Once as I wandered in the mountains, I came upon an outcropping of rocks, and as I sat on the highest rock to rest and look out over the valley, I saw a nest in the branches of a tree. The young birds in the nest were crying noisily. Then I saw how the mother bird returned with food for her young ones. When they heard the sound of her wings and felt her presence nearby, they cried all the more loudly and opened their beaks wide. But after the mother bird fed them and flew away again, they were quiet. Climbing down to look more closely, I saw that the newly hatched birds had not yet opened their eyes. Without even being able to see their mother, they opened their beaks and begged for nourishment whenever she approached.
These tiny birds did not say: “We will not open our beaks until we can see our mother clearly and also see what kind of food she offers. Perhaps it is not our mother at all but instead some dangerous enemy. And who knows if it is proper nourishment or some kind of poison that is being fed to us?” If they had reasoned thus, they would never have discovered the truth. Before they were even strong enough to open their eyes, they would have starved to death. But they held no such doubts about the presence and love of their mother, and so after a few days, they opened their eyes and rejoiced to see her with them.
Day by day they grew stronger and developed into the form and likeness of the mother, and soon they were able to soar up into the freedom of the skies. We humans often think of ourselves as the greatest living beings, but do we not have something to learn from these common birds? We often question the reality and the loving nature of God. But the Master has said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Whenever we open our hearts to God, we receive spiritual nourishment and grow more and more into the likeness of God until we reach spiritual maturity. And once we open our spiritual eyes and see God’s presence, we find indescribable and unending bliss.
--- Sadhu Sunder Singh
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Spiritual Bankruptcy
We all know times are tough right now. You can’t escape the news. We are in a recession. It is perhaps the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Some are even labeling our crisis the Great Recession.
With all the media attention on our troubled time it is easy to get caught up in the gloom and doom. Focusing on negativity will not make things better, however, so I try to take a different tact. I believe that when you stop living in the problem and start living in the solution the problem goes away. Or at least you find a way to face the problem.
The big problem I see today is not so much that unemployment is on the rise and banks are foreclosing on homes (but please don’t think I’m minimizing the plight of anyone dealing with those challenges). The problem I perceive is that too many people are going bankrupt spiritually. A very large part of the population seems lost in a culture that emphasizes materialism, consumerism and egoism. These things never satisfy. Not ultimately.
The good news that sometimes comes out of the bad news of a great recession is that more of us get a wakeup call to what life is really all about. Life is more than getting our comfort. Money cannot solve all our problems. Yes, it is nice to not have to worry and fret over where the money is to pay the bills or where your next meal might come from. Still, the true hunger and thirst we have can only be satisfied from finding real purpose and meaning in life. Hitting bottom means there is only one way to go - up! To rise from the despair of our emotional and spiritual bottoms we must find an answer to our purpose and meaning.
The Great Message of Christianity
The great message of Christianity is that God cares, is present and does not require we be at a certain level of goodness or be worthy of assistance. God already knows we need help and that we aren’t perfect. That is why God came to us as a human – Jesus Christ – to save us and show us the way. God does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. And God does through us – with our cooperation and participation – great and wonderful things.
Don’t let any misconceptions about religion or Christianity or what you think you know about Jesus keep you from discovering for yourself the grace available to you. That grace is free. You only have to accept it gratefully and be willing to pay it forward. Doing for others is the model Jesus gave us. We can’t fix things on our own power. God can reveal solutions that we haven’t discovered without his help.
There is a way to deal with our very real problems during this recession. It is a spiritual solution.
By Tom Gilbert
source : www.livingthesolution.com
With all the media attention on our troubled time it is easy to get caught up in the gloom and doom. Focusing on negativity will not make things better, however, so I try to take a different tact. I believe that when you stop living in the problem and start living in the solution the problem goes away. Or at least you find a way to face the problem.
The big problem I see today is not so much that unemployment is on the rise and banks are foreclosing on homes (but please don’t think I’m minimizing the plight of anyone dealing with those challenges). The problem I perceive is that too many people are going bankrupt spiritually. A very large part of the population seems lost in a culture that emphasizes materialism, consumerism and egoism. These things never satisfy. Not ultimately.
The good news that sometimes comes out of the bad news of a great recession is that more of us get a wakeup call to what life is really all about. Life is more than getting our comfort. Money cannot solve all our problems. Yes, it is nice to not have to worry and fret over where the money is to pay the bills or where your next meal might come from. Still, the true hunger and thirst we have can only be satisfied from finding real purpose and meaning in life. Hitting bottom means there is only one way to go - up! To rise from the despair of our emotional and spiritual bottoms we must find an answer to our purpose and meaning.
The Great Message of Christianity
The great message of Christianity is that God cares, is present and does not require we be at a certain level of goodness or be worthy of assistance. God already knows we need help and that we aren’t perfect. That is why God came to us as a human – Jesus Christ – to save us and show us the way. God does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. And God does through us – with our cooperation and participation – great and wonderful things.
Don’t let any misconceptions about religion or Christianity or what you think you know about Jesus keep you from discovering for yourself the grace available to you. That grace is free. You only have to accept it gratefully and be willing to pay it forward. Doing for others is the model Jesus gave us. We can’t fix things on our own power. God can reveal solutions that we haven’t discovered without his help.
There is a way to deal with our very real problems during this recession. It is a spiritual solution.
By Tom Gilbert
source : www.livingthesolution.com
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Be still and know that I am God
“Be still and know that I am God!” is the first part of Psalm 46:10. Here, the word still comes from a Hebrew word meaning to “let go” or “release.” The meaning would be best understood to say “cause yourself to become restrained or to let go.” In other words, we need to come to a place where we are willing to submit ourselves to God and acknowledging that He is in sovereign control.
When we realize that we are truly incapable of controlling life, we can surrender our will to God’s will. It may be a matter of finally saying we trust Him. This will open the door so that we may experience the fullness of all God wants and has for us. After all, He is our Creator and has a perfect plan for us when we let Him orchestrate it.
Be still and know that I am God – How can we know it’s God?
“…and know that I am God” denotes recognition, acknowledgement, and answering God. First, we must know that God is God, the one and only Supreme Being who created all the heavens and earth (Genesis 1:1).
We can know Him by having an intimate relationship with Him. That does not come from knowing about Him, but rather getting to personally know Him by what He says (in His Holy Word, the Bible), recognizing the things He does in our lives, and by way of His Holy Spirit who comes to guide and comfort us. In John 14:26, Jesus says “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (KJV).
When we read the Bible, we will learn to recognize the way God talks to us, the kinds of things He says, and the merciful love He offers.
God is:
Omniscient – all knowing
Omnipresent – universal presence at the same time
Omnipotent – all powerful
Holy, Faithful, and Sovereign
Infinite – without measure, forever
Be still and know that I am God – What is the next part of the verse?
“Be still and know that I am God; I will be honored by every nation, I will be honored throughout the world!” The KJV uses the word ‘exalted’ meaning lifted up. Honored means highly valued or glorified. We are being told in this verse that the entire world will someday lift up and glorify the Lord.
Romans 14:11 says, “As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow to me and every tongue will confess allegiance to God.’” And regarding Christ’s promised return, Revelation 19:16 says: “On His robe and thigh was written this title: KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS.”
source :http://www.allaboutfollowingjesus.org
When we realize that we are truly incapable of controlling life, we can surrender our will to God’s will. It may be a matter of finally saying we trust Him. This will open the door so that we may experience the fullness of all God wants and has for us. After all, He is our Creator and has a perfect plan for us when we let Him orchestrate it.
Be still and know that I am God – How can we know it’s God?
“…and know that I am God” denotes recognition, acknowledgement, and answering God. First, we must know that God is God, the one and only Supreme Being who created all the heavens and earth (Genesis 1:1).
We can know Him by having an intimate relationship with Him. That does not come from knowing about Him, but rather getting to personally know Him by what He says (in His Holy Word, the Bible), recognizing the things He does in our lives, and by way of His Holy Spirit who comes to guide and comfort us. In John 14:26, Jesus says “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (KJV).
