Words of Inspiration & Encouragement
HOW GOD SATISFIES US IN A WORLD THAT SCREAMS FOR MORE
It is very easy to point the finger at someone who has visibly done something wrong, but what about wrong thinking? Is our thought life important? One of the commandments is “You shall not covet your neighbour's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbour's house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour” (Deuteronomy 5:21). If this commandment is broken, it can only be seen by God
THE REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS -- Holiday or Holy Day?
For centuries, society has been slowly drifting down a broad river of change, but speed is picking up, and we have now entered the rapids. Even Christmas is not immune to these changes. It has become just a "holiday" to the world and, sadly, even to some Christians. "Merry Christmas" has been replaced by "Happy Holidays," and carols or "parang" songs about Jesus have been traded for songs celebrating Santa Claus, festive foods, family, friends
A DAD FOR ALL SEASONS - A Special Christmas Message (Text: Matthew 1:18-25)
If God decided to send His Son to earth again to be born as a baby, and if He was looking for a suitable home where the child would be properly raised, would yours be in the running? Consider only the spiritual, moral, and relational qualities God would look for so that, from the human side, a couple could prepare the Saviour for His ministry. Would your home qualify? Why did God chose Joseph out of all the other men for this godly father's task
A CERTAIN FAITH IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
Where do we turn in uncertain times? In times like these Psalm 121 brings a message of assurance: “I will lift my eyes to the hills -- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.†The psalmist looked to a higher source of strength beyond what he could find on a human plane. Life with God is always an ascent, never a descent. Yet, the fact that the walk of faith is indeed a journey not a destination,
Is God Interested In Making You Happy?
It is good to be happy. I am all in favour of it, and I think the Lord is also. However, God's primary concern is not in making us happy. He does not fret because someone is displeased with the job He is doing, someone else is unhappy with the way a Scripture text is worded, and another is complaining about the weather today. Pleasing us does not appear to be high on His agenda. He seems not in the least concerned that some of us do not like
Unlimited Forgiveness
Forgiveness and the restoration of relationship is the goal of discipline - from the first step to the last step of excommunication. The Saviour's command is to forgive "seventy times seven". According to some New Testament scholars Jesus really says, "seventy-seven times," but the precise number is unimportant. Either way, in the parable, Christ is actually teaching that forgiveness must be ....
The Trouble with Riches
Seeing the difficulty with which the rich young ruler faced the choice Jesus gave him, our Lord's observation that it is very difficult for rich people to enter God's kingdom. Christ underscores just how hard it is for the wealthy to be saved with a proverb that says it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye than it is for the rich to find salvation....
The Struggle With Guilt (Examine Yourself)
People struggle with false guilt for many reasons. Legalistic teaching, for example, presents life as a series of rules that can never be followed to the letter. Next, self-reproach can derive from abuse or verbal putdowns during childhood. Another cause is perfectionism-high expectations that one is incapable of attaining can flood a person with self-condemnation. And finally, low self-esteem ...
The Lord's Care for His Own
After a brief interlude in which Jesus warns us to separate ourselves from those things that tempt us, our Saviour returns in today's passage to a discussion of how the children of the kingdom must treat one another.Christ is telling us that we must not become puffed up with self-pride and look down on other Christians. Despising another believer means to treat him with disrespect ....
The Healing Touch of Christ
A woman who has been suffering a discharge of blood for twelve years approaches the Lord on His way to Jairus' home. She is probably afflicted with unending menstruation, which makes her ceremonially unclean. She is desperate for wholeness and believes Jesus can heal her if she touches the fringe of His garment. Christ reveals that this healing comes through her faith in Him, not the "magic" ....
The Greatness of Service
The other ten disciples cannot believe that James and John would ask to sit at the right hand and left hand of Jesus and become "indignant" toward the two brothers. This feeling is not entirely unbecoming to a follower of Jesus, if the other members of the Twelve are upset because James and John fail to practice the humility Christ has commended in His followers.
Sharper Than The Sharpest (God's Guidance)
During the Bible days, the swords the soldiers used in battle were large, heavy, and sharp with two edges. Some other weapons they had in their possession were spears, bows, arrows, and battleaxes. But it seems that the one they treasured the most, was the sword. We as Christians have a sword too that we are to use, and it is sharper than the sharpest, and that is "the sword of the Spirit....
