seem to have 'luck' or 'favor' on their lives; I've seen people get their own way on the job, in everyday circumstances, in bad situations, and on the streets. If I didn't know any better, I would think that doing BAD is better that doing GOOD.
Just thinking about the providence of God makes me smile. He gives us what we need to survive in this world, and He understands our wants. He doesn't always give us our wants, because He knows what is best for us. We may be born again believers, filled with the Holy Spirit and power, we may be master prayers and stellar worshipers, but we always have to be mindful that we still have to wrestle and deal with our fleshly nature.
We often have thoughts and impulses that are not Godly; some of the thoughts come from our inner desires, and some of them come from the enemy. We are constantly being bombarded by messages that stimulate those desires, that is why we need a constant diet of the Word of God and the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit to resist them. Sometimes we have to let go of some of those wants and desires because they come in conflict with the will of God for our lives.
God has shown me what His will is for my life, and it was interesting in that some of what He wants me to do I would have never thought to do for myself, and I was hesitant to believe that I could do it; that is why His constant reassurance is helping me to go through the steps necessary to accomplish His goals for my life. I've learned I have to see myself the way God sees me, so that my circumstances don't overwhelm me. He knows that I have the ability to be a force of good in this world; when I took the first step the Lord helped by keeping me upon the path that He has for me, and He helped me to stay focused on Him and not on my daily issues; He gives me rest when I need it in His presence.
When God says no to your requests, It means He as a better way, a better solution to the problem. You may have great plans for your life, and His plans may be different from your own; He may want you to do things that you never would believe you could do, but in the end if you follow His lead, you will found peace and joy in your heart, and you will accomplish more with His spirit and guidance that you would ever be able to do on your own.
It may look like everyone else around you have perfect lives, and they may seem happy, but you never really know what is in a person's heart unless the Lord reveals it to you. There are many famous people, celebrities, politicians and potentates, living lives of luxury and power, showing the world what it is like to live by the world's standards; these are the same standards the give 1 percent of the population everything they ever wanted while the rest of the world scrambles to survive on what's left. They look content and fulfilled, until you start to examine their lives from God's point of view.
Let the Lord guide you when examining your own life, and He will show you that you have just as much power and influence in your life and in the lives of the people around you as you need to fulfill God's plans for your life. You are a child of the Most High God, and your inheritance pales beyond the paltry billions of dollars a few people in this life have acquired; all the finer things in life will one day be destroyed by sin, war, greed and the passage of time. His grace and mercy shall never be destroyed, and when you have the favor of God on your life, no one will be able to stop you from fulfilling your destiny.
Psalm 138:3
“In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.”
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Friday, October 28, 2016
The Concept of God (for the unbeliever)
by Tony Grater
Over the years, I’ve heard many arguments from people who don’t believe in God, or the Bible. And the reasons for their unbelief are usually a variety of things. Some people will say, “How can I believe in something that I’ve never seen?” Others will insist, “If God exists, why does He allow so many horrible things in this world to happen?”. And still another one (directly questioning the Bible), “Why would you believe a whole bunch of stories in a book written by illiterate men, thousands of years ago as the Word of God?” These are all legitimate questions, for the non-believer. And the answers, while requiring explanation, are simple at their core.
Addressing the first question: “How can I believe in something that I’ve never seen?”, there is a very simple answer to that. One of the main points of the Christian Faith is believing that God is real even though, we have never seen Him. Several bible verses point to this. Hebrews 1:11 says, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Romans 8:24 elaborates further on this by stating, “For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?”. And 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” These verses, from 3 different books in the Bible, all fit together to form a basic explanation as to why, as 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We walk by faith, not by sight”. We believe the Bible to be the Word of God. A God we’ve never physically seen. So faith, by its very nature, requires believing in something you cannot physically identify.
The next logical question that a non-believer will ask is, “If God exists, why does He allow so many horrible things in this world to happen?”. We’ll come back to that one in a bit, as I want to address the 3rd question first, which is “Why would you believe a whole bunch of stories in a book, written by illiterate men, thousands of years ago as the Word of God?”.
Let's talk about the “concept” of God for a moment. Putting aside whether or not He is real, what IS the definition of God? According to a definition in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, God is “the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/god )
Therefore, if the “concept”, or definition, of God is this supreme, all powerful, all knowing Being, that means He can literally do ANYTHING. If means He can create the earth and the universe simply by saying, “Let there be light” and it be so. It means He can create man from the dust of the earth by saying, “Let us make man in our own image”, and it be so. And it also means He can take these imperfect, illiterate men, scattered across the globe, and over the course of 1,500 years, put His words into their minds, influencing them to document them, and those words eventually evolve into a book called the Bible, and have it be the perfect, unequaled Word of God.
So, after reading all of that, your next legitimate question is “If God exists, why does He allow so many horrible things in this world to happen?”. The answer is very simple. We live in a fallen, sinful world. And it has been that way since Adam and Eve sinned for the first time in the Garden of Eden. This wasn’t how God intended it to be, but man's nature is not perfection, it’s sin. Now you may be asking, “How can God be so angry with Adam and Eve over a piece of fruit?”. It wasn’t over a piece of fruit; it was over rebellion to God. God told them they could eat from any tree in the Garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). And the reason for that was because of what that tree brought with it, which was exactly as advertised, meaning Adam and Eve knew this beforehand. But once Satan told them they could be like God (knowing Good and Evil), they gave into that temptation, and sin entered the world. And this has led to wars, disease, famine, murder, sexual immorality and countless other sins. And because we were now living in this world full of sin, and we are imperfect human beings, we would live in constant rebellion to God.
So now, some of you are probably asking, “Well if He’s God, why doesn’t He just put a stop to all of this? If He’s perfect, all powerful and all knowing…why doesn’t He just wipe out the Devil, sin, all the evil in the world, and be done with it?" Well, that is His plan. And He could have just snapped His fingers a long time ago and taken care of it. But when God created man, He didn’t just create the people of that time. He also knew of every single person that would ever be born in the future. And He knew all the sins they would commit. This includes everyone from the first people on the face of the earth, the people in the time of Jesus, the people in the Middle Ages, and everyone in the world today. He knows it all. He’s God. And because He’s God, He’s perfect, and nothing LESS than perfection can ever be in His presence. It would literally contradict with Him. That's why Jesus had to live a perfect life, and become sin FOR man. Because when you accept Jesus, and go before God, He no longer sees your sins, He sees Jesus.
So to summarize…how can we believe in something we’ve never seen? Because we walk by faith, not by sight. Why do we believe the stories in a book written by imperfect men thousands of years ago? Because God is perfect, and can influence them to write His perfect words. And finally, if such a God exists, why do so many horrible things happen? Because this is a fallen, sinful world, in need of a Savior. And that Savior’s name is Jesus. Trust in Him today, and be saved.
Husband, father, Believer in Christ, metal head, sports fan. Pretty simple. 2 Corinthians 5:7
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
Over the years, I’ve heard many arguments from people who don’t believe in God, or the Bible. And the reasons for their unbelief are usually a variety of things. Some people will say, “How can I believe in something that I’ve never seen?” Others will insist, “If God exists, why does He allow so many horrible things in this world to happen?”. And still another one (directly questioning the Bible), “Why would you believe a whole bunch of stories in a book written by illiterate men, thousands of years ago as the Word of God?” These are all legitimate questions, for the non-believer. And the answers, while requiring explanation, are simple at their core.
Addressing the first question: “How can I believe in something that I’ve never seen?”, there is a very simple answer to that. One of the main points of the Christian Faith is believing that God is real even though, we have never seen Him. Several bible verses point to this. Hebrews 1:11 says, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Romans 8:24 elaborates further on this by stating, “For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?”. And 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” These verses, from 3 different books in the Bible, all fit together to form a basic explanation as to why, as 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We walk by faith, not by sight”. We believe the Bible to be the Word of God. A God we’ve never physically seen. So faith, by its very nature, requires believing in something you cannot physically identify.
The next logical question that a non-believer will ask is, “If God exists, why does He allow so many horrible things in this world to happen?”. We’ll come back to that one in a bit, as I want to address the 3rd question first, which is “Why would you believe a whole bunch of stories in a book, written by illiterate men, thousands of years ago as the Word of God?”.
Let's talk about the “concept” of God for a moment. Putting aside whether or not He is real, what IS the definition of God? According to a definition in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, God is “the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/god )
Therefore, if the “concept”, or definition, of God is this supreme, all powerful, all knowing Being, that means He can literally do ANYTHING. If means He can create the earth and the universe simply by saying, “Let there be light” and it be so. It means He can create man from the dust of the earth by saying, “Let us make man in our own image”, and it be so. And it also means He can take these imperfect, illiterate men, scattered across the globe, and over the course of 1,500 years, put His words into their minds, influencing them to document them, and those words eventually evolve into a book called the Bible, and have it be the perfect, unequaled Word of God.
So, after reading all of that, your next legitimate question is “If God exists, why does He allow so many horrible things in this world to happen?”. The answer is very simple. We live in a fallen, sinful world. And it has been that way since Adam and Eve sinned for the first time in the Garden of Eden. This wasn’t how God intended it to be, but man's nature is not perfection, it’s sin. Now you may be asking, “How can God be so angry with Adam and Eve over a piece of fruit?”. It wasn’t over a piece of fruit; it was over rebellion to God. God told them they could eat from any tree in the Garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). And the reason for that was because of what that tree brought with it, which was exactly as advertised, meaning Adam and Eve knew this beforehand. But once Satan told them they could be like God (knowing Good and Evil), they gave into that temptation, and sin entered the world. And this has led to wars, disease, famine, murder, sexual immorality and countless other sins. And because we were now living in this world full of sin, and we are imperfect human beings, we would live in constant rebellion to God.
So now, some of you are probably asking, “Well if He’s God, why doesn’t He just put a stop to all of this? If He’s perfect, all powerful and all knowing…why doesn’t He just wipe out the Devil, sin, all the evil in the world, and be done with it?" Well, that is His plan. And He could have just snapped His fingers a long time ago and taken care of it. But when God created man, He didn’t just create the people of that time. He also knew of every single person that would ever be born in the future. And He knew all the sins they would commit. This includes everyone from the first people on the face of the earth, the people in the time of Jesus, the people in the Middle Ages, and everyone in the world today. He knows it all. He’s God. And because He’s God, He’s perfect, and nothing LESS than perfection can ever be in His presence. It would literally contradict with Him. That's why Jesus had to live a perfect life, and become sin FOR man. Because when you accept Jesus, and go before God, He no longer sees your sins, He sees Jesus.
So to summarize…how can we believe in something we’ve never seen? Because we walk by faith, not by sight. Why do we believe the stories in a book written by imperfect men thousands of years ago? Because God is perfect, and can influence them to write His perfect words. And finally, if such a God exists, why do so many horrible things happen? Because this is a fallen, sinful world, in need of a Savior. And that Savior’s name is Jesus. Trust in Him today, and be saved.
Husband, father, Believer in Christ, metal head, sports fan. Pretty simple. 2 Corinthians 5:7
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
Thursday, October 27, 2016
The Gift Of Righteousness
Romans 5:12-17
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
Man's quest for perfection has made no real progress. We are more advanced than our ancestors; it can be said that we know more about the natural processes of the world, and medical research has helped doctors and medical professionals give their patients better treatments toward the goal of optimum health. It has not however given us the ability to become like God.
What was the reason for adam and eve's rebellion in the garden of eden?
Genesis Chapter 3:1-7
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
The first people in the world were seduced by a lying spirit, and were told that they could be just like The Most High, The Creator of the Universe; He created them in His own image to that He may fellowship with them, and express His love towards them. They were His children, and He wanted them with all His heart and soul, but they were not gods themselves. He wanted them to grow naturally at their own pace and come to realize the glory and majesty of their existence in the presence of the Lord.
The idea of becoming gods and existing outside the love and protection of the Lord was a temptation they could not resist; they were innocent but not perfect, because if they were fully mature and perfected beings, they would have seen through the devil's lies and rebuked him and chased him out of the garden. Their desire to rule over their own lives instead of following the Lord's plans for creation resulted in their ejection from paradise and put them on the road to sorrow, pain, and ultimately death.
The gift of righteousness is a precious gift given by God as a peace offering and a resolution to the problem of our rebellious, selfish hearts. We only become mature human beings when we realize that true peace and righteousness only comes when we worship Him; He is our God and our Father, we have been adopted into His family, and no one else can ever take us away from His hands. He will see to it that we are loved and provided for, and He will continue the process of the sanctification of our hearts and minds.
So, pursuing true perfection comes when we stop focusing on ourselves and begin to focus upon Him, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and transgressions. He gave himself up for us, a man who never sinned and who is the Only and Begotten Son of God; and His sacrifice was precious in the eyes of our Father God. We are so valuable to Him, a race of people who have consistently rebelled against His truth and His standards since the day adam and eve were banished from paradise. What a marvelous and loving God! How can anyone deny that His love is the best and highest form of love ever known!