When we read the Bible, we will learn to recognize the way God talks to us, the kinds of things He says, and the merciful love He offers.
God is:
Omniscient – all knowing
Omnipresent – universal presence at the same time
Omnipotent – all powerful
Holy, Faithful, and Sovereign
Infinite – without measure, forever
Be still and know that I am God – What is the next part of the verse?
“Be still and know that I am God; I will be honored by every nation, I will be honored throughout the world!” The KJV uses the word ‘exalted’ meaning lifted up. Honored means highly valued or glorified. We are being told in this verse that the entire world will someday lift up and glorify the Lord.
Romans 14:11 says, “As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow to me and every tongue will confess allegiance to God.’” And regarding Christ’s promised return, Revelation 19:16 says: “On His robe and thigh was written this title: KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS.”
source :http://www.allaboutfollowingjesus.org
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Seek God
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6: 33
The Almighty God gives us the golden key here to unlock every earthly blessing that each one is after. Thousands across the globe are immersed in worries as to what they will eat, wear etc. Worry, fear and greed push them to strive harder all the time.
Many pursue wealth at the expense of their relationship with God, their families and their health. Such wealth is not long lasting. David, the King said, “I have been young, and now I am old, but I have never seen a righteous person abandoned or his descendants begging for food.”
God goes beyond the man or woman who earnestly pursues after Him. He blesses the generations that follow after you. None of us have been born to stay here on earth forever; but long after you have departed, God’s awesome presence will continue to abide with and lead your children and their children and theirs too! Let pleasing Him be your top priority.
source :www.jesusthejoyministries.org
The Almighty God gives us the golden key here to unlock every earthly blessing that each one is after. Thousands across the globe are immersed in worries as to what they will eat, wear etc. Worry, fear and greed push them to strive harder all the time.
Many pursue wealth at the expense of their relationship with God, their families and their health. Such wealth is not long lasting. David, the King said, “I have been young, and now I am old, but I have never seen a righteous person abandoned or his descendants begging for food.”
God goes beyond the man or woman who earnestly pursues after Him. He blesses the generations that follow after you. None of us have been born to stay here on earth forever; but long after you have departed, God’s awesome presence will continue to abide with and lead your children and their children and theirs too! Let pleasing Him be your top priority.
source :www.jesusthejoyministries.org
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Christian life - How to Live
How to live the Christian life is a topic that is discussed in many Bible passages. One of the most notable discourses was between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish council, went to Jesus during the night to discover how to live the Christian life. Jesus explains to Nicodemus that he must be born again: "…I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3). Salvation is the beginning step in living a Christian life. In John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Jesus encourages all believers to grow in relationship, commitment, and obedience to Him. This is the essence of how to live a Christian life. Our relationship, commitment, and obedience are done out of love, not constraint. John 14:21 says, "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
Living the Christian life is not abiding by an agenda or following a set of strict rules. Instead, the Christian life is characterized by:
Understanding that you are a new creation! 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Transforming and renewing your mind. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Treating others with love. Philippians 2:3-4 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
Living out the teachings of Christ. Jesus taught: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3-10).
Sharing your faith. Matthew 5:14-16 says, "You are the light of the world. A city 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 men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
Living the Christian life does not mean enjoying a life of ease and never experiencing problems. 1 Peter 5:8 says that there is an enemy who wishes to destroy us: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." But we also read that Jesus has overcome the world!
No matter what opposition you face, living the Christian life is worth it! Enjoying a relationship with God and His Son Jesus, being confident of where you will spend eternity, and living in day-to-day fellowship with Him is far greater than any opposition you may face.
source : http://www.allaboutfollowingjesus.org
Jesus encourages all believers to grow in relationship, commitment, and obedience to Him. This is the essence of how to live a Christian life. Our relationship, commitment, and obedience are done out of love, not constraint. John 14:21 says, "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
Living the Christian life is not abiding by an agenda or following a set of strict rules. Instead, the Christian life is characterized by:
Understanding that you are a new creation! 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Transforming and renewing your mind. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Treating others with love. Philippians 2:3-4 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
Living out the teachings of Christ. Jesus taught: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3-10).
Sharing your faith. Matthew 5:14-16 says, "You are the light of the world. A city 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 men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
Living the Christian life does not mean enjoying a life of ease and never experiencing problems. 1 Peter 5:8 says that there is an enemy who wishes to destroy us: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." But we also read that Jesus has overcome the world!
No matter what opposition you face, living the Christian life is worth it! Enjoying a relationship with God and His Son Jesus, being confident of where you will spend eternity, and living in day-to-day fellowship with Him is far greater than any opposition you may face.
source : http://www.allaboutfollowingjesus.org
Monday, May 18, 2009
Don't Despise the Day of Small Things
I remember the excitement in my boyhood neighborhood when somebody began to build a large home on a vacant lot at the end of our street. A concrete truck rolled up to pour foundations, and for several days we could hear the sound of vigorous pounding as carpenters framed the walls. Then everybody left. I never knew why. Not another nail was pounded. The bare frame stood spring and summer and Christmas season, too — as long as I lived there — a house of sticks and little more.
Some of God's projects stall, too. Five centuries before Jesus was born, the Israelites returned from exile to find Jerusalem in ruins and their beloved temple destroyed. With great enthusiasm they set about rebuilding it. However, Zerubbabel the governor, got little farther than laying the foundation before opposition set in. Neighbors fought the project tooth and nail, finally succeeding in getting a restraining order to halt construction (Ezra 4). Enemies mocked. Supporters became discouraged. For years the site stood silent.
Failure. Zerubbabel felt like a failure. Oh, there were plenty of other things to do. Zerubbabel set to work building his own wood-paneled home. But his grand dream had fizzled.
He was probably like the rest of us when failure looms. What little self-confidence we have ebbs away. We seal ourselves from more pain by denial. We meet further effort with skepticism. We protect ourselves from getting our hopes too high again. We look at the ground rather than the sky, at the past rather than the future.
And then one day a man of God, Zechariah, began to speak words that pierced Zerubbabel to the heart and filled him with fresh hope: "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel," came the message. "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty." Zerubbabel could feel his heart pounding as the message continued. "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!' The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple, his hands will also complete it" (Zechariah 4:6-7).
The project had seemed like an immovable mountain, Zerubbabel thought. But now with God at work he knew he could finish the temple.
The final words of the prophecy jolted him. "Do not despise the day of small things. Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel" (vs. 10).
He had despised that early start. How weak, how insignificant, how naive he had been. Yet, in spite of all that, God had been in those beginnings.
How often our efforts for God are attacked by the enemy. We can get so discouraged we don't even want to try again. But God delights in taking the insignificant and making something out of it. Down through history we can see the pattern:
Moses' rod that delivered a nation from Egypt (Exodus 4:1-9),
The jawbone of an ass that in Samson's hand killed a thousand Philistines (Judges 15:14-16),
Five smooth stones that felled the giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17),
The handful of meal and a jar of oil that sustained a widow through years of famine (2 Kings 4:1-7),
A grubby stable that became the nativity place of the Christ Child himself on Christmas morning (Luke 2),
Five barley loaves and a couple fish that fed a multitude (Matthew 14:13-21), and
The mustard seed Jesus said would become a great tree for birds to find shelter (Matthew 13:31-32).
What little thing, what dream, what false start, have you despised? Your small church, your tiny Bible study, your hopes of ministry for Christ? Do you despise your failures? Don't.
Surrender them to the God who delights in taking human weakness and showing His strength. Take another look at your discarded dreams, this time through God's eyes:
"Not by might, not by power, but my Spirit says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6). Oh, by the way. When I went back to my old neighborhood, someone had finished that house at the end of the street. It's beautiful.