Shake The Chains Off (Freedom In Christ)
God is calling His people to live in freedom. Jesus died and rose again for us to live in this freedom (1 John 4:9-10). As we go through life the enemy has a job to do and that is to strap us down with worry, doubt and disbelief. It is your time CHURCH! This is our hour! God is doing great and awesome things. Come out of your comfort and live. Stop being afraid of the unknown and live.
The Sacrament of Sacrifice
A river touches places of which its source knows nothing, and Jesus says if we have received of His fullness, however small the visible measure of our lives, out of us will flow the rivers that will bless to the uttermost parts of the earth. We have nothing to do with the outflow - "This is the work of God that ye believe. . . ." God rarely allows a soul to see how great a blessing He is.
Mercy and Sickness
Meditate a little on this mercy of the Lord. It is tender mercy. With gentle, loving touch, he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. From our Lord's words in John 11:4, we learn that there is a limit to sickness. Here is an "unto" within which its ultimate end is restrained, and beyond which it cannot go. Lazarus might pass through death, but death was not to be the ultimatum.
Rewards for Discipleship
Often we think we should only follow Jesus because of His inherent worth and that to seek a reward from Him is entirely wrong. Christ's inherent goodness and beauty is, of course, enough to motivate discipleship; however, it is not altogether improper to look for other blessings as well. In fact, Hebrews 11:6 says God is pleased when we believe "he rewards those who seek Him."
Redemptive Discipline
Matthew 18:15-17"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother"
This principle undergirds today's passage, the classic text on church discipline. We are required to intervene when Christian friends and family go astray, otherwise sin might destroy that person.
God's Omnipotent Grace
Because in the Old Testament many of the old covenant saints are depicted as wealthy (Genesis 13:2; Job 42:10-17), and since it often links prosperity with God-pleasing behaviour (Psalms 1; Proverbs 22:4), first-century Jews commonly believed that riches were a sign of righteousness. To have wealth, they thought, is to be favoured by God, signifying that a person has a share in the kingdom of ....
Doctrine Divides
Throughout history men have appeared who would become famous for seeking peace at any price. Perhaps the greatest twentieth-century example of such a figure is the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who in 1938 proclaimed that he had achieved "peace in our time" with Adolf Hitler even as he was preparing to unleash his blitzkrieg on Europe. Chamberlain's aversion to hostility was so ....
Divine Generosity
After promising Peter a great reward for leaving everything behind to follow Him (Matthew 19:27-30), Jesus tells the parable of the labourers in the vineyard 20:1-16). This lesson reminds Peter that even though kingdom servants will receive a great prize, all such gain is entirely due to God's sovereign grace. Day labourers in the first-century Roman world typically gathered in the marketplace ...
Church Authority
In our day, respect for church authority has all but vanished. Many professing Christians think their "private lives" are no business of the church. Excommunication from a local body is hardly ever taken seriously since it rarely prevents someone from joining the church next door with no questions asked. Several phenomena explain this sad reality. The church's fragmentation makes it easy to ....
Blind Eyes Are Opened
News of Jesus' raising of Jairus' daughter to life spreads quickly throughout the region of Capernaum after Christ touches her hand and performs the miracle (Matthew 9:25-26). Consequently, He is not able to get very far away from the synagogue ruler's home before some more needy people seek Him out. In today's passage, two blind men beg the "son of David" for mercy (verse 27).
A Man Who Loved Riches
The above verse describes Jesus’ meeting with the man we call “the rich young ruler†(Luke 18:18 says he was a “ruler,†(probably a synagogue official). This story is well-known, but it has not always been applied correctly. Before encountering Christ, the man has evidently done some soul-searching, since he wants to know what will give him eternal life (Matthew 19:16). Later on, the rich ....
A Habit of Thanks
Every aspect of our lives can use more thanks and gratefulness. Habits are addictive practices that are formed over a period of time through repeated acts. How differently would you approach life if you expressed more gratitude than frustration? A sink full of dishes really means that not only do you have a house to live in but you have had food to eat. An empty tank in your car means that you ...