And one day, when Jesus Christ comes back to rule and reign on the earth, we will be transformed into beings full matured, living and thinking like Our Savior Jesus Christ, and immortal, no longer to suffer from disease, pain, or death - Now That Is PERFECTION!
How can you receive the gift of righteousness? Repent and confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and be cleansed by His love and grace:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
Man's quest for perfection has made no real progress. We are more advanced than our ancestors; it can be said that we know more about the natural processes of the world, and medical research has helped doctors and medical professionals give their patients better treatments toward the goal of optimum health. It has not however given us the ability to become like God.
What was the reason for adam and eve's rebellion in the garden of eden?
Genesis Chapter 3:1-7
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
The first people in the world were seduced by a lying spirit, and were told that they could be just like The Most High, The Creator of the Universe; He created them in His own image to that He may fellowship with them, and express His love towards them. They were His children, and He wanted them with all His heart and soul, but they were not gods themselves. He wanted them to grow naturally at their own pace and come to realize the glory and majesty of their existence in the presence of the Lord.
The idea of becoming gods and existing outside the love and protection of the Lord was a temptation they could not resist; they were innocent but not perfect, because if they were fully mature and perfected beings, they would have seen through the devil's lies and rebuked him and chased him out of the garden. Their desire to rule over their own lives instead of following the Lord's plans for creation resulted in their ejection from paradise and put them on the road to sorrow, pain, and ultimately death.
The gift of righteousness is a precious gift given by God as a peace offering and a resolution to the problem of our rebellious, selfish hearts. We only become mature human beings when we realize that true peace and righteousness only comes when we worship Him; He is our God and our Father, we have been adopted into His family, and no one else can ever take us away from His hands. He will see to it that we are loved and provided for, and He will continue the process of the sanctification of our hearts and minds.
So, pursuing true perfection comes when we stop focusing on ourselves and begin to focus upon Him, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and transgressions. He gave himself up for us, a man who never sinned and who is the Only and Begotten Son of God; and His sacrifice was precious in the eyes of our Father God. We are so valuable to Him, a race of people who have consistently rebelled against His truth and His standards since the day adam and eve were banished from paradise. What a marvelous and loving God! How can anyone deny that His love is the best and highest form of love ever known!
And one day, when Jesus Christ comes back to rule and reign on the earth, we will be transformed into beings full matured, living and thinking like Our Savior Jesus Christ, and immortal, no longer to suffer from disease, pain, or death - Now That Is PERFECTION!
How can you receive the gift of righteousness? Repent and confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and be cleansed by His love and grace:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
The Peace of Christ
Philippians 4:6-7
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
It is plain to see the world needs more love, compassion, and peace. Many people are saying that the only way to peace is to allow everyone the freedom to live as they wish, and to abolish religion and religious practices. So much of the world's problems are being blamed on religion and the belief in God. The free thinker believes that free expression of every thought and desire is what's necessary to bring about a peaceful world existence.
Humanity has had it's way in the world for thousands of years, and it has developed many customs and cultures, we have advanced ourselves thorough science and technology, and have tried to let go of the God 'myths' of our ancestors, which some see as backwards and superstitious .
There have been successful attempts in some countries to abolish belief in God, and the results were not what the leaders of these movements were expecting. It seems that darkness ruled and reigned unchecked in these lands, and people lost their sense of love, compassion, and hope. Crime and corruption increased, and many found that their freedom to do as they wished without true love or wisdom could not fill the vacuum in the hearts. The problem was that these leaders did not understand the true nature of the universe.
God created man to exist in this universe; He gave us a body, a heart and a mind, inhabited by a spirit. We are shaped by our parents, by knowledge, by environment, and by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. God is a spirit and He exists in a spiritual environment, but He also exists in our universe. He is shaping the way people live, by influencing our behavior and actions. He is omniscient, all powerful, and He has the ability to cause peace or war, love and compassion, hope and peace.
God has never wanted war, but He will not allow His people to be utterly destroyed by the forces of evil; evil is manifested in people's hearts and minds when they refuse to live by God's standards; they want to live anyway that they please, and often continue to live this way even when it is clear that these ways lead to destruction, pain, and anxiety.
When a society decides to abandon God, they often believe that they have left good and evil behind to form a new era of peaceful coexistence without the entanglements of standards or moral obligations; what really happens is that they forsake goodness and love and embrace selfishness, pride, and greed to its highest form of expression. Just because you throw out good or good moral intentions doesn't mean evil disappears, in fact you increase the hold of evil in the environment so that it is impossible to get rid of it without serious divine intervention.
The will to do good or evil are encoded into the very fabric of our minds and hearts; it is because of this that Jesus Christ had to come into the world; He chose to sacrifice himself on the cross to pay the debt we could not pay for our sins and transgressions against God's universal standards. These standards are perfect in every way and they would foster the peaceful coexistence we so desire if we had the will and the ability to do so on our own.
Romans 14:17-19
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
True peace comes when we realize our own inability to solve our problems, and look to God for the solution that He provided, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Once He becomes apart of our lives, we find peace and rest in His love, and He is present in our hearts.
If every person in the world had that presence in their hearts and minds, we would see dramatic changes in the way people felt about themselves and each other; no one would be interested in war, and everyone would be want to share what they had with each other and begin to repair the damage done to this world and what we have done to each other. This is why Jesus Christ is coming back, to bring real peace to the world, and to punish those who will never live by God's standards.
So, please pray that more people will come to know Him and His goodness, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and for the reawakening of the world to the real force of peace in this universe, Jesus Christ.
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
It is plain to see the world needs more love, compassion, and peace. Many people are saying that the only way to peace is to allow everyone the freedom to live as they wish, and to abolish religion and religious practices. So much of the world's problems are being blamed on religion and the belief in God. The free thinker believes that free expression of every thought and desire is what's necessary to bring about a peaceful world existence.
Humanity has had it's way in the world for thousands of years, and it has developed many customs and cultures, we have advanced ourselves thorough science and technology, and have tried to let go of the God 'myths' of our ancestors, which some see as backwards and superstitious .
There have been successful attempts in some countries to abolish belief in God, and the results were not what the leaders of these movements were expecting. It seems that darkness ruled and reigned unchecked in these lands, and people lost their sense of love, compassion, and hope. Crime and corruption increased, and many found that their freedom to do as they wished without true love or wisdom could not fill the vacuum in the hearts. The problem was that these leaders did not understand the true nature of the universe.
God created man to exist in this universe; He gave us a body, a heart and a mind, inhabited by a spirit. We are shaped by our parents, by knowledge, by environment, and by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. God is a spirit and He exists in a spiritual environment, but He also exists in our universe. He is shaping the way people live, by influencing our behavior and actions. He is omniscient, all powerful, and He has the ability to cause peace or war, love and compassion, hope and peace.
God has never wanted war, but He will not allow His people to be utterly destroyed by the forces of evil; evil is manifested in people's hearts and minds when they refuse to live by God's standards; they want to live anyway that they please, and often continue to live this way even when it is clear that these ways lead to destruction, pain, and anxiety.
When a society decides to abandon God, they often believe that they have left good and evil behind to form a new era of peaceful coexistence without the entanglements of standards or moral obligations; what really happens is that they forsake goodness and love and embrace selfishness, pride, and greed to its highest form of expression. Just because you throw out good or good moral intentions doesn't mean evil disappears, in fact you increase the hold of evil in the environment so that it is impossible to get rid of it without serious divine intervention.
The will to do good or evil are encoded into the very fabric of our minds and hearts; it is because of this that Jesus Christ had to come into the world; He chose to sacrifice himself on the cross to pay the debt we could not pay for our sins and transgressions against God's universal standards. These standards are perfect in every way and they would foster the peaceful coexistence we so desire if we had the will and the ability to do so on our own.
Romans 14:17-19
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
True peace comes when we realize our own inability to solve our problems, and look to God for the solution that He provided, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Once He becomes apart of our lives, we find peace and rest in His love, and He is present in our hearts.
If every person in the world had that presence in their hearts and minds, we would see dramatic changes in the way people felt about themselves and each other; no one would be interested in war, and everyone would be want to share what they had with each other and begin to repair the damage done to this world and what we have done to each other. This is why Jesus Christ is coming back, to bring real peace to the world, and to punish those who will never live by God's standards.
So, please pray that more people will come to know Him and His goodness, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and for the reawakening of the world to the real force of peace in this universe, Jesus Christ.
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Salt and Light or Dregs and Darkness, Which One Will You Choose?
Matthew 5:13-16
Salt and Light
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand,
and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine
before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
One of the best reasons for becoming a born again believer is the satisfaction of knowing that someone sees you, only you, as someone special and precious in their eyes. No one can take that feeling away, the feeling of acceptance and belonging, and the fear of death disappears. You actually have a yearning to see the One who was pierced for your sins, your transgressions, and so leaving this plane of existence is actually something that I personally look forward to.
Once you have reached that level of peace in your heart, you may feel an urgency to tell everyone about Him and His love and righteousness; when you walk around with peace and joy in your heart, people begin to notice the changes in your life and your behavior. This is the best kind of witness, a quiet loving reassurance that you have that the Lord will never leave you or forsake you.
If you live in His presence everyday, you will find that you cannot hide His work being done in you and in your life, and people will start to ask you why you seem so confident and happy, when it seems everyone else around you is falling apart. By focusing on Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, and giving Him complete access into our hearts and minds, it gives us a new focus, a wisdom based upon the word of God and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
How will you know if you are salt and light in the world? Some people believe that being 'good' is the answer to the world's problems, but if just being 'good' could help the world, would the world be in the position that it is in right now? How many people in the world are actually 'good', and what is your definition of being 'good'? Everyone has their own idea of what they believe would be a perfect world, where everyone is 'good' according to their own standards. God's vision of a perfect world is a world where love, peace and compassion reign, and selfishness, pride, and evil do not exist.
His concept of love is higher than our own, for His love is the highest form of selfless love, when your only goal is to express love to everyone else, and your highest priority is to give of yourself. We aspire to those goals, and they seem lofty, lifted up and far away, and as long was we try to rely on our own resources, it will remain an impossible goal.
The world's concept of 'good' cannot compare with the presence, the love, and the character of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself so that we may live forever in His presence and avoid everlasting separation, darkness, and despair. Living with Him means being filled with His love and His light, and being away from Him means living in fear, uncertainty, and darkness.
The people all around you live their lives with the concept that this world is all that there is, and then they die; some will never believe in life after death, but what they don't realize is that without Jesus Christ in their lives, they are already living that life after death scenario, as the lost and forsaken, separated from God's love and providence.
Without the Lord Jesus in our lives, we would be 'dead men walking' as well. We wouldn't care about what is happening in other people's lives, we would just be concerned about ourselves, and we certainly wouldn't believe in a God in heaven, it would all be like fairy tales to us. As much as the Lord cares about every human being on the face of the earth, He will not force anyone to come to Him, they must choose life or death, love or hate, indifference or compassion.
If you feel that there is more to life than it seems, and you feel that God is tugging at your heart, let me encourage you to let Him into your heart, you won't be sorry if you do. Now say this prayer:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Salt and Light
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand,
and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine
before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
One of the best reasons for becoming a born again believer is the satisfaction of knowing that someone sees you, only you, as someone special and precious in their eyes. No one can take that feeling away, the feeling of acceptance and belonging, and the fear of death disappears. You actually have a yearning to see the One who was pierced for your sins, your transgressions, and so leaving this plane of existence is actually something that I personally look forward to.
Once you have reached that level of peace in your heart, you may feel an urgency to tell everyone about Him and His love and righteousness; when you walk around with peace and joy in your heart, people begin to notice the changes in your life and your behavior. This is the best kind of witness, a quiet loving reassurance that you have that the Lord will never leave you or forsake you.
If you live in His presence everyday, you will find that you cannot hide His work being done in you and in your life, and people will start to ask you why you seem so confident and happy, when it seems everyone else around you is falling apart. By focusing on Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, and giving Him complete access into our hearts and minds, it gives us a new focus, a wisdom based upon the word of God and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
How will you know if you are salt and light in the world? Some people believe that being 'good' is the answer to the world's problems, but if just being 'good' could help the world, would the world be in the position that it is in right now? How many people in the world are actually 'good', and what is your definition of being 'good'? Everyone has their own idea of what they believe would be a perfect world, where everyone is 'good' according to their own standards. God's vision of a perfect world is a world where love, peace and compassion reign, and selfishness, pride, and evil do not exist.