By Dr. Ralph Wilson
source : http://www.livingthesolution.com
Some of God's projects stall, too. Five centuries before Jesus was born, the Israelites returned from exile to find Jerusalem in ruins and their beloved temple destroyed. With great enthusiasm they set about rebuilding it. However, Zerubbabel the governor, got little farther than laying the foundation before opposition set in. Neighbors fought the project tooth and nail, finally succeeding in getting a restraining order to halt construction (Ezra 4). Enemies mocked. Supporters became discouraged. For years the site stood silent.
Failure. Zerubbabel felt like a failure. Oh, there were plenty of other things to do. Zerubbabel set to work building his own wood-paneled home. But his grand dream had fizzled.
He was probably like the rest of us when failure looms. What little self-confidence we have ebbs away. We seal ourselves from more pain by denial. We meet further effort with skepticism. We protect ourselves from getting our hopes too high again. We look at the ground rather than the sky, at the past rather than the future.
And then one day a man of God, Zechariah, began to speak words that pierced Zerubbabel to the heart and filled him with fresh hope: "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel," came the message. "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty." Zerubbabel could feel his heart pounding as the message continued. "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!' The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple, his hands will also complete it" (Zechariah 4:6-7).
The project had seemed like an immovable mountain, Zerubbabel thought. But now with God at work he knew he could finish the temple.
The final words of the prophecy jolted him. "Do not despise the day of small things. Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel" (vs. 10).
He had despised that early start. How weak, how insignificant, how naive he had been. Yet, in spite of all that, God had been in those beginnings.
How often our efforts for God are attacked by the enemy. We can get so discouraged we don't even want to try again. But God delights in taking the insignificant and making something out of it. Down through history we can see the pattern:
Moses' rod that delivered a nation from Egypt (Exodus 4:1-9),
The jawbone of an ass that in Samson's hand killed a thousand Philistines (Judges 15:14-16),
Five smooth stones that felled the giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17),
The handful of meal and a jar of oil that sustained a widow through years of famine (2 Kings 4:1-7),
A grubby stable that became the nativity place of the Christ Child himself on Christmas morning (Luke 2),
Five barley loaves and a couple fish that fed a multitude (Matthew 14:13-21), and
The mustard seed Jesus said would become a great tree for birds to find shelter (Matthew 13:31-32).
What little thing, what dream, what false start, have you despised? Your small church, your tiny Bible study, your hopes of ministry for Christ? Do you despise your failures? Don't.
Surrender them to the God who delights in taking human weakness and showing His strength. Take another look at your discarded dreams, this time through God's eyes:
"Not by might, not by power, but my Spirit says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6). Oh, by the way. When I went back to my old neighborhood, someone had finished that house at the end of the street. It's beautiful.
By Dr. Ralph Wilson
source : http://www.livingthesolution.com
Angels & Demons - Are They Real?
“If we had open spiritual eyes, we would see not only a world filled with evil spirits and powers – but also powerful angels with drawn swords, set for our defense.”
The Bible tells us that angels and demons are both real.
In popular culture, demonic forces seem to get more press than angels. They’ve been a favorite focus of Hollywood and literature for decades. Throughout history, in fact – from primitive cave art to modern movies – the portrayal of evil forces has evoked strong fear response. Maybe you’ve felt this yourself, reading a book or watching a movie.
In his second edition of the million-selling book, Angels, God’s Secret Agents, Billy Graham offers some perspective on the relative prominence of angels and demons in God’s Word:
“Bookstores and libraries have shelves of books on demons, the occult, and the devil…(But) angels have a much more important place in the Bible than the devil and his demons.”
The Bible tells us angels fill many roles in the life of the Christian. They guide, comfort, and provide for the people of God in the midst of suffering and persecution – and their unseen presence should reassure us in times of fear.
Do you fear the unseen forces of evil? Do you tremble at the notion of demons? Put your trust and faith in the living and sovereign God through his Son, Jesus Christ. Psalm 91:11 (NASB) says, “For He will give His angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” 1 John 4:4 reminds us “…greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
-Billy Graham
source :www.billygraham.org
The Bible tells us that angels and demons are both real.
In popular culture, demonic forces seem to get more press than angels. They’ve been a favorite focus of Hollywood and literature for decades. Throughout history, in fact – from primitive cave art to modern movies – the portrayal of evil forces has evoked strong fear response. Maybe you’ve felt this yourself, reading a book or watching a movie.
In his second edition of the million-selling book, Angels, God’s Secret Agents, Billy Graham offers some perspective on the relative prominence of angels and demons in God’s Word:
“Bookstores and libraries have shelves of books on demons, the occult, and the devil…(But) angels have a much more important place in the Bible than the devil and his demons.”
The Bible tells us angels fill many roles in the life of the Christian. They guide, comfort, and provide for the people of God in the midst of suffering and persecution – and their unseen presence should reassure us in times of fear.
Do you fear the unseen forces of evil? Do you tremble at the notion of demons? Put your trust and faith in the living and sovereign God through his Son, Jesus Christ. Psalm 91:11 (NASB) says, “For He will give His angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” 1 John 4:4 reminds us “…greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
-Billy Graham
source :www.billygraham.org
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Our Profession’s – A gift of God
God has a plan for each one of us who have accepted Him. God chose us to be His people even before He formed the world. His plans are always for our well being. The Bible says in Jeremiah 29: 10-12 “For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” We need to understand that God chose our jobs too even before we were born. He fore knew what we will do in this earth from our birth to death. How comforting it is to be enlightened that God knows even very minute details of us!
The job that has been given to us is truly a gift of God. Ecclesiastes 5:19 says “Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God”. We could not have landed in our current positions by our own efforts. It is God’s grace that we are blessed with jobs when so many around us are broken because they don’t have work to support a decent living. We also need to understand that we have been put in our current positions with a clear purpose by God. It is not by accident that we are in our current jobs.
We are sometimes frustrated even though we are blessed with a well paid job. We find our work boring and we feel that we waste so much time in office during the week days. The work seems monotonous and boring. There are lots of self-help books and personality development seminars that tell us to choose jobs of our heart’s desire. We are really confused by the inspirational talks that we get from the world. These only add to our worries. There are some of us who think that all the jobs other than ours would be interesting. Some of us might feel that doing business would give us more ownership and flexibility to spend time according to our likings rather than to be bound under someone else.
There are other attributes that lead to frustration in job. We always want to improve our technical/managerial skills, some of us want to work abroad and earn a lot and when these do not happen, we are frustrated. Sometimes we start worrying too much about the future prospects of our jobs. We dream of promotions, hikes in salary and when we don’t get these we begin to hate our current organizations and want to jump out. We are also frustrated when we don’t have a good relationship with our superiors and co-workers.
Why this pain? Why can’t we be peaceful in our jobs? Is there a way by which we can enjoy the time that we spend in our office? Well, the answer is “Yes” if we have found Jesus Christ and “No” if we are far away from Him. When we find Jesus Christ, we have a clear purpose in our lives. We need to understand something very clear here. We would always be annoyed and frustrated with our jobs if we think to accomplish our selfish desires and purposes. The job will become a burden for us. We will always be bound by anxieties and fears.
We need to understand that it is God who has gifted us our current jobs. He has kept us here with a purpose. Joseph was placed by God in Egypt, because it was through him that God helped Israelites during the famine. There was a revival there. Similarly, we are placed in our organizations by God to do His work and bring a revival there. Remember it is “His” work all the time. He wants to use us instruments to speak to others and bring them into His kingdom.
All countries have an ambassador placed in other countries. His job is to build a relationship between two countries. We are all ambassadors for Christ in our organizations and our goal should always be to be to add people to the Kingdom of God. This should be our primary purpose in our work place. We need to be very sincere and honest in our work. Others should never be able to find fault in us. We should always walk in the light. Colossians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men”
Every day we should be joyful in our work. We should bring peace and blessing into other people’s life. The best testimony is to live a life for Jesus in our work places. People should see the likeness of “Jesus” in each of our actions. The next time a negative thought comes in us about our jobs, let us not worry about it because it is God who has put us there, and He will take us out of it, when His purpose is accomplished through us.