GRACE AND MERCY
Every day we thank the Lord for something that He has done. We thank Him for His blessings and we thank Him for who He is. We thank Him for the blood running warm in our veins, the activity of our limbs, having the opportunity to be clothed and be in our right minds. Today He would have us to consider that we also give thanks for His grace and His mercy.
FREEDOM THROUGH FORGIVENESS
Maybe your wound is fresh. Or perhaps it is old. A family member abused you. A spouse was unfaithful to you. A friend betrayed you. A co-worker used you for a stepping stone. Someone you trusted let you down. You are hurting. And you are angry…at life…at people…perhaps even at God. But not only are you hurting, you are bitter. Part of you wants to cry, but the other part of you wants to ï¬ght back
RELEASE MY HUMAN NEED
Most prayer begins with a human need. The need is not put aside; it is presented to God in the hope that God will act, and the body will be healed, the relationship restored, the job acquired or the decision made. The hope is that the need will be resolved to our satisfaction. Obviously, a need is an expression of lack; it is something we do not have, and if we think about what we do not have,...
NIP IT IN THE BUD
I have always wondered why the mouse, even after seeing the lethal contraption of the mouse trap and his impending demise, still decides to sneak out in the middle of the night to get the cheese not considering the outcome of death. Similarly, the problem with sin is that our flesh is severely enticed by it, and it attracts the fleshly part of us like the luring scent of cheese to a mouse.
WATCH THOSE WORDS
There is power in EVERY word that leaves your mouth – it is up to you whether the words you choose will build or destroy. You have a choice. You can turn it all around simply by taming and re-training your tongue. Make a decision to speak life only and not death; to find and accentuate the positive instead of the negative. Of all the members of our body, the tongue is the most difficult to control
THE FINISHING LINE
As this year comes to an end, there is one thing we can say: we have survived! A survivor is one who has remained existent and outlasted the circumstance and situation; one who did not give up, but hung in there. We have made it to the finishing line. Now all we have to do is cross over into 2012. Let us usher into the New Year 2012 with faith and confidence trusting God with our lives...
Koinonia: Community and Fellowship in Christ
All believers in Christ are united through Christ. The Holy Spirit brings Christ into us, reveals to us the truth in the Scriptures and the falsehoods in the world around us, and gives us gifts to build each other up and help others find God's grace, mercy, and good news. The time that Christ most clearly binds us together is when we are taking in the Bread and Wine.
The Explanation For Our Difficulties
If you are going through a time of isolation, seemingly all alone, read John 17 . It will explain exactly why you are where you are — because Jesus has prayed that you "may be one" with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or do you have some other goal for your life?
"By the Grace of God I Am What I Am"
The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him.
The Ancient Art of 'Spiritual Warfare'
In one of the oldest stories of the Bible, the heart of a mere mortal gets caught in the crossfire between a rebel leader and the King of the universe.According to Satan, God has bought the heart of a man named Job by giving him protection in exchange for his loyalty.Although God did not give Job the answers he was looking for, his story combines with the rest of Scripture
The Difference Between Covering and Covering Up
If you hang around with church people very long, you will hear them speak about "covering." I remember when I first heard this phrase, I assumed they were talking about covering up. But there is a huge difference between covering and covering up. The only love that can cancel out sin is the love of Jesus manifested in his death on the cross.
High Hopes
Before I learned how to walk by faith, all I lived on was hope. But hope will not change your circumstances. It takes faith to release the power of God to change your circumstances. Hope will only keep you alive until things change. If you never bring faith to bear upon your circumstances, all you will do is live in hope. Your circumstances will never change.
A Certain Faith in Uncertain Times
Where do we turn in uncertain times? In times like these Psalm 121 brings a message of assurance: "I will lift my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." The psalmist looked to a higher source of strength beyond what he could find on a human plane.
God Change My Mind!
We cannot blame other people for what we do not have. Our mindset is often what hinders us. When our minds are stuck in impoverished thinking, slave thinking, slothful thinking, lazy thinking, we are in the same place and have never stepped out and trusted God. We have to change our mindset!
DEVELOP A HABIT OF SPEAKING POSITIVELY
Christians need to learn how to be positive. Thinking positively is always better than thinking negatively, and it will put you in a better frame of mind to accept what is going on around you. The power of positive confession, in line with God's Word will change your circumstances in a positive way.