His concept of love is higher than our own, for His love is the highest form of selfless love, when your only goal is to express love to everyone else, and your highest priority is to give of yourself. We aspire to those goals, and they seem lofty, lifted up and far away, and as long was we try to rely on our own resources, it will remain an impossible goal.
The world's concept of 'good' cannot compare with the presence, the love, and the character of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself so that we may live forever in His presence and avoid everlasting separation, darkness, and despair. Living with Him means being filled with His love and His light, and being away from Him means living in fear, uncertainty, and darkness.
The people all around you live their lives with the concept that this world is all that there is, and then they die; some will never believe in life after death, but what they don't realize is that without Jesus Christ in their lives, they are already living that life after death scenario, as the lost and forsaken, separated from God's love and providence.
Without the Lord Jesus in our lives, we would be 'dead men walking' as well. We wouldn't care about what is happening in other people's lives, we would just be concerned about ourselves, and we certainly wouldn't believe in a God in heaven, it would all be like fairy tales to us. As much as the Lord cares about every human being on the face of the earth, He will not force anyone to come to Him, they must choose life or death, love or hate, indifference or compassion.
If you feel that there is more to life than it seems, and you feel that God is tugging at your heart, let me encourage you to let Him into your heart, you won't be sorry if you do. Now say this prayer:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Monday, October 24, 2016
You Can Trust God
by Charles Stanley
Intouch Ministries
Romans 4:16-21
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised
As we all know too well, life oftentimes confronts us with unexpected or painful circumstances. Sometimes these situations leave us feeling fearful, discouraged, and frustrated. Consequently, we may question whether the heavenly Father truly is reliable.
During such troubling moments, we can rest on this essential truth: The Lord is perfect in His love. Consider verse 5 from first John 1: “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). In other words, everything our heavenly Father does is righteous. And if He is a God of love, then it is impossible for Him to mistreat any of His children. We can be assured that whatever He places or permits in our lives is good and that His motives are pure.
Jesus demonstrated this deep care for us when He offered His blood on the cross—there exists no greater display of love than giving one’s life for someone else (John 15:13). Our sin debt could be paid only with a flawless sacrifice (Deut. 17:1). Christ, the perfect lamb, was willing to die in our place so that we could have an eternal relationship with the Father. If God gave us His Son—the most precious and amazing gift He could possibly give—to take care of our greatest need, then we can trust Him to provide for all areas of our life.
When difficulty arises, remember how much God loves you. He proved this by willingly giving His Son to take the penalty for your sin. Even when circumstances are painful, you can be confident that you are held in the capable and caring hands of your heavenly Father, because of His love for you.
For More Daily Devotions, goto https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions
Intouch Ministries
Romans 4:16-21
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised
As we all know too well, life oftentimes confronts us with unexpected or painful circumstances. Sometimes these situations leave us feeling fearful, discouraged, and frustrated. Consequently, we may question whether the heavenly Father truly is reliable.
During such troubling moments, we can rest on this essential truth: The Lord is perfect in His love. Consider verse 5 from first John 1: “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). In other words, everything our heavenly Father does is righteous. And if He is a God of love, then it is impossible for Him to mistreat any of His children. We can be assured that whatever He places or permits in our lives is good and that His motives are pure.
Jesus demonstrated this deep care for us when He offered His blood on the cross—there exists no greater display of love than giving one’s life for someone else (John 15:13). Our sin debt could be paid only with a flawless sacrifice (Deut. 17:1). Christ, the perfect lamb, was willing to die in our place so that we could have an eternal relationship with the Father. If God gave us His Son—the most precious and amazing gift He could possibly give—to take care of our greatest need, then we can trust Him to provide for all areas of our life.
When difficulty arises, remember how much God loves you. He proved this by willingly giving His Son to take the penalty for your sin. Even when circumstances are painful, you can be confident that you are held in the capable and caring hands of your heavenly Father, because of His love for you.
For More Daily Devotions, goto https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions
Sunday, October 23, 2016
The Choice To Love
The definition of love is an intense feeling of deep affection. We all have someone, even something that we love, that brings some joy and happiness into our lives. Love in recent years has not been respected like it was in the past. People often make jokes about falling in love, and what being in love with someone does to your life, and your behavior. Suddenly, you are concerned about someone else
and what goes on in your environment, because you realize that these things are actually important for your own well being.
Selfishness brings a sense of pursuing your wants and desires to the exclusion of everyone and everything else. Selfish people have a lower capacity for love in general, even to love themselves, because they are focused on accomplishing their goal(s), and they allow themselves to be blinded by the consequences of their actions. When you try to get close to a selfish person, you might find their response to you may be a hit or miss scenario; their decision to respond to your kindness and compassion is usually based upon the results that they will receive, namely if they will get the results they are looking for when they respond to your loving gestures.
Loving others comes from within your heart and soul, it is a decision we make to open ourselves to another person who hopefully is willing to respond the same way. In a perfect world, everyone would be open to love and to receive love from others, and no one would be afraid that their gesture of love would not be returned in kind. We need love in our lives, and we cherish every loving encounter, but in these days, it has become harder for people to express love, to give of themselves selflessly.
That is why having a relationship with Jesus Christ is special, for He loves us unconditionally, with all His heart,soul, and mind, and He wants that same type of loving response from us. He made us to fellowship with Him, to share His heart with ours, and to show the generosity of His character to His little ones, His children. This world would be a lifeless void without His presence, His Love, His Spirit; His Word brought the earth into existence and it is His love that keeps it going, for God is love, the purest, highest, sweetest, expression of love.
Long ago, He made a choice to create the earth and to populate it with animals, fish and birds, plants and trees, and He also made man in His image, a being that could communicate with Him heart to heart, and mind to mind, to praise Him, to love Him for His name's sake and Glory. Some have decided that they don't need a God in their lives, but God has never forsaken us, and He will always love us, even when some of us behave as if He doesn't exist, even though they may reject Him in their hearts.
Matthew Chapter 5:43-48
(Jesus said)"You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
God wants us to choose to love one another, because it shows the true character of His kingdom, and we represent Him in this world. He has loved us all, and He knows what it is like to love people that refuse to love Him, and to have sadness in His heart as they depart from this life separate and apart from Him forever into eternal darkness; He never wants anyone to leave His presence, but He will not allow rebellious, selfish, and unloving souls to corrupt His creation forever; as a Father He has a responsibility to sustain a universe of peace, compassion, and love for Himself, for His Heavenly creations, and for His little ones, the Body of Christ.
Chose to love yourself, your family, the ones around you, as the Lord has chosen to love you, for he cares with a deep and everlasting love that will burn for an eternity and beyond. Show Him your love today, by praising Him, taking time to be with Him, obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and showing His love to others. Once you submit your will to His will for your life, He will change the way you see yourself and others, your heart will be changed, and you will love others with His selfless love, it will pour out naturally from your heart.
If you want to love yourself and others like the Lord does, you need to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and He will show you how to love others perfectly:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Selfishness brings a sense of pursuing your wants and desires to the exclusion of everyone and everything else. Selfish people have a lower capacity for love in general, even to love themselves, because they are focused on accomplishing their goal(s), and they allow themselves to be blinded by the consequences of their actions. When you try to get close to a selfish person, you might find their response to you may be a hit or miss scenario; their decision to respond to your kindness and compassion is usually based upon the results that they will receive, namely if they will get the results they are looking for when they respond to your loving gestures.
Loving others comes from within your heart and soul, it is a decision we make to open ourselves to another person who hopefully is willing to respond the same way. In a perfect world, everyone would be open to love and to receive love from others, and no one would be afraid that their gesture of love would not be returned in kind. We need love in our lives, and we cherish every loving encounter, but in these days, it has become harder for people to express love, to give of themselves selflessly.
That is why having a relationship with Jesus Christ is special, for He loves us unconditionally, with all His heart,soul, and mind, and He wants that same type of loving response from us. He made us to fellowship with Him, to share His heart with ours, and to show the generosity of His character to His little ones, His children. This world would be a lifeless void without His presence, His Love, His Spirit; His Word brought the earth into existence and it is His love that keeps it going, for God is love, the purest, highest, sweetest, expression of love.
Long ago, He made a choice to create the earth and to populate it with animals, fish and birds, plants and trees, and He also made man in His image, a being that could communicate with Him heart to heart, and mind to mind, to praise Him, to love Him for His name's sake and Glory. Some have decided that they don't need a God in their lives, but God has never forsaken us, and He will always love us, even when some of us behave as if He doesn't exist, even though they may reject Him in their hearts.
Matthew Chapter 5:43-48
(Jesus said)"You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
God wants us to choose to love one another, because it shows the true character of His kingdom, and we represent Him in this world. He has loved us all, and He knows what it is like to love people that refuse to love Him, and to have sadness in His heart as they depart from this life separate and apart from Him forever into eternal darkness; He never wants anyone to leave His presence, but He will not allow rebellious, selfish, and unloving souls to corrupt His creation forever; as a Father He has a responsibility to sustain a universe of peace, compassion, and love for Himself, for His Heavenly creations, and for His little ones, the Body of Christ.
Chose to love yourself, your family, the ones around you, as the Lord has chosen to love you, for he cares with a deep and everlasting love that will burn for an eternity and beyond. Show Him your love today, by praising Him, taking time to be with Him, obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and showing His love to others. Once you submit your will to His will for your life, He will change the way you see yourself and others, your heart will be changed, and you will love others with His selfless love, it will pour out naturally from your heart.
If you want to love yourself and others like the Lord does, you need to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and He will show you how to love others perfectly:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....AMEN
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Do You Have Enough Faith?
The definition of faith is complete trust or confidence in someone, some concept or belief; it means you are thoroughly convinced that something is true, and that you will follow this belief no matter what happens. When you decided to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you professed your belief in His existence, and the truths found in the Holy Bible. Once you made that decision, the Lord accepted you as a citizen in the kingdom of God, and He adopted you into His family, the Body of Christ.
I find it helpful to explore the definitions of the core words and beliefs of my faith, because it helps me to focus on the important points, and to ignore the superficial ones. Faith is a word that is used and reinforced in sermons and songs, in christian literature, services, and meetings. Faith is necessary for christian living; you cannot say you are a true christian if you don't believe in the Word of God or in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
But when do you know for sure if you have enough faith? Is there a minimum faith requirement, and what would be a maximum faith requirement? The Lord knows that as weak and fragile human beings, we can't always see things clearly; we tend to create a world picture based upon our own needs and desires. Change is never easy, because we want to hold onto what we have always known or accomplished, and so the idea that maybe our own world view is flawed or incomplete is a hard pill to swallow.
The truth is, our nature tends to make us shy away from seeing things as they really are. The world today is more broken and flawed than it has ever been before, and many are still trying to hold on to beliefs and convictions that are literally tearing the world apart. You cannot begin to understand faith in God until you can see the world for what is really is, a world full of darkness on the verge of destruction.
Revelation of the world's real status comes from understanding who you are and how insignificant man's contribution has been in developing this world in a peaceful and compassionate manner. Once you understand that man cannot hope to solve the world's problems by themselves, you can come to a place in yourself where you can begin to ask the question, Is there a God and can He help us out of this situation we put ourselves into? Does He care about us at all?
Once you start questioning the 'wisdom' of the world, then your heart is receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who will guide you to the truth if you let Him do so. When your heart and mind is receptive, then faith can begin to grow in your heart. Faith is given to us to believe in the word of God, and to come to the conclusion that yes, there is a God, and that He sent His One and Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins, and to redeem us from the curse of the law and to make us righteous in God's eyes; when He sees us now, He doesn't see fragile helpless human beings, controlled by sin and a fallen human nature, He sees the Blood of His Dear Son, Jesus Christ. Because we choose to respond in faith, and believe in His Son,Jesus Christ, we are kings, Queens, and priests who will serve in the House of the Lord forever and ever.
So, the minimum measure of faith begins when we make the decision to become born again believers, and that faith and the promptings of the Holy Spirit, guides us into deeper levels of faith that have no limits. You can tell what level of faith you have achieved by reading the word of God, and by evaluating your lifestyle: Do you believe in your heart that there is a God and that He loves you? When you have problems, do look to God's word for a solution? When you pray, do you ask the Lord for His will in your life and for wisdom to solve your problems? When you receive your answer, do you act according to His will, or your own?
How much faith do you need to make a difference in your life?
Luke Chapter 17:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
Mark 11:23-24
(If I would)...say to this mountain, ‘you must immediately be removed and you must immediately be cast into the sea,’ and would not doubt in my heart but would believe that what I am saying is happening, it will be to me. I must continally pray for everything, then for whatever I am asking, I believe that I have taken it, and it will be there for me.