The job that has been given to us is truly a gift of God. Ecclesiastes 5:19 says “Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God”. We could not have landed in our current positions by our own efforts. It is God’s grace that we are blessed with jobs when so many around us are broken because they don’t have work to support a decent living. We also need to understand that we have been put in our current positions with a clear purpose by God. It is not by accident that we are in our current jobs.
We are sometimes frustrated even though we are blessed with a well paid job. We find our work boring and we feel that we waste so much time in office during the week days. The work seems monotonous and boring. There are lots of self-help books and personality development seminars that tell us to choose jobs of our heart’s desire. We are really confused by the inspirational talks that we get from the world. These only add to our worries. There are some of us who think that all the jobs other than ours would be interesting. Some of us might feel that doing business would give us more ownership and flexibility to spend time according to our likings rather than to be bound under someone else.
There are other attributes that lead to frustration in job. We always want to improve our technical/managerial skills, some of us want to work abroad and earn a lot and when these do not happen, we are frustrated. Sometimes we start worrying too much about the future prospects of our jobs. We dream of promotions, hikes in salary and when we don’t get these we begin to hate our current organizations and want to jump out. We are also frustrated when we don’t have a good relationship with our superiors and co-workers.
Why this pain? Why can’t we be peaceful in our jobs? Is there a way by which we can enjoy the time that we spend in our office? Well, the answer is “Yes” if we have found Jesus Christ and “No” if we are far away from Him. When we find Jesus Christ, we have a clear purpose in our lives. We need to understand something very clear here. We would always be annoyed and frustrated with our jobs if we think to accomplish our selfish desires and purposes. The job will become a burden for us. We will always be bound by anxieties and fears.
We need to understand that it is God who has gifted us our current jobs. He has kept us here with a purpose. Joseph was placed by God in Egypt, because it was through him that God helped Israelites during the famine. There was a revival there. Similarly, we are placed in our organizations by God to do His work and bring a revival there. Remember it is “His” work all the time. He wants to use us instruments to speak to others and bring them into His kingdom.
All countries have an ambassador placed in other countries. His job is to build a relationship between two countries. We are all ambassadors for Christ in our organizations and our goal should always be to be to add people to the Kingdom of God. This should be our primary purpose in our work place. We need to be very sincere and honest in our work. Others should never be able to find fault in us. We should always walk in the light. Colossians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men”
Every day we should be joyful in our work. We should bring peace and blessing into other people’s life. The best testimony is to live a life for Jesus in our work places. People should see the likeness of “Jesus” in each of our actions. The next time a negative thought comes in us about our jobs, let us not worry about it because it is God who has put us there, and He will take us out of it, when His purpose is accomplished through us.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Annoyance
Annoyance is a tendancy that creates an irritation in us when we meet or have a look at certain persons whom we do not like. This might seem to be a very petty thing for us, but if left unconqured, it may rob us of our peace. Why do we get annoyed or irritated when we come across somebody?. Here are three reasons.
Selfish motives :The primary reason that I think for this behavior is that we have lot of "self" still left in us. When we are too selfish, we get annoyed when we think that somebody is of no use to us. We make use of people when they are needed, and when we no more need them, even looking at them annoys us. How selfish we are at times?. If we surrender our "self" to God, He would transform us and make us loving and caring towards others
Jealousy : In our workplaces and neighborhood, we are annoyed when we see somebody equal to us getting more successful. We could not digest that and we are so irritated that even the very thought about those people annoys us.
Aimless life : We would very often get irritated if we dont have an aim in life. If we just live our lives without a focus, we feel empty, discouraged and without hope. Only bitterness would be left in us and we won't have the confidence to face the world. This feeling of insecurity creates annoyance inside us.
We will miss so many oppurtunities in life if we could not get along with others without being selfish. An annoying person will never succeed in life. People will never like to have friendship with somebody who gets easily irritated.
Annoyance is a terrible sin and would lead to many more sins also. Only Jesus Christ can deliver us from this horrible sin. Jesus was always calm and gentle. He was never irritated, though He was mocked by many. He was even spat on the face at the cross of Calvary, but He never got irritated with those responsible for it. He said "Father, please forgive them for they do not know what they are doing". As followers of Christ, we have to overcome this by His grace.
Everytime when a situation arises that may lead us to get irritated, let us immediately ask God to take that away. We can surely be overcomers in Christ
Selfish motives :The primary reason that I think for this behavior is that we have lot of "self" still left in us. When we are too selfish, we get annoyed when we think that somebody is of no use to us. We make use of people when they are needed, and when we no more need them, even looking at them annoys us. How selfish we are at times?. If we surrender our "self" to God, He would transform us and make us loving and caring towards others
Jealousy : In our workplaces and neighborhood, we are annoyed when we see somebody equal to us getting more successful. We could not digest that and we are so irritated that even the very thought about those people annoys us.
Aimless life : We would very often get irritated if we dont have an aim in life. If we just live our lives without a focus, we feel empty, discouraged and without hope. Only bitterness would be left in us and we won't have the confidence to face the world. This feeling of insecurity creates annoyance inside us.
We will miss so many oppurtunities in life if we could not get along with others without being selfish. An annoying person will never succeed in life. People will never like to have friendship with somebody who gets easily irritated.
Annoyance is a terrible sin and would lead to many more sins also. Only Jesus Christ can deliver us from this horrible sin. Jesus was always calm and gentle. He was never irritated, though He was mocked by many. He was even spat on the face at the cross of Calvary, but He never got irritated with those responsible for it. He said "Father, please forgive them for they do not know what they are doing". As followers of Christ, we have to overcome this by His grace.
Everytime when a situation arises that may lead us to get irritated, let us immediately ask God to take that away. We can surely be overcomers in Christ
Friday, May 15, 2009
NOT I, BUT CHRIST
Lord, bend that proud and stiffnecked “I,”
Help me to bow the neck and die,
Beholding Him on Calvary,
Who bowed His Head for me.
The following are some of the features and manifestations of the self-life. The Holy Spirit alone can interpret and apply this to your individual case. As you read, examine yourself in the very presence of God. Are you ever conscious of:
A secret spirit of pride—an exalted feeling in view of your success or position; because of your good training or appearance; because of your natural gifts and abilities. An important, independent spirit?
Love of human praise; a secret fondness to be noticed; love of supremacy, drawing attention to self in conversation; a swelling out of self when you have had a free time in speaking or praying?
The stirrings of anger or impatience, which, worst of all, you call nervousness or holy indignation; a touchy, sensitive spirit; a disposition to resent and retaliate when disapproval of or contradicted; a desire to throw sharp, heated flings at another?
Self-will; a stubborn, unteachable spirit; an arguing, talkative spirit; harsh, sarcastic expression; an unyielding, headstrong disposition; a driving, commanding spirit; a disposition to criticize and pick flaws when set aside and unnoticed; a peevish, fretful spirit; a disposition that loves to be coaxed and humored?
Carnal fear; a man-fearing spirit; a shrinking from reproach and duty; reasoning around your cross; a shrinking from doing your whole duty by those of wealth or position; a fearfulness that someone will offend and drive some prominent person away; a compromising spirit?
A jealous disposition, a secret spirit of envy shut up in your heart; an unpleasant sensation in view of the great prosperity and success of another; a disposition to speak of the faults and failings, rather than the gifts and virtues of those more talented and appreciated than yourself?
A dishonest, deceitful disposition; the evading and covering of the truth; the covering up of your real faults; leaving a better impression of yourself than is strictly true; false humility; exaggeration; straining the truth?
Unbelief; a spirit of discouragement in times of pressure and opposition; lack of quietness and confidence in God; lack of faith and trust in God; a disposition to worry and complain in the midst of pain, poverty, or at the dispensations of Divine Providence; an overanxious feeling whether everything will come out all right?
Formality and deadness; lack of concern for lost souls; dryness and indifference?
Selfishness; love of ease; love of money?
These are some of the traits which generally indicate carnality in the heart. By prayer, hold your heart open to the searchlight of God. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me” (Psalm 139:23-24).