Daily Walking in God's Love
God wants daily fellowship with you. Spend time in prayer before you leave the house in the morning. Meditate the Scriptures before you leave.Give attention to the Holy Spirit.You will find that the power that is inherent in the Word of God will get on you.Instead of walking in the flesh in your relationships, you will find yourself walking in the spirit, walking in love.
Do Everything as Unto the Lord
The entire Book of Colossians (as well as Paul's other epistles) is a guideline for Christian living. He wrote about relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children and masters and servants (or as we say today, "bosses and employees"). And he wrote about prayer, right speech and make time count and briefly but concisely about worship services.
It Is All In Your Mind
Your mind holds tremendous creative ability. That is why God gave you an imagination--so that you could create mental pictures, add faith to them and see those pictures manifest in your life. Once you have an image in your mind of something you want to do or become, nothing can stop that image from coming to pass. Whatever you meditate on will become your reality.
Over And Beyond
I have been thinking a lot about love lately. Not the "romantic, just received a dozen roses" sort of love. Not the "first look at a new baby" sort of love. Instead, I have been thinking about the "I have been betrayed by a friend or falsely accused of something shameful" sort of love. The kind of love that Jesus exemplified.
Live Without Failing - With SelfControl
That word stumble in the traditional King James says fall and it literally means to fall down or fail. Now He said you will never stumble, never fall. That word never literally means by no means ever. It also carries the idea by no means, not even at any time. God says that if you will do these things you will never fail, never fall, never stumble.
Using Wisdom with Words
Words have the potential to hurt. Whether consciously or not, we all at one time have hurt or offended someone with our words. God cares about everyone, and it is important to be mindful of what we say to others. Walking in love and considering another person's feelings before speaking are vital to the spiritual growth and maturity of a Christian.
Your Testimony - Tell It!
The enemy knows that our testimony has the power to defeat him and set the accused free. Many people are serving life sentences in bondage, condemnation, and some even losing their lives, because they have lost all hope of things getting better or them surviving what they are going through. We are living testimonies or evidence that you can make it
To Know God's Will Concerning Any Issue
There are many Scriptures which show us that God sincerely wants to teach us the way we should go. God wants to patiently instruct us so we will not make mistakes. Psalm 32:8 says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go: I will guide you with my eyes." Proverbs 3:5 commands us to "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
We Inherited Power
You inherit His power, to us "...and what is the exceeding greatness of his power who believe..." This inheritance belongs to the believers. An inheritance is something you do not earn; it is something that was left to you. When Jesus died on the cross, He left you some power, some anointing, some blessings, and some ability.
How Is Your Prayer Life - When We Pray, God Works.
Prayer is not a monologue where one person does all the talking, or a ritual where we must say things in the right order, or a chore to get out of the way like brushing our teeth before going to bed. Paul writes, "Pray without ceasing." That does not sound like something you do once in a while, or a flare you shoot up during a crisis.
About God's Will
Some people view God's will as a secret hidden treasure that's only found through discerning hidden clues that God gives along the way through life. This view runs against or counter to a theology of God, as a loving parent who gives us good things.
The Safest Prayer
Have you ever prayed and wondered if God really heard you? Have you ever tried praying to God without really knowing what to say? If you have ever experienced a challenge in the area of prayer in your walk with God, you are certainly not alone. But do not be discouraged; there is a fail-proof way to pray that guarantees results every time.
The Holy Ghost Is Still In The Life-Saving Business
In Acts 10:38... It says, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power, who went about doing good. All of the healing that Jesus did was a result of being empowered with the Holy Ghost. Now, let me ask you this question. Are you filled with the Holy Ghost? If you are filled with the Holy Ghost then get both hands up and Praise.
Develop a Habit of Speaking Positively
Thinking positively is always better than thinking negatively, and it will put you in a better frame of mind to accept what is going on around you. By this I mean positive in line with God's plan and purpose. However, it will not change your circumstance. On the other hand, the power of positive confession, in line with God's Word will change ....
Confidence In Prayer
Are you tired of praying and not getting results in your prayer life? If so, you probably need to examine your confidence level in this area. A lack of confidence in prayer simply comes from not knowing God's Word. Too many Christians pray emotional, fear-based prayers, hoping that they get through to God.