So, according to Jesus, a small amount of faith can move mountains! Wherever you are in your christian walk, as long as you have even a small measure of faith, you can succeed in life to do the things that the Lord is prompting you to do, even the big insurmountable issues of life! Just keep on doing the things that help you to grow in Christ, like reading the word, praying, worship and fellowship with the Lord in His presence, and your faith will increase with diligence and determination. When you are convinced that He is real, that He loves you, and that He will never leave you or forsake you, you will continue in your christian walk regardless of the circumstances.
Thank you God for Your grace and mercy, for You pursued me with love and compassion, and forgave my faults and my sins, and showed me a new way of living and loving. Thank you Lord, for the measure of faith I received to believe in you so that I may dwell in the House of the Lord forever and ever! AMEN
If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you have been questioning what life is really all about and would like a true answer to all of your questions, then ask the Lord to give you a measure of faith to receive His revelation - repeat this prayer:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....Amen
I find it helpful to explore the definitions of the core words and beliefs of my faith, because it helps me to focus on the important points, and to ignore the superficial ones. Faith is a word that is used and reinforced in sermons and songs, in christian literature, services, and meetings. Faith is necessary for christian living; you cannot say you are a true christian if you don't believe in the Word of God or in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.
But when do you know for sure if you have enough faith? Is there a minimum faith requirement, and what would be a maximum faith requirement? The Lord knows that as weak and fragile human beings, we can't always see things clearly; we tend to create a world picture based upon our own needs and desires. Change is never easy, because we want to hold onto what we have always known or accomplished, and so the idea that maybe our own world view is flawed or incomplete is a hard pill to swallow.
The truth is, our nature tends to make us shy away from seeing things as they really are. The world today is more broken and flawed than it has ever been before, and many are still trying to hold on to beliefs and convictions that are literally tearing the world apart. You cannot begin to understand faith in God until you can see the world for what is really is, a world full of darkness on the verge of destruction.
Revelation of the world's real status comes from understanding who you are and how insignificant man's contribution has been in developing this world in a peaceful and compassionate manner. Once you understand that man cannot hope to solve the world's problems by themselves, you can come to a place in yourself where you can begin to ask the question, Is there a God and can He help us out of this situation we put ourselves into? Does He care about us at all?
Once you start questioning the 'wisdom' of the world, then your heart is receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who will guide you to the truth if you let Him do so. When your heart and mind is receptive, then faith can begin to grow in your heart. Faith is given to us to believe in the word of God, and to come to the conclusion that yes, there is a God, and that He sent His One and Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins, and to redeem us from the curse of the law and to make us righteous in God's eyes; when He sees us now, He doesn't see fragile helpless human beings, controlled by sin and a fallen human nature, He sees the Blood of His Dear Son, Jesus Christ. Because we choose to respond in faith, and believe in His Son,Jesus Christ, we are kings, Queens, and priests who will serve in the House of the Lord forever and ever.
So, the minimum measure of faith begins when we make the decision to become born again believers, and that faith and the promptings of the Holy Spirit, guides us into deeper levels of faith that have no limits. You can tell what level of faith you have achieved by reading the word of God, and by evaluating your lifestyle: Do you believe in your heart that there is a God and that He loves you? When you have problems, do look to God's word for a solution? When you pray, do you ask the Lord for His will in your life and for wisdom to solve your problems? When you receive your answer, do you act according to His will, or your own?
How much faith do you need to make a difference in your life?
Luke Chapter 17:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
Mark 11:23-24
(If I would)...say to this mountain, ‘you must immediately be removed and you must immediately be cast into the sea,’ and would not doubt in my heart but would believe that what I am saying is happening, it will be to me. I must continally pray for everything, then for whatever I am asking, I believe that I have taken it, and it will be there for me.
So, according to Jesus, a small amount of faith can move mountains! Wherever you are in your christian walk, as long as you have even a small measure of faith, you can succeed in life to do the things that the Lord is prompting you to do, even the big insurmountable issues of life! Just keep on doing the things that help you to grow in Christ, like reading the word, praying, worship and fellowship with the Lord in His presence, and your faith will increase with diligence and determination. When you are convinced that He is real, that He loves you, and that He will never leave you or forsake you, you will continue in your christian walk regardless of the circumstances.
Thank you God for Your grace and mercy, for You pursued me with love and compassion, and forgave my faults and my sins, and showed me a new way of living and loving. Thank you Lord, for the measure of faith I received to believe in you so that I may dwell in the House of the Lord forever and ever! AMEN
If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you have been questioning what life is really all about and would like a true answer to all of your questions, then ask the Lord to give you a measure of faith to receive His revelation - repeat this prayer:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....Amen
Friday, October 21, 2016
The Heart Desires
by Charles Stanley
Intouch Ministries
If you could have anything in the world, what would it be? Your answer reveals a lot about you. The psalmist writes, “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4). There is nothing wrong with desires—they motivate us to achieve great things. But not all of our yearnings come from God. Consider your aspirations and what they say about who you are:
• Do you hope for a position of authority in order to be in control? Longing for personal advancement in order to manipulate others reveals a lack of integrity, whereas a godly person craves righteousness.
• Do you dream about wealth and fame? Perhaps there’s a void in your spirit that you’re trying to fill. But only God can meet the insatiable needs of the human heart.
• Are you afraid to ask the Lord for what you want? Maybe you think He won’t listen, but God tells us to approach His throne with boldness and confidence (Heb. 4:16).
If the Lord doesn’t respond affirmatively to your prayers, ask Him to make your desires conform to His will. Whatever you do, don’t take matters into your own hands and go after what you want. There is always a high price to pay for rebelling against God.
God cares for us bountifully, but that doesn’t mean we can expect Him to deliver whatever we want, whenever we want it. Only when our dreams align with His plan for our life will He fulfill them. The thoughts that preoccupy us are an accurate barometer of the state of our relationship with Christ.
For More Daily Devotions, goto https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions
Intouch Ministries
If you could have anything in the world, what would it be? Your answer reveals a lot about you. The psalmist writes, “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4). There is nothing wrong with desires—they motivate us to achieve great things. But not all of our yearnings come from God. Consider your aspirations and what they say about who you are:
• Do you hope for a position of authority in order to be in control? Longing for personal advancement in order to manipulate others reveals a lack of integrity, whereas a godly person craves righteousness.
• Do you dream about wealth and fame? Perhaps there’s a void in your spirit that you’re trying to fill. But only God can meet the insatiable needs of the human heart.
• Are you afraid to ask the Lord for what you want? Maybe you think He won’t listen, but God tells us to approach His throne with boldness and confidence (Heb. 4:16).
If the Lord doesn’t respond affirmatively to your prayers, ask Him to make your desires conform to His will. Whatever you do, don’t take matters into your own hands and go after what you want. There is always a high price to pay for rebelling against God.
God cares for us bountifully, but that doesn’t mean we can expect Him to deliver whatever we want, whenever we want it. Only when our dreams align with His plan for our life will He fulfill them. The thoughts that preoccupy us are an accurate barometer of the state of our relationship with Christ.
For More Daily Devotions, goto https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Alone With God
by Charles Stanley
Intouch Ministries
Where does prayer fit in your daily schedule? I’m not talking about the times you pray on the way to work or while eating breakfast, but the occasions when you are alone with God and it’s just the two of you. Although prayer at any time is good, we also need to have a set time and place where we meet with the Lord each day—preferably in the morning.
Even though Jesus was the Son of God, He knew the importance of solitary prayer time. He didn’t do anything on His own initiative but instead lived in dependence upon the Father, acting only on the instructions God communicated to Him. In today’s reading, we don’t know exactly what Jesus prayed, but when the disciples interrupted His morning prayer time, He had obviously received His Father’s direction for that day—to “go somewhere else” so that He could preach.
Jesus was the perfect example of a Spirit-led life, and prayer played a vital role. Since we are to follow in His footsteps, wouldn’t it make sense for us to meet with God early each morning in preparation for the day? This is the time to lay our concerns at His feet, seek guidance for whatever the day holds, trust Him for provision and protection, and intercede for others.
Although many things demand our time and attention, we can’t afford to neglect prayer. The fruit of prayerlessness is spiritual weakness, unmet needs, anxiety, and ingratitude. But when we make prayer a priority, we’ll have a firm foundation for the day ahead, no matter what it brings. And in the evening, we can look back with a heart of gratitude for answered prayer.
For More Daily Devotions, goto https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions
Intouch Ministries
Where does prayer fit in your daily schedule? I’m not talking about the times you pray on the way to work or while eating breakfast, but the occasions when you are alone with God and it’s just the two of you. Although prayer at any time is good, we also need to have a set time and place where we meet with the Lord each day—preferably in the morning.
Even though Jesus was the Son of God, He knew the importance of solitary prayer time. He didn’t do anything on His own initiative but instead lived in dependence upon the Father, acting only on the instructions God communicated to Him. In today’s reading, we don’t know exactly what Jesus prayed, but when the disciples interrupted His morning prayer time, He had obviously received His Father’s direction for that day—to “go somewhere else” so that He could preach.
Jesus was the perfect example of a Spirit-led life, and prayer played a vital role. Since we are to follow in His footsteps, wouldn’t it make sense for us to meet with God early each morning in preparation for the day? This is the time to lay our concerns at His feet, seek guidance for whatever the day holds, trust Him for provision and protection, and intercede for others.
Although many things demand our time and attention, we can’t afford to neglect prayer. The fruit of prayerlessness is spiritual weakness, unmet needs, anxiety, and ingratitude. But when we make prayer a priority, we’ll have a firm foundation for the day ahead, no matter what it brings. And in the evening, we can look back with a heart of gratitude for answered prayer.
For More Daily Devotions, goto https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Making a Breakthrough Through Prayer
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.1 John 5:14-15
,
Prayer is defined as a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship. Prayer is a necessary component in a believer's daily christian lifestyle, and it gives you the power and the resources to live your life defined by God's Word and by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We need prayer to help us focus not on ourselves and our problems, but on God's grace, mercy, and providence.
When you spend time in prayer with God, the whole purpose is to communicate your willingness to abide by His character and standards, which are defined in His Holy Word, and to ask for His guidance and His will for your life. You may also have your own petitions, such as requests for healing, or asking for help with a problem, or to seek revelation on a certain issue.
It is also a time of fellowship with God, as you express your love and loyalty to Him, giving thanks for what He has done for you in the past, and your acknowledgement that He will continue to provide for you in the future. These are all the main goals for engaging in prayer. When you place your trust in Him, and praise Him for His love and mercy, you give Him everything that He has always sought from His children.
Prayer is always the best solution for every problem or circumstance. You can seek His face in your alone time, or riding on the bus or the train reading His word, or taking a long walk by the pier, hiking a trail, singing songs of thanksgiving and love within your heart. Prayer is not something you practice just in a church service or meeting; it can be practiced everywhere you go. It can be a prayer you voice out loud, or it can be a prayer you voice inside your heart and mind; just stating that you love Him, whether vocally or internally is a form a prayer, and if you have faith in Him and your words of thanksgiving and love are sincere, be prepared to receive an answer!
When you focus all your energies and your love in Him, and give your whole heart and soul to Him, there is nothing that you cannot accomplish with Him, according to His will for your life. Some people tend to make the process complicated, by including all types of rules and rituals that only serve to direct their focus on themselves and not on God Himself. These are traditions that men have devised over time, and they tend to hamper the effectiveness of their prayers. When you have decided that the process is more important than the God that you serve, you have doing a disservice to yourself and to the One you say that you believe in.
The new testament church was very simple in their approach to prayer; they prayed with all their heart and soul, and relied on His providence, because without His intervention in their lives, they simply would not have survived. And you can tell that their love and faith were real, because they were not interested in being 'super saints' but they were willing to allow the Lord to lead them in the way that they should go, for His benefit and glory's sake. That is what true christian discipleship is all about.
In order to get that breakthrough you desire, you must come clean with yourself and with God, and acknowledge that you can do nothing without His help or His love. We are precious in His eyes, and He will always be there for His little ones, but we must allow Him to live through us if we want our prayers to be effective, if we have a real strong desire for a breakthrough. Once you allow Him to lead in your life, you will see changes in your Life, in your behavior, and you will receive all types of breakthroughs in your problems and circumstances.
PRAISE GOD, for his love, his patience, and his providence in my life; there will never ever be a God like Him that loves me and treasures me like He does, and I would never give Him up for anything else in this life! Praise Him, my brothers and sisters, because He is Good, and He is the best thing that will ever happen to you in your life, and because no one will ever love you the way that He does! HALLELUJAH!
,
Prayer is defined as a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship. Prayer is a necessary component in a believer's daily christian lifestyle, and it gives you the power and the resources to live your life defined by God's Word and by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We need prayer to help us focus not on ourselves and our problems, but on God's grace, mercy, and providence.
When you spend time in prayer with God, the whole purpose is to communicate your willingness to abide by His character and standards, which are defined in His Holy Word, and to ask for His guidance and His will for your life. You may also have your own petitions, such as requests for healing, or asking for help with a problem, or to seek revelation on a certain issue.