The Holy Spirit will enable you, by confession and faith, to bring your “self-life” to the death (see Romans 8:12-13). Do not patch over, but go to the bottom. It alone will pay.
Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord,
Oh, to be lost in Thee;
Oh, that it might be no more I,
But Christ that lives in me.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
—Author Unknown
Help me to bow the neck and die,
Beholding Him on Calvary,
Who bowed His Head for me.
The following are some of the features and manifestations of the self-life. The Holy Spirit alone can interpret and apply this to your individual case. As you read, examine yourself in the very presence of God. Are you ever conscious of:
A secret spirit of pride—an exalted feeling in view of your success or position; because of your good training or appearance; because of your natural gifts and abilities. An important, independent spirit?
Love of human praise; a secret fondness to be noticed; love of supremacy, drawing attention to self in conversation; a swelling out of self when you have had a free time in speaking or praying?
The stirrings of anger or impatience, which, worst of all, you call nervousness or holy indignation; a touchy, sensitive spirit; a disposition to resent and retaliate when disapproval of or contradicted; a desire to throw sharp, heated flings at another?
Self-will; a stubborn, unteachable spirit; an arguing, talkative spirit; harsh, sarcastic expression; an unyielding, headstrong disposition; a driving, commanding spirit; a disposition to criticize and pick flaws when set aside and unnoticed; a peevish, fretful spirit; a disposition that loves to be coaxed and humored?
Carnal fear; a man-fearing spirit; a shrinking from reproach and duty; reasoning around your cross; a shrinking from doing your whole duty by those of wealth or position; a fearfulness that someone will offend and drive some prominent person away; a compromising spirit?
A jealous disposition, a secret spirit of envy shut up in your heart; an unpleasant sensation in view of the great prosperity and success of another; a disposition to speak of the faults and failings, rather than the gifts and virtues of those more talented and appreciated than yourself?
A dishonest, deceitful disposition; the evading and covering of the truth; the covering up of your real faults; leaving a better impression of yourself than is strictly true; false humility; exaggeration; straining the truth?
Unbelief; a spirit of discouragement in times of pressure and opposition; lack of quietness and confidence in God; lack of faith and trust in God; a disposition to worry and complain in the midst of pain, poverty, or at the dispensations of Divine Providence; an overanxious feeling whether everything will come out all right?
Formality and deadness; lack of concern for lost souls; dryness and indifference?
Selfishness; love of ease; love of money?
These are some of the traits which generally indicate carnality in the heart. By prayer, hold your heart open to the searchlight of God. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me” (Psalm 139:23-24).
The Holy Spirit will enable you, by confession and faith, to bring your “self-life” to the death (see Romans 8:12-13). Do not patch over, but go to the bottom. It alone will pay.
Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord,
Oh, to be lost in Thee;
Oh, that it might be no more I,
But Christ that lives in me.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
—Author Unknown
Thursday, May 14, 2009
God's will
John 13:13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am"
He (the Spirit) will never lead you contrary to the Word of God. I hear people saying, “The Lord led me to do this. . . . The Lord told me thus and so . . . ” I am always a little suspicious unless what the Lord has said is in keeping with His Word. God never directs us to do anything contrary to His Word. The prophet Samuel once said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” The Scripture teaches, “He that willeth to do His will shall know the doctrine.” When you find yourself up a blind alley, not knowing which way to turn, if you are willing to do His will, He will reveal Himself. He conceals His will only from those who, before they consent to do His bidding, seek to know what He is going to say. Be an obedient Christian. Remember that “where God guides, He provides. Where He leads, He supplies all needs!”
source :www.billygraham.org
He (the Spirit) will never lead you contrary to the Word of God. I hear people saying, “The Lord led me to do this. . . . The Lord told me thus and so . . . ” I am always a little suspicious unless what the Lord has said is in keeping with His Word. God never directs us to do anything contrary to His Word. The prophet Samuel once said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” The Scripture teaches, “He that willeth to do His will shall know the doctrine.” When you find yourself up a blind alley, not knowing which way to turn, if you are willing to do His will, He will reveal Himself. He conceals His will only from those who, before they consent to do His bidding, seek to know what He is going to say. Be an obedient Christian. Remember that “where God guides, He provides. Where He leads, He supplies all needs!”
source :www.billygraham.org
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
FACTS, FAITH AND FEELINGS
I read this wonderful sermon in a blog. In addition to what I had blogged in the previous post, this would help us to ground more in faith. Please read prayerfully.
FACTS, FAITH AND FEELINGS
By Mark Snow
http://devotions4life.blogspot.com
Fact, faith and feelings; these three sometimes get confused in our world today when it comes to the things of God. Too often people do not find the facts and fix their faith accordingly, but will have a faith based on something other than the facts God presents in HIS Word. It is obvious that many religious organizations will base their beliefs on the feelings they can cause or arouse in people rather than giving the facts in God's Word as HE presents them. If a person has a feeling deep inside, too often that "feeling" becomes their basis of faith or belief that they are doing "IT" correctly. We all know however, that feelings are not always true. Allow me to give you a case in point from God's Holy Word.
In the Bible (Genesis 37) we read about Joseph and his coat of many colors. His father had showed a bit of partiality in giving him this special gift, which only served to make his neglected brothers even more jealous. We know the story of how these brothers sold Joseph into slavery because of their bitterness and jealousy towards him. Dipping his coat of many colors in the blood of a goat, they brought it to their father. The heart of poor Jacob was broken as he was overcome by grief. As far as he knew and was concerned, his favored son was dead. He believed that a wild animal had killed him and torn him to pieces. He actually "FELT" and acted as though his son had truly been killed. Many years later when word came that Joseph was actually alive and living down in Egypt, Jacob refused to believe it. He was so firmly convinced that his son was dead. The belief he had was not based on facts, but something completely untrue.
Experiences in religion within themselves prove nothing. A person's feelings are not a safe guide by which to gauge Godly things. A "THING" or idea can be taught so strongly that a few, or many millions for that matter, believe it so much and act on it as though it were true. This does not make it true by the standard set down by God in HIS Holy Word. Facts should produce the faith and the feelings should come as a result of doing the right thing by God and His standard. Romans 10:17 tells us, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Hearing what God's word says is, according to the Bible, what brings true faith.
God took the time to put His Words down in written form and we should never accept anything but His Truth as it is written. NO MAN has the right to change one word, one comma, one period, one dot over an "I" or one crossing of a "T". We will all be judged on HIS WORD, how it WAS written, and not on the changes made to suppress sin so we feel good in our religious activities. Find the FACTS in GOD"S Words, put your FAITH in HIS Word, and doing it HIS way will bring the greatest FEELINGS man can experience, the joy of knowing we have salvation according to His Word.
FACTS, FAITH AND FEELINGS
By Mark Snow
http://devotions4life.blogspot.com
Fact, faith and feelings; these three sometimes get confused in our world today when it comes to the things of God. Too often people do not find the facts and fix their faith accordingly, but will have a faith based on something other than the facts God presents in HIS Word. It is obvious that many religious organizations will base their beliefs on the feelings they can cause or arouse in people rather than giving the facts in God's Word as HE presents them. If a person has a feeling deep inside, too often that "feeling" becomes their basis of faith or belief that they are doing "IT" correctly. We all know however, that feelings are not always true. Allow me to give you a case in point from God's Holy Word.
In the Bible (Genesis 37) we read about Joseph and his coat of many colors. His father had showed a bit of partiality in giving him this special gift, which only served to make his neglected brothers even more jealous. We know the story of how these brothers sold Joseph into slavery because of their bitterness and jealousy towards him. Dipping his coat of many colors in the blood of a goat, they brought it to their father. The heart of poor Jacob was broken as he was overcome by grief. As far as he knew and was concerned, his favored son was dead. He believed that a wild animal had killed him and torn him to pieces. He actually "FELT" and acted as though his son had truly been killed. Many years later when word came that Joseph was actually alive and living down in Egypt, Jacob refused to believe it. He was so firmly convinced that his son was dead. The belief he had was not based on facts, but something completely untrue.