It is also a time of fellowship with God, as you express your love and loyalty to Him, giving thanks for what He has done for you in the past, and your acknowledgement that He will continue to provide for you in the future. These are all the main goals for engaging in prayer. When you place your trust in Him, and praise Him for His love and mercy, you give Him everything that He has always sought from His children.
Prayer is always the best solution for every problem or circumstance. You can seek His face in your alone time, or riding on the bus or the train reading His word, or taking a long walk by the pier, hiking a trail, singing songs of thanksgiving and love within your heart. Prayer is not something you practice just in a church service or meeting; it can be practiced everywhere you go. It can be a prayer you voice out loud, or it can be a prayer you voice inside your heart and mind; just stating that you love Him, whether vocally or internally is a form a prayer, and if you have faith in Him and your words of thanksgiving and love are sincere, be prepared to receive an answer!
When you focus all your energies and your love in Him, and give your whole heart and soul to Him, there is nothing that you cannot accomplish with Him, according to His will for your life. Some people tend to make the process complicated, by including all types of rules and rituals that only serve to direct their focus on themselves and not on God Himself. These are traditions that men have devised over time, and they tend to hamper the effectiveness of their prayers. When you have decided that the process is more important than the God that you serve, you have doing a disservice to yourself and to the One you say that you believe in.
The new testament church was very simple in their approach to prayer; they prayed with all their heart and soul, and relied on His providence, because without His intervention in their lives, they simply would not have survived. And you can tell that their love and faith were real, because they were not interested in being 'super saints' but they were willing to allow the Lord to lead them in the way that they should go, for His benefit and glory's sake. That is what true christian discipleship is all about.
In order to get that breakthrough you desire, you must come clean with yourself and with God, and acknowledge that you can do nothing without His help or His love. We are precious in His eyes, and He will always be there for His little ones, but we must allow Him to live through us if we want our prayers to be effective, if we have a real strong desire for a breakthrough. Once you allow Him to lead in your life, you will see changes in your Life, in your behavior, and you will receive all types of breakthroughs in your problems and circumstances.
PRAISE GOD, for his love, his patience, and his providence in my life; there will never ever be a God like Him that loves me and treasures me like He does, and I would never give Him up for anything else in this life! Praise Him, my brothers and sisters, because He is Good, and He is the best thing that will ever happen to you in your life, and because no one will ever love you the way that He does! HALLELUJAH!
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
This Special Invitation Is For You
by Dr. Henderson Ward
The God of heaven, maker of this universe, and all things seen and unseen, has made good on his promise to reach out to all peoples and give them a chance at seeking redemption.
There was a time when it seemed that God would restrict his grace, and his mercies, to his chosen people, the people of ancient Israel, because of a man called Abraham.
Now the patriarch Abraham was special. At a time when the world was deeply into idolatry and waywardness this man Abraham decided that he would seek God and do his bidding. This was around 2000 BC, during China's Xia dynasty that was established by Yu the Great, and Abraham left his home and his kindred, and followed the path God chose for him that eventually led to Canaan, present day Palestine where Israel resides.
Because of Abraham's faith and endeavor, God made him some promises affecting his seed. One of these promises was that Abraham's descendants would be blessed and through them the whole world would be blessed.
The God of heaven does not lie, unlike people, God always keeps his promises. It took about 2000 years, during the reign of Agustus Caesar the Roman Emperor, that Abraham's descendants, the nation of Israel, produced the Messiah we call Jesus Christ.
The world from its creation had gone astray, it had turned wretched and wickedness was everywhere predominant. Even the world's greatest teachers, philosophers, academics and historians, who had experienced first hand, this universal wickedness, could not avoid documenting the evils of the times.
The world continued to explode in wickedness, and a tipping point was reached, when something dramatic had to be done or else all humanity could have been lost.
It was at this juncture that God intervened, and did something miraculous and timely. The Christians' Holy Bible puts it like this:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
It was this Jesus Christ, God's only Son, whom God sent to redeem the world. And it is His invitation to you, wherever you are, regardless of nationality, or status, or ethnicity, that we gladly present to you.
In order to bring salvation to all humanity, Jesus Christ had to go through a process that at times was very painful, but he did not hesitate.
He had an earthly ministry that lasted all his life until he died at about 33 years of age.
He died by crucifixion, by wicked people who turned their backs on God.
But because God had sent him, and it was his shed blood on Calvary's cross that was the means of our salvation, God raised him from the dead. Today, He, Jesus Christ, is alive in Heaven, and stands before God as our mediator, assuring us of divine representation.
And so Jesus Christ has sent you this invitation, he wants you to come into fellowship with him, He is inviting you to be part of his earthly kingdom the Church.
Here are his words to you as written in the book of Matthew chapter 11 verse 28, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
And in the book of Revelation chapter 3 verse 20 He says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
This invitation is therefore to all of you; men and women, boys and girls, and you can accept this invitation right now.
You do not have to be rich, you do not have to be educated, you do not have to be employed, you do not have to be good, or holy, or respectable. God wants you just as you are; so why not come to him.
If you were once saved and has now gone back to your former ways, then this invitation is also to you, to renew your covenant with God. Because you have abandoned God does not mean that God has lost interest in you. He has not. His love for you, and his desire to welcome you back into the fold is as strong today as it ever was.
All that is required:
Is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is real, this is not fiction. Acknowledge that you are a sinner; doing wrong is part of our living. We are not perfect. Acknowledge that sin must be punished, for the soul that sinneth must die says the Bible. Acknowledge that Jesus is our substitute, he died for us, he died that we might live.
Therefore come to Jesus Christ, accept this invitation, say yes to God, and let God dwell in your heart through faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.
When you pray for salvation, it is then that you meet God at his most forgiving.
Here is a short prayer that you may like to use in your quest for salvation:
Dear God, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. Thank You Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins and rising from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. Make me, dear God, the kind of person You want me to be, for Christ's sake. Amen.
Books by this author you may wish to read.
THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW (e-book) Volume 1 Five tough facts to be faced http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YX5NSI
STAND UP TO THE DEVIL (e-book) Volume 1 You must first identify him http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BQVLSS
BASTARD: A STORY OF REDEMPTION(e-book fiction) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OF3SD6
ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (Hard copy) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002X78D16
ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (e-book) http://tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60799-630-9
Dr. Henderson Ward received his Doctor of Divinity in theology, with distinction, from Masters International School of Divinity, USA, where he is currently a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Ward's career involved pastoring, evangelism, and teaching. Copyright 2016
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
The God of heaven, maker of this universe, and all things seen and unseen, has made good on his promise to reach out to all peoples and give them a chance at seeking redemption.
There was a time when it seemed that God would restrict his grace, and his mercies, to his chosen people, the people of ancient Israel, because of a man called Abraham.
Now the patriarch Abraham was special. At a time when the world was deeply into idolatry and waywardness this man Abraham decided that he would seek God and do his bidding. This was around 2000 BC, during China's Xia dynasty that was established by Yu the Great, and Abraham left his home and his kindred, and followed the path God chose for him that eventually led to Canaan, present day Palestine where Israel resides.
Because of Abraham's faith and endeavor, God made him some promises affecting his seed. One of these promises was that Abraham's descendants would be blessed and through them the whole world would be blessed.
The God of heaven does not lie, unlike people, God always keeps his promises. It took about 2000 years, during the reign of Agustus Caesar the Roman Emperor, that Abraham's descendants, the nation of Israel, produced the Messiah we call Jesus Christ.
The world from its creation had gone astray, it had turned wretched and wickedness was everywhere predominant. Even the world's greatest teachers, philosophers, academics and historians, who had experienced first hand, this universal wickedness, could not avoid documenting the evils of the times.
The world continued to explode in wickedness, and a tipping point was reached, when something dramatic had to be done or else all humanity could have been lost.
It was at this juncture that God intervened, and did something miraculous and timely. The Christians' Holy Bible puts it like this:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
It was this Jesus Christ, God's only Son, whom God sent to redeem the world. And it is His invitation to you, wherever you are, regardless of nationality, or status, or ethnicity, that we gladly present to you.
In order to bring salvation to all humanity, Jesus Christ had to go through a process that at times was very painful, but he did not hesitate.
He had an earthly ministry that lasted all his life until he died at about 33 years of age.
He died by crucifixion, by wicked people who turned their backs on God.
But because God had sent him, and it was his shed blood on Calvary's cross that was the means of our salvation, God raised him from the dead. Today, He, Jesus Christ, is alive in Heaven, and stands before God as our mediator, assuring us of divine representation.
And so Jesus Christ has sent you this invitation, he wants you to come into fellowship with him, He is inviting you to be part of his earthly kingdom the Church.
Here are his words to you as written in the book of Matthew chapter 11 verse 28, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
And in the book of Revelation chapter 3 verse 20 He says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
This invitation is therefore to all of you; men and women, boys and girls, and you can accept this invitation right now.
You do not have to be rich, you do not have to be educated, you do not have to be employed, you do not have to be good, or holy, or respectable. God wants you just as you are; so why not come to him.
If you were once saved and has now gone back to your former ways, then this invitation is also to you, to renew your covenant with God. Because you have abandoned God does not mean that God has lost interest in you. He has not. His love for you, and his desire to welcome you back into the fold is as strong today as it ever was.
All that is required:
Is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is real, this is not fiction. Acknowledge that you are a sinner; doing wrong is part of our living. We are not perfect. Acknowledge that sin must be punished, for the soul that sinneth must die says the Bible. Acknowledge that Jesus is our substitute, he died for us, he died that we might live.
Therefore come to Jesus Christ, accept this invitation, say yes to God, and let God dwell in your heart through faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.
When you pray for salvation, it is then that you meet God at his most forgiving.
Here is a short prayer that you may like to use in your quest for salvation:
Dear God, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. Thank You Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins and rising from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. Make me, dear God, the kind of person You want me to be, for Christ's sake. Amen.
Books by this author you may wish to read.
THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW (e-book) Volume 1 Five tough facts to be faced http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YX5NSI
STAND UP TO THE DEVIL (e-book) Volume 1 You must first identify him http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BQVLSS
BASTARD: A STORY OF REDEMPTION(e-book fiction) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OF3SD6
ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (Hard copy) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002X78D16
ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (e-book) http://tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60799-630-9
Dr. Henderson Ward received his Doctor of Divinity in theology, with distinction, from Masters International School of Divinity, USA, where he is currently a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Ward's career involved pastoring, evangelism, and teaching. Copyright 2016
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
Monday, October 17, 2016
Time is Getting Closer
by Sue Darling
Matthew 23:12 "Whoever makes himself great will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be made great."
It is very rare when we see somebody who is so humble that all their ways are holy through and through. Most of us are still learning. It has taken me a life time to realize that while I am being humble God gives me beautiful gifts and then I start to think I am somebody and then straight away God gives me some trouble to endure to humble me back down again. I have finally learnt what I am supposed to do. I am to remind myself all the time that I am a great sinner and because of God's great love for me and the whole of the human race He forgives our sins through the blood of Jesus. If we are sincerely sorry for our sins. Now I knew this, but God has to teach it so deeper than before that it becomes more than theory and becomes a way of life.
I believe Jesus is on His way and is getting everything prepared for His coming. Remember He would want to hold off as long as He can to save as many souls as possible. The thing I am noticing and I wouldn't mind betting you are experiencing something similar, is that God seems to be giving me a crash course on what He expects of me. God's teachings have always been very important to me, but there is defiantly a feeling of urgency.
Sometimes I don't know if it is me I am listening to or it is God's Spirit directing me. Jesus explains in the last days it is like we are going to go through birth pains. And the pains increase in intensity as the time gets closer to when He comes. I have never had given birth to a child before, but I hear often when a women is near her time, she often finds herself getting busy like doing the housework. Like a bird has a need to get the nest ready in time. I believe that is what God is doing to me. I have heard about the three days and night of darkness, when hell will be let loose basically. We are told to stay indoors and cover our windows with blankets so we won't see outside, because it is going to really frighten us. I know it sounds strange to cover windows if it is going to be dark, but there must be a reason for it, for them to tell us to do it. We must be able to see something even though the sky is going to be blacker then black. The Rapture is apparently going to happen a little time after the three days and nights of darkness. This is what I believe and have heard a visionary say on YouTube.
People who are proud and think they are good, watch out, because we can only enter into heaven if we are fully aware that we do not deserve to go to heaven. It is only because of God's Great Love and Mercy that He sent His Only Son on our behalf to pay the full price of our sins. We are not good. We are very skilled and masters of great wickedness. Don't consider you are better than another person either. We all do it and it is our down fall. The more spiritual gifted we are, often it is because God chooses the weakness or the most sinful to show off His glory. When people see God chooses those kind of people to do great things in His Name, it gives people hope that He would use them also.
Don't go to the other extreme which we are all equally good at and that is to keep our eyes on only our sins and not look at the Love Jesus has for you. The straight and narrow road, is to not go to those two extremes. Admit you are a terrible sinner and be truly sorrow for your sins, because you love God so much that you don't want to hurt Him in any way. Then believe you are forgiven and I am afraid it is a daily process. One day you are humbler than another, but if you are genuinely seeking to please God, you already have. So don't let Satan bring you down by trying to get you to think you are either a saint or a sinner. You are both, as all God's children that follow Jesus His Son faithfully.
We need to pray for one another all the time.
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
Matthew 23:12 "Whoever makes himself great will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be made great."
It is very rare when we see somebody who is so humble that all their ways are holy through and through. Most of us are still learning. It has taken me a life time to realize that while I am being humble God gives me beautiful gifts and then I start to think I am somebody and then straight away God gives me some trouble to endure to humble me back down again. I have finally learnt what I am supposed to do. I am to remind myself all the time that I am a great sinner and because of God's great love for me and the whole of the human race He forgives our sins through the blood of Jesus. If we are sincerely sorry for our sins. Now I knew this, but God has to teach it so deeper than before that it becomes more than theory and becomes a way of life.
I believe Jesus is on His way and is getting everything prepared for His coming. Remember He would want to hold off as long as He can to save as many souls as possible. The thing I am noticing and I wouldn't mind betting you are experiencing something similar, is that God seems to be giving me a crash course on what He expects of me. God's teachings have always been very important to me, but there is defiantly a feeling of urgency.
Sometimes I don't know if it is me I am listening to or it is God's Spirit directing me. Jesus explains in the last days it is like we are going to go through birth pains. And the pains increase in intensity as the time gets closer to when He comes. I have never had given birth to a child before, but I hear often when a women is near her time, she often finds herself getting busy like doing the housework. Like a bird has a need to get the nest ready in time. I believe that is what God is doing to me. I have heard about the three days and night of darkness, when hell will be let loose basically. We are told to stay indoors and cover our windows with blankets so we won't see outside, because it is going to really frighten us. I know it sounds strange to cover windows if it is going to be dark, but there must be a reason for it, for them to tell us to do it. We must be able to see something even though the sky is going to be blacker then black. The Rapture is apparently going to happen a little time after the three days and nights of darkness. This is what I believe and have heard a visionary say on YouTube.
People who are proud and think they are good, watch out, because we can only enter into heaven if we are fully aware that we do not deserve to go to heaven. It is only because of God's Great Love and Mercy that He sent His Only Son on our behalf to pay the full price of our sins. We are not good. We are very skilled and masters of great wickedness. Don't consider you are better than another person either. We all do it and it is our down fall. The more spiritual gifted we are, often it is because God chooses the weakness or the most sinful to show off His glory. When people see God chooses those kind of people to do great things in His Name, it gives people hope that He would use them also.
Don't go to the other extreme which we are all equally good at and that is to keep our eyes on only our sins and not look at the Love Jesus has for you. The straight and narrow road, is to not go to those two extremes. Admit you are a terrible sinner and be truly sorrow for your sins, because you love God so much that you don't want to hurt Him in any way. Then believe you are forgiven and I am afraid it is a daily process. One day you are humbler than another, but if you are genuinely seeking to please God, you already have. So don't let Satan bring you down by trying to get you to think you are either a saint or a sinner. You are both, as all God's children that follow Jesus His Son faithfully.
We need to pray for one another all the time.
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
Sunday, October 16, 2016
The Stumbling Block of Worry
Worry is defined as giving way to anxiety or unease; allowing one's mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles. Worry has a way of incapacitating your will and your resolve, so that you allow your fears, weaknesses, and sorrows to overcome your sense of peace and security.
When you worry, you think upon your past mistakes and problems, and it keeps you in a state of fearful expectation of the present and the future. You have a hard time believing in yourself or in God's ability to fix your issues.
The circumstances of life can produce fear, and we all have felt some anxiety when faced with a problem; fears can be faced and dwelt with as a child of God with believing in the power of God, His Grace and Mercy, and allowing Him to deal with the issue. Your faith determines God's response, for without faith, you cannot not believe in miracles or in the providence of God.
Worry is a step above ordinary fears, it is a state of constant fear and anxiety. You are always thinking of how a problem can get worse, or you don't believe the situation will get any better. You never take any risks because you can't believe the outcome will be a positive one. You are always thinking about what happened in the past, and you can't shake how you feel about what happened; you are always telling yourself that you can't do any better, so you never try to do anything that would most likely solve the problem. Worry is a big stumbling block for believers.
What is the solution? We need to stop focusing on ourselves, and learn to focus on the Lord. He can bring peace and security to our hearts, even in the toughest of circumstances:
Matthew 6:25-27 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"
Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
We only have what God gives us daily to consider the situation in front of us today; if we continue to dwell on the past, or the future, we are robbing ourselves of the resources to deal with today's issues. Trying to fix what has already happened will not change the past, and you will overextend yourself if you continue to worry about the future. Everything that has happened, everything that is happening, everything that will happen is in God's hands. Just trust Him and believe that He can provide for you; because of His Love and Mercy He will make a way out of no way, and He will provide for all your needs.
Prayer of Deliverance From Worry
Dear God,
My mind can hardly fathom the depth of your love for me. So when my anxious heart feels suffocated with the mounds of worry this life can bring, I only know to come to you. You who knows every hair on my head. You who flung stars into space. You who plans every step I take. When my worry mounds and builds, escalating to numbers that exceed my expectations, You ask me to relinquish my cares to Your hand. The hand that created the hair on my head. The hand that created the starry night sky. The hand that holds my future. Would you give me the courage to trust You wholly? Would you give me Your peace that calms all fears? For that is when I am rejuvenated, From pitiful worrier To prayer warrior. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
I read psalm 91 everyday, and it helps me to focus on God instead of my circumstances, so I recommend you read it as well.
Thank you Lord, for your love, grace and mercy; you have never let me down and you will not fail, I give my heart, mind, and soul to you, and every circumstance that creeps up into my life, I will not allow fear and worry to dominate my life and my thoughts ever again, and I give your name the glory, the honor, and the praise forever and ever AMEN
When you worry, you think upon your past mistakes and problems, and it keeps you in a state of fearful expectation of the present and the future. You have a hard time believing in yourself or in God's ability to fix your issues.
The circumstances of life can produce fear, and we all have felt some anxiety when faced with a problem; fears can be faced and dwelt with as a child of God with believing in the power of God, His Grace and Mercy, and allowing Him to deal with the issue. Your faith determines God's response, for without faith, you cannot not believe in miracles or in the providence of God.
Worry is a step above ordinary fears, it is a state of constant fear and anxiety. You are always thinking of how a problem can get worse, or you don't believe the situation will get any better. You never take any risks because you can't believe the outcome will be a positive one. You are always thinking about what happened in the past, and you can't shake how you feel about what happened; you are always telling yourself that you can't do any better, so you never try to do anything that would most likely solve the problem. Worry is a big stumbling block for believers.
What is the solution? We need to stop focusing on ourselves, and learn to focus on the Lord. He can bring peace and security to our hearts, even in the toughest of circumstances:
Matthew 6:25-27 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"
Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
We only have what God gives us daily to consider the situation in front of us today; if we continue to dwell on the past, or the future, we are robbing ourselves of the resources to deal with today's issues. Trying to fix what has already happened will not change the past, and you will overextend yourself if you continue to worry about the future. Everything that has happened, everything that is happening, everything that will happen is in God's hands. Just trust Him and believe that He can provide for you; because of His Love and Mercy He will make a way out of no way, and He will provide for all your needs.
Prayer of Deliverance From Worry
Dear God,
My mind can hardly fathom the depth of your love for me. So when my anxious heart feels suffocated with the mounds of worry this life can bring, I only know to come to you. You who knows every hair on my head. You who flung stars into space. You who plans every step I take. When my worry mounds and builds, escalating to numbers that exceed my expectations, You ask me to relinquish my cares to Your hand. The hand that created the hair on my head. The hand that created the starry night sky. The hand that holds my future. Would you give me the courage to trust You wholly? Would you give me Your peace that calms all fears? For that is when I am rejuvenated, From pitiful worrier To prayer warrior. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
I read psalm 91 everyday, and it helps me to focus on God instead of my circumstances, so I recommend you read it as well.
Thank you Lord, for your love, grace and mercy; you have never let me down and you will not fail, I give my heart, mind, and soul to you, and every circumstance that creeps up into my life, I will not allow fear and worry to dominate my life and my thoughts ever again, and I give your name the glory, the honor, and the praise forever and ever AMEN
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Prayer of Repentance and Complete Trust
by Sue Darling
Please God the Father I am truly, truly sorry for all the heartbreak my sins have caused you and to all your children. I know that I am unable to understand how serious my sins are. To do that I have to truly understand how great you are and how insignificant I am before you.
The only true reason I have any value at all, is because of your great love for me. I have done nothing to deserve your great eternal love for me. You have made me out of your most generous and gracious love. You made all things from love. Nothing you have ever made has been made from indifference. I cannot understand this love, I do not understand how big and eternal it is. To do that I have to be another God like you, which can never be.
Dear God, you love me so much you sent your innocent and most pure son to leave the place of love, to be born as a vulnerable baby in a dirty stable, and to live thirty three years on this wicket planet, enduring hardship and hatred more than any of us could bear, for our sake. And then top it all off, He died courageously on a cross as a criminal. The most hated of all criminals for our sake.
Nobody in this entire world has done anything worthy to deserve such sacrifice, nor ever will. We are so little and weak, we can never be able to return to You the great compliment that Jesus has given us. Our greatest suffering on earth is nothing to compare with your suffering for us. The Gospel has only recorded a very faint picture of the suffering your Son endured for me and the rest of the human race.
Some chosen people have been given the privilege of divine revelations of a little more information of what Your Son endured for us. And when we take the trouble to really go through the steps to meditate on Jesus suffering, we can see it is a great insult to You not to believe in your great love and mercy.
No one loves to suffer, your precious Son included, but He did it for me and for all of us. He could of escaped into the invisible at any time. He had the power to do it, but He kept going for me, because of His desperate love to save all humanity. Dear Father make me worthy to grow in Your love. Make me worthy to live in Your Presence day and night. I want to love You more than anything or anybody in existence.
I want to truly know You, so that I can have a greater appreciation of who You really are. I want to have a greater appreciation of everything that You have done for me, my family, friends, relatives, acquaintances and everybody who has ever been born or will be born. I want to live a life that is truly pleasing to You in every way. By myself I cannot do this only through Your grace can I do what is pleasing to You.
Make me faithful, brave so that I will fulfill Your dream of me. I am called to do great things in Jesus name as all your children are. Do not let me back down through fear or selfishness. In Jesus name cleanse me of all my sins, sins that I know about, sins that I do not know about, sins that I remember and sins that I do not remember. I believe in Your great love and willingness to answer my pray for Your Son, Jesus sake and for the praise and glory of Your eternal Name. Amen.
We need to pray for one another all the time.
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
Please God the Father I am truly, truly sorry for all the heartbreak my sins have caused you and to all your children. I know that I am unable to understand how serious my sins are. To do that I have to truly understand how great you are and how insignificant I am before you.
The only true reason I have any value at all, is because of your great love for me. I have done nothing to deserve your great eternal love for me. You have made me out of your most generous and gracious love. You made all things from love. Nothing you have ever made has been made from indifference. I cannot understand this love, I do not understand how big and eternal it is. To do that I have to be another God like you, which can never be.
Dear God, you love me so much you sent your innocent and most pure son to leave the place of love, to be born as a vulnerable baby in a dirty stable, and to live thirty three years on this wicket planet, enduring hardship and hatred more than any of us could bear, for our sake. And then top it all off, He died courageously on a cross as a criminal. The most hated of all criminals for our sake.
Nobody in this entire world has done anything worthy to deserve such sacrifice, nor ever will. We are so little and weak, we can never be able to return to You the great compliment that Jesus has given us. Our greatest suffering on earth is nothing to compare with your suffering for us. The Gospel has only recorded a very faint picture of the suffering your Son endured for me and the rest of the human race.
Some chosen people have been given the privilege of divine revelations of a little more information of what Your Son endured for us. And when we take the trouble to really go through the steps to meditate on Jesus suffering, we can see it is a great insult to You not to believe in your great love and mercy.
No one loves to suffer, your precious Son included, but He did it for me and for all of us. He could of escaped into the invisible at any time. He had the power to do it, but He kept going for me, because of His desperate love to save all humanity. Dear Father make me worthy to grow in Your love. Make me worthy to live in Your Presence day and night. I want to love You more than anything or anybody in existence.