Experiences in religion within themselves prove nothing. A person's feelings are not a safe guide by which to gauge Godly things. A "THING" or idea can be taught so strongly that a few, or many millions for that matter, believe it so much and act on it as though it were true. This does not make it true by the standard set down by God in HIS Holy Word. Facts should produce the faith and the feelings should come as a result of doing the right thing by God and His standard. Romans 10:17 tells us, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Hearing what God's word says is, according to the Bible, what brings true faith.
God took the time to put His Words down in written form and we should never accept anything but His Truth as it is written. NO MAN has the right to change one word, one comma, one period, one dot over an "I" or one crossing of a "T". We will all be judged on HIS WORD, how it WAS written, and not on the changes made to suppress sin so we feel good in our religious activities. Find the FACTS in GOD"S Words, put your FAITH in HIS Word, and doing it HIS way will bring the greatest FEELINGS man can experience, the joy of knowing we have salvation according to His Word.
Facts and feelings
Do we not feel the urge of prayer sometimes?
Do we not feel that we are worshipping sometimes?
Do we not feel closer to God at times?
The list of negative feelings is endless....we may fill the blanks with all our personal feelings.
These are some of the situations and questions that we may go through if we live our Christian life by feelings and emotions. Let us understand this through an analogy. There was an argument between two brothers while they were looking at the sun. The younger one said "The sun is moving from the east to west and I can feel that experience visually". The older one said "No, it is only the earth that moves around the sun. The sun is stationary". The younger one asked the elder one about the reason for his claim. The elder brother said that "It is written in science books that Earth revolves around the sun".
Now let us come back to our topic. As seen in the above illustration, the proven fact is that the earth is the one which moves, and we never feel it. This perfectly applies to our Christian life too. Our spiritual life should always be based on the facts. The life through spirit is always factual and not a vanity of feelings. Feelings, thoughts and emotions originate in our soul. Here lies the secret of a victorious Christian life. The soul is the origin of passions, feelings, emotions, intelligience, and above all the "self". We will be always defeated by satan if we continue to live in our soul.
We must put our soul to complete death and live each moment driven by the Holy Spirit. How do we know that the Holy spirit is within us?. If we go by feelings, we will be deceived. It is an absolute fact that the moment we confess Jesus is God, and accept Him as our personal savior by repenting for our sins, the Holy Spirit enters us. Now all that we need to do is to live a life of complete dependence on the Holy spirit. We need to be united in Christ always through the Holy spirit.
Romans 10:9-11 says "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are put right with God, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame."
Martin Luther says
"We must not judge by what we feel or by what we see before us. The Word must be followed, and we must firmly hold that these truths are to be believed, not experienced; for to believe is not to experience. Not indeed that what we believe is never to be experienced but that faith is to precede experience. And the Word must be believed even when we feel and experience what differs entirely from the Word"
Luther further said
"I still constantly find that when I am without the Word, Christ is gone, yes, and so are joy and the Spirit. But as soon as I look at a psalm or a passage of Scripture, it so shines and burns into my heart that I gain a different spirit and mind. Moreover, I know that everybody may daily experience this in his own life."
This is the difference we need to understand. Only by grounding ourselves deeply in the word of God, and understanding the facts, we can overcome the feelings of the soul. Jesus dealt with satan always using the word of God. We fail in our spiritual lives because we are not strongly rooted in the scriptures. We spend most of the time going to worship in places where there is flamboyant music, and inspirational message that stir up our feelings and emotions. None of this would help us if we need a deep relationship with Christ.
It is only by reading scriptures and waiting on our knees, we could know God. It can be said that "Only our knees can achieve, what our intelligence cannot". How true it is, isn't it?. Today we may go through a tough time handling our feelings and emotions. We may be going thorugh a vigorous cycle of positive and negative impacts of emotions. But, let us not be discouraged. Let us look unto the cross, and ask God with an earnest heart to take away our "self". God is ready to do it provided we are ready to completely surrender us to Him.
Do we not feel that we are worshipping sometimes?
Do we not feel closer to God at times?
The list of negative feelings is endless....we may fill the blanks with all our personal feelings.
These are some of the situations and questions that we may go through if we live our Christian life by feelings and emotions. Let us understand this through an analogy. There was an argument between two brothers while they were looking at the sun. The younger one said "The sun is moving from the east to west and I can feel that experience visually". The older one said "No, it is only the earth that moves around the sun. The sun is stationary". The younger one asked the elder one about the reason for his claim. The elder brother said that "It is written in science books that Earth revolves around the sun".
Now let us come back to our topic. As seen in the above illustration, the proven fact is that the earth is the one which moves, and we never feel it. This perfectly applies to our Christian life too. Our spiritual life should always be based on the facts. The life through spirit is always factual and not a vanity of feelings. Feelings, thoughts and emotions originate in our soul. Here lies the secret of a victorious Christian life. The soul is the origin of passions, feelings, emotions, intelligience, and above all the "self". We will be always defeated by satan if we continue to live in our soul.
We must put our soul to complete death and live each moment driven by the Holy Spirit. How do we know that the Holy spirit is within us?. If we go by feelings, we will be deceived. It is an absolute fact that the moment we confess Jesus is God, and accept Him as our personal savior by repenting for our sins, the Holy Spirit enters us. Now all that we need to do is to live a life of complete dependence on the Holy spirit. We need to be united in Christ always through the Holy spirit.
Romans 10:9-11 says "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are put right with God, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame."
Martin Luther says
"We must not judge by what we feel or by what we see before us. The Word must be followed, and we must firmly hold that these truths are to be believed, not experienced; for to believe is not to experience. Not indeed that what we believe is never to be experienced but that faith is to precede experience. And the Word must be believed even when we feel and experience what differs entirely from the Word"
Luther further said
"I still constantly find that when I am without the Word, Christ is gone, yes, and so are joy and the Spirit. But as soon as I look at a psalm or a passage of Scripture, it so shines and burns into my heart that I gain a different spirit and mind. Moreover, I know that everybody may daily experience this in his own life."
This is the difference we need to understand. Only by grounding ourselves deeply in the word of God, and understanding the facts, we can overcome the feelings of the soul. Jesus dealt with satan always using the word of God. We fail in our spiritual lives because we are not strongly rooted in the scriptures. We spend most of the time going to worship in places where there is flamboyant music, and inspirational message that stir up our feelings and emotions. None of this would help us if we need a deep relationship with Christ.
It is only by reading scriptures and waiting on our knees, we could know God. It can be said that "Only our knees can achieve, what our intelligence cannot". How true it is, isn't it?. Today we may go through a tough time handling our feelings and emotions. We may be going thorugh a vigorous cycle of positive and negative impacts of emotions. But, let us not be discouraged. Let us look unto the cross, and ask God with an earnest heart to take away our "self". God is ready to do it provided we are ready to completely surrender us to Him.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
George Mueller- A man of faith
Called “An Apostle of Faith,” George Mueller was converted to Christ in 1826 at age twenty-one. Shortly there after, he sailed to England from Prussia without letters of introduction, money or recommendations – absolutely unknown and with a very imperfect knowledge of the English language. At that time, he wrote in his journal [his diary]: “My whole life shall be one service for God.”
Mueller began a ministry to the orphans of England, never asking help from anyone, never hinting that help was ever needed. In answer to his believing prayers alone, $7,500,000 was sent to him for building “God’s Orphanage,” for missionary enterprises and for the circulation of Scriptures. (It should be noted that these amounts were in the monetary values of the 1800s – the equivalents of which would be millions more in our generation. Mueller often was down to “only one cent left in my hands.” Still, he never told anyone. Instead, he prayed and the need always was met by a miracle.
“There never was a time when there was no wholesome meal,” he testified.