I want to truly know You, so that I can have a greater appreciation of who You really are. I want to have a greater appreciation of everything that You have done for me, my family, friends, relatives, acquaintances and everybody who has ever been born or will be born. I want to live a life that is truly pleasing to You in every way. By myself I cannot do this only through Your grace can I do what is pleasing to You.
Make me faithful, brave so that I will fulfill Your dream of me. I am called to do great things in Jesus name as all your children are. Do not let me back down through fear or selfishness. In Jesus name cleanse me of all my sins, sins that I know about, sins that I do not know about, sins that I remember and sins that I do not remember. I believe in Your great love and willingness to answer my pray for Your Son, Jesus sake and for the praise and glory of Your eternal Name. Amen.
We need to pray for one another all the time.
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
Friday, October 14, 2016
Faith Barriers
By Charles Stanley
Intouch Ministries
God enables us to carry out His plan for our life. When we fall short of accomplishing the goals He has set for us, it is not because He in some way failed to provide the necessary equipping. Instead, failure is usually the result of an obstacle within our heart—an attitude that short-circuits our faith. As a result, the flow of God’s power is hindered, and we cannot become the person He desires us to be.
Moses is a dramatic illustration of the disruptive potential of faith barriers. Called to one of the greatest missions in all of Scripture, the future leader responded with excuses for why he should not obey.
Excuses for disobedience haven’t changed much since Moses’ encounter with the burning bush. He tried to hide behind the same faith barriers that believers cite today: poor self-image (Ex. 3:11-12), ignorance about God (Ex. 3:13-21), self-doubt (Ex. 4:1-9), feelings of inadequacy (Ex 4:10-11), and fear of failure (Ex. 4:12-13). Each time he protested that the Lord had asked the wrong person—a slow-tongued shepherd of slavery lineage, who murdered a man and became a fugitive—God responded with a firm, persuasive rebuttal.
The theme of God’s answers is something all believers need to understand, just as Moses finally did—namely, that when we are called to serve, our strength, skill, and wisdom do not matter. Rather, it is the Lord who does the work through us. He doesn’t seek out the most qualified person for a particular job but instead calls men and women who are willing to surrender themselves to Him. When His strength works through their weakness, it is obvious that only God could have achieved the result.
For More Daily Devotions, goto https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions
Intouch Ministries
God enables us to carry out His plan for our life. When we fall short of accomplishing the goals He has set for us, it is not because He in some way failed to provide the necessary equipping. Instead, failure is usually the result of an obstacle within our heart—an attitude that short-circuits our faith. As a result, the flow of God’s power is hindered, and we cannot become the person He desires us to be.
Moses is a dramatic illustration of the disruptive potential of faith barriers. Called to one of the greatest missions in all of Scripture, the future leader responded with excuses for why he should not obey.
Excuses for disobedience haven’t changed much since Moses’ encounter with the burning bush. He tried to hide behind the same faith barriers that believers cite today: poor self-image (Ex. 3:11-12), ignorance about God (Ex. 3:13-21), self-doubt (Ex. 4:1-9), feelings of inadequacy (Ex 4:10-11), and fear of failure (Ex. 4:12-13). Each time he protested that the Lord had asked the wrong person—a slow-tongued shepherd of slavery lineage, who murdered a man and became a fugitive—God responded with a firm, persuasive rebuttal.
The theme of God’s answers is something all believers need to understand, just as Moses finally did—namely, that when we are called to serve, our strength, skill, and wisdom do not matter. Rather, it is the Lord who does the work through us. He doesn’t seek out the most qualified person for a particular job but instead calls men and women who are willing to surrender themselves to Him. When His strength works through their weakness, it is obvious that only God could have achieved the result.
For More Daily Devotions, goto https://www.intouch.org/read/magazine/daily-devotions
Thursday, October 13, 2016
The Master Is Calling For You
by Dr. Henderson Ward
We have a popular saying that goes something like this, "Rome was not built in a day" and we all have a good understanding what that means. The truth is that I do not know how long it took to build Rome, but I know that the entire universe, what we can see and that which is invisible, were created by God in six days.
Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, works by time.
Somewhere in our distant past, there was no time, just eternity. Things were the way they were, as they ever were, and then God intervened and created time.
People have argued for centuries about this earth, how old is it, how did it come into being, how long will it last, and asked deep questions that we do not have answers to.
What we do know, is that this world, as soon as it was inhabited by people, began to turn bad, it became disrespectful of its maker, and God, out of love for humanity had to cleanse it by sending the great flood about 2300 BC. The flood wiped out the human race, and saved just eight people; consisting of Noah and his family.
Of those eight people the world was repopulated, humanity grew and as is customary with people, they became wicked, reckless and dishonourable.
God saw the waywardness of the people and intervened, not by punishment as with the flood, but by sending messengers, prophets, and priests, and godly kings to warn, to guide, and to shepherd people back from disaster and onto a path of goodness and prosperity.
Sometimes we were blessed with good, wise leaders, leaders who have been committed to the welfare of the people and has done great work for the entire world to see and to admire. But too often the world has been cursed with abominable leaders and wicked tyrants.
God saw that the world needed a leader, a new kind of leader, to lead it out of spiritual darkness, out of immorality and idolatry, out of paganism and atheism. And so he sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ the promised Messiah.
God works to time whenever he works with people. The Bible tells us, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
God sent his Son to lead the world to a higher and better place, to bring light into our darkness, and to lead us to reconciliation with God.
Jesus did not come into the world as a conquering hero, or a dominating warlord, but as a suffering servant who gave his life as a ransom for the whole world.
Because of what Jesus Christ did, we all have a chance of redemption. God knows that we all need redemption, for the best of us are flawed, imperfect human beings.
So what did Jesus Christ do?
He came and lived a sinless life, right here on earth, so that the world could see that he was the Holy One sent from God. Nothing beats evidence. Even his enemies could not justifiably find fault in Jesus Christ. The Jews rejected him, ill-treated him and brought him to Pontius Pilate, whom they thought would condemn him, but the Bible says in John 19:4, "Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him."
Jesus by his living showed that he was the perfect lamb of God, and the Bible gives confirmation in 1 Peter 2:22, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth."
This man Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, came to earth for the sole purpose of redeeming us from the yoke of sin and reconciling us to Almighty God. He did so by dying for us on Calvary's cross, shedding his blood, and rising again the third day for our justification.
And so Jesus Christ, who is alive, and here in spirit, is calling you, he wants you to come into fellowship with him, and become part of his earthly kingdom the Church.
Jesus is here, and calling you, as written in the book of Matthew chapter 11 verse 28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Jesus wants to be your friend, He says in Revelation 3 verse 20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
Jesus is calling you; men and women, boys and girls, and you can accept his call right now. He wants you just as you are; so why not come to him.
All that is required for you to be saved, to accept the call, is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, admit that you are a sinner, accept that sin must be punished, for the Bible says that the soul that sinneth must die, and recognize that Jesus is our substitute who died for us, that we might live.
Jesus is calling because he thinks you are worth saving, and he wants you to spend a blessed eternity with him.
The master is here, pleading for you to come on board, because he alone knows what waits for you ahead, and he wants you to be safe and secure with him.
It is always easy to put off the decision to give your life to God, and become a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, but to procrastinate is to endanger your soul, since you may not see tomorrow. Today is your time, so make up your mind now that you have the time.
Remember these words, "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." (Hebrews 3:15) Today, the master is calling for you, and deep down in your heart you know it is the time to answer that call.
God bless you.
Books by this author you may wish to read.
THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW (e-book) Volume 1 Five tough facts to be faced http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YX5NSI
STAND UP TO THE DEVIL (e-book) Volume 1 You must first identify him http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BQVLSS
BASTARD: A STORY OF REDEMPTION(e-book fiction) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OF3SD6
ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (Hard copy) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002X78D16
ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (e-book) http://tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60799-630-9
Dr. Henderson Ward received his Doctor of Divinity in theology, with distinction, from Masters International School of Divinity, USA, where he is currently a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Ward's career involved pastoring, evangelism, and teaching. Copyright 2016
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
We have a popular saying that goes something like this, "Rome was not built in a day" and we all have a good understanding what that means. The truth is that I do not know how long it took to build Rome, but I know that the entire universe, what we can see and that which is invisible, were created by God in six days.
Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, works by time.
Somewhere in our distant past, there was no time, just eternity. Things were the way they were, as they ever were, and then God intervened and created time.
People have argued for centuries about this earth, how old is it, how did it come into being, how long will it last, and asked deep questions that we do not have answers to.
What we do know, is that this world, as soon as it was inhabited by people, began to turn bad, it became disrespectful of its maker, and God, out of love for humanity had to cleanse it by sending the great flood about 2300 BC. The flood wiped out the human race, and saved just eight people; consisting of Noah and his family.
Of those eight people the world was repopulated, humanity grew and as is customary with people, they became wicked, reckless and dishonourable.
God saw the waywardness of the people and intervened, not by punishment as with the flood, but by sending messengers, prophets, and priests, and godly kings to warn, to guide, and to shepherd people back from disaster and onto a path of goodness and prosperity.
Sometimes we were blessed with good, wise leaders, leaders who have been committed to the welfare of the people and has done great work for the entire world to see and to admire. But too often the world has been cursed with abominable leaders and wicked tyrants.
God saw that the world needed a leader, a new kind of leader, to lead it out of spiritual darkness, out of immorality and idolatry, out of paganism and atheism. And so he sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ the promised Messiah.
God works to time whenever he works with people. The Bible tells us, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
God sent his Son to lead the world to a higher and better place, to bring light into our darkness, and to lead us to reconciliation with God.
Jesus did not come into the world as a conquering hero, or a dominating warlord, but as a suffering servant who gave his life as a ransom for the whole world.
Because of what Jesus Christ did, we all have a chance of redemption. God knows that we all need redemption, for the best of us are flawed, imperfect human beings.
So what did Jesus Christ do?
He came and lived a sinless life, right here on earth, so that the world could see that he was the Holy One sent from God. Nothing beats evidence. Even his enemies could not justifiably find fault in Jesus Christ. The Jews rejected him, ill-treated him and brought him to Pontius Pilate, whom they thought would condemn him, but the Bible says in John 19:4, "Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him."
Jesus by his living showed that he was the perfect lamb of God, and the Bible gives confirmation in 1 Peter 2:22, "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth."
This man Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, came to earth for the sole purpose of redeeming us from the yoke of sin and reconciling us to Almighty God. He did so by dying for us on Calvary's cross, shedding his blood, and rising again the third day for our justification.
And so Jesus Christ, who is alive, and here in spirit, is calling you, he wants you to come into fellowship with him, and become part of his earthly kingdom the Church.
Jesus is here, and calling you, as written in the book of Matthew chapter 11 verse 28, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Jesus wants to be your friend, He says in Revelation 3 verse 20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
Jesus is calling you; men and women, boys and girls, and you can accept his call right now. He wants you just as you are; so why not come to him.
All that is required for you to be saved, to accept the call, is that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, admit that you are a sinner, accept that sin must be punished, for the Bible says that the soul that sinneth must die, and recognize that Jesus is our substitute who died for us, that we might live.
Jesus is calling because he thinks you are worth saving, and he wants you to spend a blessed eternity with him.
The master is here, pleading for you to come on board, because he alone knows what waits for you ahead, and he wants you to be safe and secure with him.
It is always easy to put off the decision to give your life to God, and become a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, but to procrastinate is to endanger your soul, since you may not see tomorrow. Today is your time, so make up your mind now that you have the time.
Remember these words, "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." (Hebrews 3:15) Today, the master is calling for you, and deep down in your heart you know it is the time to answer that call.
God bless you.
Books by this author you may wish to read.
THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW (e-book) Volume 1 Five tough facts to be faced http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YX5NSI
STAND UP TO THE DEVIL (e-book) Volume 1 You must first identify him http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005BQVLSS
BASTARD: A STORY OF REDEMPTION(e-book fiction) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OF3SD6
ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (Hard copy) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002X78D16
ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT ON GOD'S CLOCK (e-book) http://tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60799-630-9
Dr. Henderson Ward received his Doctor of Divinity in theology, with distinction, from Masters International School of Divinity, USA, where he is currently a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Ward's career involved pastoring, evangelism, and teaching. Copyright 2016
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Why is Grace Higher than the Law?
Legalism is the way to stagnation and death, the death of your spiritual development and growth. You cannot trust in the Name of God, and allow His Grace to change your circumstances and your life if you are constantly trying to do the Lord's work by justifying yourself with religious practices and rules.
Under the New Covenant, which is the sacrifice for sin made by our Lord Jesus Christ and your confession of faith declaring Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, we have everything we need to change our hearts and minds; we are declared cleansed from sin forever and ever, as we are now covered with the Blood of the Lamb. When God looks at us, He doesn't see our imperfections and weaknesses, He sees His Son, and we are declared righteous because of our profession of faith.