During a ministry of over seventy years, George Mueller trusted God to house, feed, clothe and educate over 9,500 orphans. He wrote, “God never failed me. It all came when it was needed. No man can say I asked him for a penny. We have no committees, no collectors [fund raisers], no voting, and no endowment. All has come in answer to believing prayer. I have trusted Him for one dollar, I have trusted Him for thousands, and never trusted in vain. Often and often I have placed myself in the position of having no means left at all, and two thousand one hundred persons not only at the table, but with everything else to be provided for. And all funds gone; one hundred and eighty-nine missionaries to be assisted, and nothing whatsoever left; about one hundred schools, with about nine thousand scholars in them, to be entirely supported and no means at hand; about four millions tracts and tens of thousands of copies of the Holy Scriptures yearly to be sent out and all money expended. Invariably, I have said to myself, “God who has led me to enlarge year after year, God who supported this work now for more than forty years, will still help and will not suffer me to be confounded, because I rely upon Him, I commit the whole work to Him, and He will provide me with what I need in the future also, though I know not whence the means may come.”
On September 4, 1869, George Mueller wrote in his journal, “Only one cent in my hands this morning. Pause a moment dear reader: Only one cent and nearly fourteen hundred persons to be provided for. You poor brethren who have six or eight children and small wages, may you not do what we do under your trials? Does the Lord love you less than He loves us? Does He not love all His children with no less love than that with which He loves His only begotten Son?”
George Mueller then affirmed that God loves all His people with the same love with which He loves them and testified to how God provides for all His people, as they trust Him to do so.
Mueller began a ministry to the orphans of England, never asking help from anyone, never hinting that help was ever needed. In answer to his believing prayers alone, $7,500,000 was sent to him for building “God’s Orphanage,” for missionary enterprises and for the circulation of Scriptures. (It should be noted that these amounts were in the monetary values of the 1800s – the equivalents of which would be millions more in our generation. Mueller often was down to “only one cent left in my hands.” Still, he never told anyone. Instead, he prayed and the need always was met by a miracle.
“There never was a time when there was no wholesome meal,” he testified.
During a ministry of over seventy years, George Mueller trusted God to house, feed, clothe and educate over 9,500 orphans. He wrote, “God never failed me. It all came when it was needed. No man can say I asked him for a penny. We have no committees, no collectors [fund raisers], no voting, and no endowment. All has come in answer to believing prayer. I have trusted Him for one dollar, I have trusted Him for thousands, and never trusted in vain. Often and often I have placed myself in the position of having no means left at all, and two thousand one hundred persons not only at the table, but with everything else to be provided for. And all funds gone; one hundred and eighty-nine missionaries to be assisted, and nothing whatsoever left; about one hundred schools, with about nine thousand scholars in them, to be entirely supported and no means at hand; about four millions tracts and tens of thousands of copies of the Holy Scriptures yearly to be sent out and all money expended. Invariably, I have said to myself, “God who has led me to enlarge year after year, God who supported this work now for more than forty years, will still help and will not suffer me to be confounded, because I rely upon Him, I commit the whole work to Him, and He will provide me with what I need in the future also, though I know not whence the means may come.”
On September 4, 1869, George Mueller wrote in his journal, “Only one cent in my hands this morning. Pause a moment dear reader: Only one cent and nearly fourteen hundred persons to be provided for. You poor brethren who have six or eight children and small wages, may you not do what we do under your trials? Does the Lord love you less than He loves us? Does He not love all His children with no less love than that with which He loves His only begotten Son?”
George Mueller then affirmed that God loves all His people with the same love with which He loves them and testified to how God provides for all His people, as they trust Him to do so.
How Should We Wait for Jesus?
"My son has always been on the hungry side. When he was 3, he would follow his mommy around in the kitchen when it was getting close to a mealtime. There was no point in telling him, “Dinner is in 10 minutes, dear.” He had no concept of 10 minutes or delayed gratification. He wanted food!"
By D.A. Carson
Sometimes I, too, was waiting for dinner. But my waiting was different. I was in my study, finishing work on the perennial dissertations that would come across my desk. I would think, Ten more minutes. Am I going to finish this in time?
The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 describes different ways that people wait for Jesus’ return. It says that believers are to wait for the Lord Jesus as slaves commissioned to improve their Master’s assets, to advance His Kingdom. In our waiting we are not to be passive. We are to grow, to carefully manage and to develop the resources God entrusts to us.
In the ancient world, slaves had diverse functions: manual laborers, household slaves, accountants. Some even ran the master’s industry or farm. The master assessed a slave’s ability and distributed tasks accordingly.
So we read in verse 14 that the Kingdom “will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents” (Matthew 25:14-15).
The word talent in the original text does not refer to skills and abilities. It is simply a unit of weight often used for money. A talent of silver was the equivalent of about 20 years of a day laborer’s wages—something like $800,000 today. A talent of gold was worth much more.
The man who received five “bags of gold,” as some translations say, immediately put his money to work and gained five more. A second man, who was given two bags of gold, also gained two more. But a third man, who received one bag, dug a hole in the ground and hid the money. Remember, these trusts were given according to the master’s assessment of each slave’s ability.
After a long time, the master returned and settled accounts. The man who had received five bags of gold said, “Master, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more” (Matthew 25:20).
The man with two bags did the same. And the master answered each with the same words: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21, 23).
The reward in both instances was increased responsibility. In the first place, they were given quite a lot of responsibility—bags and bags of gold. But that is nothing compared to what they would be given. In the consummated kingdom, they would be given very large responsibility. Not only that, but they now share in their master’s happiness.
The man who had received one bag of gold says, “Master, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you” (Matthew 25:24-25).
This servant charged the master with exploitation: Others did the sowing, but he reaped. The master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest” (Matthew 25:26-27).
In the Western world, we’re not too keen on slavery. But Jesus was not sanctioning slavery any more than He was sanctioning theft when He talked about returning like a thief in the night. He was using a social structure that made His point. But there is another element.
In the New Testament, human beings are either slaves to sin or they’re freed from that slavery to become slaves to Christ. Slavery to Christ is a joyful slavery. It is a slavery that we delight in, because this Master is so good, fair and right. But make no mistake, it is a Master-slave relationship.
The third slave’s sin is that he thinks he has the right to make his own judgments. But if he is the slave of the master, not undertaking the task and instead putting the money in the ground is flagrant disobedience.
The other two slaves are delighted to serve this master. They act with faithfulness and immediately make their investments. This third fellow wants to go his own, independent route.
So the master judges him, not even on the deeper principle that the slave is supposed to obey the master, but on the fact that this chap is not only slothful, he’s wicked. He pretends that the problem is the master’s harsh attitude.
The master commands that the bag of gold be taken from him and given to the man with 10 bags. Those who have, because they’ve invested and made things grow, will be given more. Those who have not worked at all, even what they have will be taken from them. The worthless servant is thrown outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Our task while we wait for the Lord Jesus is not to improve our own assets. Oh, I know we have social and family responsibilities that are laid upon us in the Word of God. But if we focus all of our energy and attention on increasing our own assets, what will we have to show the Master when we die? We can’t take any of our own assets with us.
While we wait, we are to be laying up treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust do not corrode, where thieves do not dig through and steal (Matthew 6:19).
In the parable of the virgins, which precedes the parable of the talents, the foolish virgins failed by thinking their part was too easy. This third slave fails because he thinks his part is too hard.
What does faithful service look like? Well, four chapters later, Jesus gives the disciples the Great Commission: to improve the Master’s assets by proclaiming the Gospel.
The parable of the talents is not saying that somehow if you try hard enough, you will get into the Kingdom. Paul says it like this: We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God working in us, both to will and to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13). That’s the glory of Christ: He gives us work to do and tells us how to improve His assets. When we’ve done it—through His strength and because we are His—then He says, “Well done!” We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, but grace and faith are ever at work transforming our character, so that we want to improve the Master’s assets.
If someone is waiting so passively for Jesus that he or she sees no obligation to improve the Master’s assets, whether through suffering, evangelism, loving brothers and sisters in Jesus or growing in conformity to Christ, that person is thrown outside, where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
It’s not as if there are three kinds of people here—those who are willing, cheerful, fruitful slaves; those who are in rebellion; and those who are somewhere in between, waiting but not working. If you’re merely waiting, you’re not improving the Master’s assets. This is unthinkable for a real Christian.