The law tempts your flesh down toward sin, but faith in the word of God lifts you up towards our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ you will save you, sanctify you, and make you righteous. The law only highlights your sins and imperfections, faith in Jesus Christ covers your sins and makes you holy and whole. The law is perfect and will not bend to imperfection, but faith in Jesus Christ redeems you from the curse of the law and transforms your hearts and minds so that you can follow the precepts of the law freely and organically, as an expression of love and righteousness, His righteousness found in the word of God and the perfect guidance of the Holy Spirit.
"We are covered by the blood of the lamb"
Hebrews 9:12-14 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered he holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
we have a tendency to try to do things our own way; our instinct is to try to justify ourselves before God, but God already knows who we are and what is in our heart. You could be sincere in trying to fix your problems yourself, but the Lord knows that you cannot fix them yourself and in the deepest places of your heart, so do you. When we let got of the idea that we can solve all of our problems with useless rituals and practices, that somehow these things can make us holy and perfect, that is when spiritual maturity and growth begins.
Let the light of God bring revelation into your heart, stop rejecting His provision of Grace and allow Him to transform your heart and mind. You need to repent of stubbornness and pride, for there is no one on this earth that can declare within themselves that they are free of sin and that they don't need the Grace of God; anyone declaring that they are sinless and guilt free without the covering of the Blood of the Lamb are only deluding themselves.
Ask yourselves, Am I really relying on the Grace of God? When you have a problem, do you seek an answer from the word of God? Do you pray for guidance? Do you obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit? Do you feel His presence in your circumstances? Can you see His presence in your circumstances?
What you need to know right now, is that when you surrender your own will to His, He will provide a way out of no way, and give you the resources to come out of your situation victorious, but you have to trust Him and follow His lead.
When you decide to justify yourself with legalistic practices, you invalidate the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross; if you could save yourself just by following the ten commandments and your own rules and regulations, then why did Jesus Christ die on the cross? Our fallen human nature blinds us to the truth of the corruption in our souls. Yes, I can be nice, you can be nice, we can all be nice to each other on occasion, but what about those tempting, sinful thoughts that keep invading our minds every single day, or our selfish tendencies that rise up when we want to do something we that know isn't right?
1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
We cannot hope to escape the powerful evil influences in this world without the word of God or the Holy Spirit. We are sanctified by the workings of the Holy Spirit and by reading His word. We must rely on God's Grace and love to see the world as it really is, and to cope with our fallen nature.
So, give your life right now to Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, which means confess that God is right and you were wrong, choose to live by God's standards and not your own, and pray for deliverance from sinful thoughts and desires, let the love of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit flow through you and into your life.
If you have never confessed Jesus Christ as your savior, repeat this prayer:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....Amen
Under the New Covenant, which is the sacrifice for sin made by our Lord Jesus Christ and your confession of faith declaring Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, we have everything we need to change our hearts and minds; we are declared cleansed from sin forever and ever, as we are now covered with the Blood of the Lamb. When God looks at us, He doesn't see our imperfections and weaknesses, He sees His Son, and we are declared righteous because of our profession of faith.
The law tempts your flesh down toward sin, but faith in the word of God lifts you up towards our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ you will save you, sanctify you, and make you righteous. The law only highlights your sins and imperfections, faith in Jesus Christ covers your sins and makes you holy and whole. The law is perfect and will not bend to imperfection, but faith in Jesus Christ redeems you from the curse of the law and transforms your hearts and minds so that you can follow the precepts of the law freely and organically, as an expression of love and righteousness, His righteousness found in the word of God and the perfect guidance of the Holy Spirit.
"We are covered by the blood of the lamb"
Hebrews 9:12-14 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered he holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
we have a tendency to try to do things our own way; our instinct is to try to justify ourselves before God, but God already knows who we are and what is in our heart. You could be sincere in trying to fix your problems yourself, but the Lord knows that you cannot fix them yourself and in the deepest places of your heart, so do you. When we let got of the idea that we can solve all of our problems with useless rituals and practices, that somehow these things can make us holy and perfect, that is when spiritual maturity and growth begins.
Let the light of God bring revelation into your heart, stop rejecting His provision of Grace and allow Him to transform your heart and mind. You need to repent of stubbornness and pride, for there is no one on this earth that can declare within themselves that they are free of sin and that they don't need the Grace of God; anyone declaring that they are sinless and guilt free without the covering of the Blood of the Lamb are only deluding themselves.
Ask yourselves, Am I really relying on the Grace of God? When you have a problem, do you seek an answer from the word of God? Do you pray for guidance? Do you obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit? Do you feel His presence in your circumstances? Can you see His presence in your circumstances?
What you need to know right now, is that when you surrender your own will to His, He will provide a way out of no way, and give you the resources to come out of your situation victorious, but you have to trust Him and follow His lead.
When you decide to justify yourself with legalistic practices, you invalidate the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross; if you could save yourself just by following the ten commandments and your own rules and regulations, then why did Jesus Christ die on the cross? Our fallen human nature blinds us to the truth of the corruption in our souls. Yes, I can be nice, you can be nice, we can all be nice to each other on occasion, but what about those tempting, sinful thoughts that keep invading our minds every single day, or our selfish tendencies that rise up when we want to do something we that know isn't right?
1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
We cannot hope to escape the powerful evil influences in this world without the word of God or the Holy Spirit. We are sanctified by the workings of the Holy Spirit and by reading His word. We must rely on God's Grace and love to see the world as it really is, and to cope with our fallen nature.
So, give your life right now to Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, which means confess that God is right and you were wrong, choose to live by God's standards and not your own, and pray for deliverance from sinful thoughts and desires, let the love of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit flow through you and into your life.
If you have never confessed Jesus Christ as your savior, repeat this prayer:
Prayer of Salvation
Lord,
I repent for trying to be master of my own life. I change my mind about who I want to be in charge of my life. I turn from my useless and unproductive thoughts that I am the center of my universe and choose to believe in the living God who created everything, including me (Acts 14:15). I have lived without a purpose but now I will live to hear and obey You, God (Jn. 5:19, 20,30).
I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead. I believe that God so loved the world He sent His only Son Jesus to shed His blood to wash away the barrier of sin (Jn. 3:16)
I receive You, Jesus as MY Lord and Savior (Jn. 1:11,12).
I welcome You, Holy Spirit, into my life to rescue and empower me and to restore me to intimacy with my heavenly Father (Acts 2:38).
If you just confessed this prayer, you are saved! I welcome you into the family my (brother/sister) I pray for peace, joy, and happiness in your life as you allow the Lord to love you and bless you and give you assurance of everlasting life with Him forever and ever......PRAISE GOD!
May the Lord keep you and Bless you this day....Amen
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
What Determines Your Breakthrough
Everyday, we take for granted that everything will stay the same in our lives; we go to work, come home and cook dinner, watch a little tv, read the bible and pray (hopefully), and then we go to bed to wake up again and do it all over again. For most people, this is the way life should be, and they never think about doing anything different.
The times are changing, and we need a different view about how we should live our lives. The prophecies of the bible are coming to pass, and we now live in the last days; anyone who is paying attention to what is happening in the world is able to see the truth. We need to find God's hand in what is taking place in the earth, and we must seek His provision and protection.
Look, the ordinary christian life was fine for the 20th century, but in the 21st century we need to be more focused on God and His word, and follow the Holy Spirit's lead. In the times that we live in now, we need to bypass the ordinary and breakthrough to the extraordinary.
What is a breakthrough and why do we need one? You will know when you need a breakthrough, it's when your usual christian practices come up short, it's when everything in your life doesn't add up anymore, it's when you find yourself saying the same prayers, listening to the same sermons, going to the same christian programs and services, and there is no change in your life, no release from your fears and anxieties, no power in your life to change your circumstances when you need it the most.
You will know when you need to seek the face of God if you are honest with yourself about where you are emotionally and spiritually in your daily christian walk. If you find that everything frightens you, and that you are more focused on yourself and your problems instead of focusing on what Jesus Christ can do for you, then you need to start pursuing a breakthrough.
God has already provided everything you need to get to the next level of your spiritual growth; you need to pursue a deeper working relationship with Him, read the word of God, spend time in his presence, and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I find that reading the word, prayer, singing psalms and songs while I spend time with Him helps me to remain focused on Him instead of my circumstances. It gives me a sense of peace, joy, and happiness. I can't believe sometimes how happy I am, even though I have very little money, or status, or fame. It is just a joy to be in His love, to know that there is someone who loves me so completely, and doesn't care about what I have or don't have. When you find that kind of acceptance, you can start to focus on what you have instead of what you don't have, and if you are a child of the living God, you have EVERYTHING, everything you will ever need and lot more; our inheritance as a child of God is really beyond our comprehension.
So, you must spend time training yourself as God's disciple, and to get your breakthrough, you will need to spend more than 15 minutes reading the bible and saying a 2 minute prayer. When you are sincere in your heart, when you really want to spend time with Him, He will know, and He will bless your efforts, and you will find that you will want to spend hours of time with Him. Even if your time is limited, do what you can to spend time with Him, even if its just 30 minutes a day. The point is to remain focused on Him in the time you have with Him, and pour out your heart to Him, and He will help you to find more time to be with Him, and give you what you need to get to that breakthrough.
How will you know if you have a breakthrough? Your heart will be lighter, your faith will be stronger, you will have more joy and peace in your heart, your love for Him will grow exponentially, you will start to see the world and your circumstances through Jesus's eyes, you will pray and receive your answer, miracles will abound, you will have a thirst to read the bible and the boldness to tell others about Him, and your fears will no longer control you. That's what a christian's life should look like, and that is how you will lead others to Christ; they will see your love and peaceful existence and they will want it for themselves, and you will be able to tell them your testimony and declare the truth because they will see that what you have is real.
May the Lord Bless you keep you this day....Amen
The times are changing, and we need a different view about how we should live our lives. The prophecies of the bible are coming to pass, and we now live in the last days; anyone who is paying attention to what is happening in the world is able to see the truth. We need to find God's hand in what is taking place in the earth, and we must seek His provision and protection.
Look, the ordinary christian life was fine for the 20th century, but in the 21st century we need to be more focused on God and His word, and follow the Holy Spirit's lead. In the times that we live in now, we need to bypass the ordinary and breakthrough to the extraordinary.
What is a breakthrough and why do we need one? You will know when you need a breakthrough, it's when your usual christian practices come up short, it's when everything in your life doesn't add up anymore, it's when you find yourself saying the same prayers, listening to the same sermons, going to the same christian programs and services, and there is no change in your life, no release from your fears and anxieties, no power in your life to change your circumstances when you need it the most.
You will know when you need to seek the face of God if you are honest with yourself about where you are emotionally and spiritually in your daily christian walk. If you find that everything frightens you, and that you are more focused on yourself and your problems instead of focusing on what Jesus Christ can do for you, then you need to start pursuing a breakthrough.
God has already provided everything you need to get to the next level of your spiritual growth; you need to pursue a deeper working relationship with Him, read the word of God, spend time in his presence, and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I find that reading the word, prayer, singing psalms and songs while I spend time with Him helps me to remain focused on Him instead of my circumstances. It gives me a sense of peace, joy, and happiness. I can't believe sometimes how happy I am, even though I have very little money, or status, or fame. It is just a joy to be in His love, to know that there is someone who loves me so completely, and doesn't care about what I have or don't have. When you find that kind of acceptance, you can start to focus on what you have instead of what you don't have, and if you are a child of the living God, you have EVERYTHING, everything you will ever need and lot more; our inheritance as a child of God is really beyond our comprehension.
So, you must spend time training yourself as God's disciple, and to get your breakthrough, you will need to spend more than 15 minutes reading the bible and saying a 2 minute prayer. When you are sincere in your heart, when you really want to spend time with Him, He will know, and He will bless your efforts, and you will find that you will want to spend hours of time with Him. Even if your time is limited, do what you can to spend time with Him, even if its just 30 minutes a day. The point is to remain focused on Him in the time you have with Him, and pour out your heart to Him, and He will help you to find more time to be with Him, and give you what you need to get to that breakthrough.
How will you know if you have a breakthrough? Your heart will be lighter, your faith will be stronger, you will have more joy and peace in your heart, your love for Him will grow exponentially, you will start to see the world and your circumstances through Jesus's eyes, you will pray and receive your answer, miracles will abound, you will have a thirst to read the bible and the boldness to tell others about Him, and your fears will no longer control you. That's what a christian's life should look like, and that is how you will lead others to Christ; they will see your love and peaceful existence and they will want it for themselves, and you will be able to tell them your testimony and declare the truth because they will see that what you have is real.
May the Lord Bless you keep you this day....Amen
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