So wait, then, for the Lord Jesus as slaves commissioned to improve the Master’s assets. We are talking about the end of the age. Jesus is coming back! If not in our lifetime, we will meet Him when we die, and we will give an account.
Donald A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. He is the author or editor of more than 50 books.
source :www.billygraham.org
By D.A. Carson
Sometimes I, too, was waiting for dinner. But my waiting was different. I was in my study, finishing work on the perennial dissertations that would come across my desk. I would think, Ten more minutes. Am I going to finish this in time?
The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 describes different ways that people wait for Jesus’ return. It says that believers are to wait for the Lord Jesus as slaves commissioned to improve their Master’s assets, to advance His Kingdom. In our waiting we are not to be passive. We are to grow, to carefully manage and to develop the resources God entrusts to us.
In the ancient world, slaves had diverse functions: manual laborers, household slaves, accountants. Some even ran the master’s industry or farm. The master assessed a slave’s ability and distributed tasks accordingly.
So we read in verse 14 that the Kingdom “will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents” (Matthew 25:14-15).
The word talent in the original text does not refer to skills and abilities. It is simply a unit of weight often used for money. A talent of silver was the equivalent of about 20 years of a day laborer’s wages—something like $800,000 today. A talent of gold was worth much more.
The man who received five “bags of gold,” as some translations say, immediately put his money to work and gained five more. A second man, who was given two bags of gold, also gained two more. But a third man, who received one bag, dug a hole in the ground and hid the money. Remember, these trusts were given according to the master’s assessment of each slave’s ability.
After a long time, the master returned and settled accounts. The man who had received five bags of gold said, “Master, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more” (Matthew 25:20).
The man with two bags did the same. And the master answered each with the same words: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21, 23).
The reward in both instances was increased responsibility. In the first place, they were given quite a lot of responsibility—bags and bags of gold. But that is nothing compared to what they would be given. In the consummated kingdom, they would be given very large responsibility. Not only that, but they now share in their master’s happiness.
The man who had received one bag of gold says, “Master, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you” (Matthew 25:24-25).
This servant charged the master with exploitation: Others did the sowing, but he reaped. The master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest” (Matthew 25:26-27).
In the Western world, we’re not too keen on slavery. But Jesus was not sanctioning slavery any more than He was sanctioning theft when He talked about returning like a thief in the night. He was using a social structure that made His point. But there is another element.
In the New Testament, human beings are either slaves to sin or they’re freed from that slavery to become slaves to Christ. Slavery to Christ is a joyful slavery. It is a slavery that we delight in, because this Master is so good, fair and right. But make no mistake, it is a Master-slave relationship.
The third slave’s sin is that he thinks he has the right to make his own judgments. But if he is the slave of the master, not undertaking the task and instead putting the money in the ground is flagrant disobedience.
The other two slaves are delighted to serve this master. They act with faithfulness and immediately make their investments. This third fellow wants to go his own, independent route.
So the master judges him, not even on the deeper principle that the slave is supposed to obey the master, but on the fact that this chap is not only slothful, he’s wicked. He pretends that the problem is the master’s harsh attitude.
The master commands that the bag of gold be taken from him and given to the man with 10 bags. Those who have, because they’ve invested and made things grow, will be given more. Those who have not worked at all, even what they have will be taken from them. The worthless servant is thrown outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Our task while we wait for the Lord Jesus is not to improve our own assets. Oh, I know we have social and family responsibilities that are laid upon us in the Word of God. But if we focus all of our energy and attention on increasing our own assets, what will we have to show the Master when we die? We can’t take any of our own assets with us.
While we wait, we are to be laying up treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust do not corrode, where thieves do not dig through and steal (Matthew 6:19).
In the parable of the virgins, which precedes the parable of the talents, the foolish virgins failed by thinking their part was too easy. This third slave fails because he thinks his part is too hard.
What does faithful service look like? Well, four chapters later, Jesus gives the disciples the Great Commission: to improve the Master’s assets by proclaiming the Gospel.
The parable of the talents is not saying that somehow if you try hard enough, you will get into the Kingdom. Paul says it like this: We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God working in us, both to will and to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13). That’s the glory of Christ: He gives us work to do and tells us how to improve His assets. When we’ve done it—through His strength and because we are His—then He says, “Well done!” We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, but grace and faith are ever at work transforming our character, so that we want to improve the Master’s assets.
If someone is waiting so passively for Jesus that he or she sees no obligation to improve the Master’s assets, whether through suffering, evangelism, loving brothers and sisters in Jesus or growing in conformity to Christ, that person is thrown outside, where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
It’s not as if there are three kinds of people here—those who are willing, cheerful, fruitful slaves; those who are in rebellion; and those who are somewhere in between, waiting but not working. If you’re merely waiting, you’re not improving the Master’s assets. This is unthinkable for a real Christian.
So wait, then, for the Lord Jesus as slaves commissioned to improve the Master’s assets. We are talking about the end of the age. Jesus is coming back! If not in our lifetime, we will meet Him when we die, and we will give an account.
Donald A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. He is the author or editor of more than 50 books.
source :www.billygraham.org
Monday, May 11, 2009
Free to live - Through death to self
Where is the Blessedness?
"Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?"
Do these words express the cry in your own heart? In private as you read this, what is your reaction to this verse? Here between you and this article, where no one else can hear or see, will you be honest about the state of your own spiritual experience? God yearns for you to be honest at this moment--to forget all the outward witness or the pretence you keep up. He is asking you to be yourself and really look into your own heart.
Jesus said this is where all our defeats and personal failures come from. In Mark 7:21, He said, “For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries....” Many of us, who have been Christians for months or years, discover that the first flush of our devotion and gratitude to Christ, the first enthusiasm for prayer and Bible study, the first determination to go out and witness and give our whole future to Christ begins to dim. We find our zeal diminishing, our devotional habits becoming sporadic, our determination to give all of our life to God’s service diluted by the idea of giving part to ourselves.
So our Christian life begins to have valleys in it---long periods when God’s presence is not felt, when we even doubt if He has made us His children. Often we fight an unequal battle with our feelings, and more and more they break out in open sin. For a while we find it possible to suppress envy and self-centredness. But now we almost give up the “suppression business” and compromise with these evil impulses. Gradually we lower the standard of the converted life in order to convince ourselves that we are still in grace. But with this outward failure, inward tension and surrendered conviction comes almost a complete breakdown of any attempt at real witnessing. Indeed, we get used to a high profession and a low life, a high degree of tolerance and a low degree of excellence, increasing dislike for hypocrisy but greater scepticism for saintliness.
We begin to doubt the Bible promises and to suspect the personal experiences described there as poetic exaggerations. We comfort ourselves by saying this is the fight of faith in the twentieth century, or we run to a demythologised humanist theology which makes us feel there are others like us.
Is this your experience? It need not be! Why? Because you can go further with God. He has a further experience--a further step after conversion--another miracle which He works in your spirit. It may be that you either did not know of this step or that you did not fully take it. To be half healed of sin is like cutting off the decayed branches instead of exterminating the pest in the tree. As time passes the disease will only spread more irresistibly.
The Problem--Inward Sin
So the Bible throughout distinguishes between the disease and its symptoms, inward sin and outward sins, the heart and the life. As we see symptoms first and treat them, so in conversion we are conscious first of our sinful acts and words and thoughts. We confess them and repent and believe God’s word of forgiveness. He gives us His Spirit who regenerates us into spiritual life and gives us victory in the outward life.
But it is the heart where the real disease dwells. It is there where we are at ‘dis-ease’ with God. It is there that self still reigns. Deep down in the subconscious we still want to maintain a secret independence of God. Inside in our own ‘holy of holies’ we want to be god, and from that safe, secluded spot we control our surrenders to God’s will. Each surrender requires individual treatment and negotiation. Self has to be satisfied where self interest conflicts with God’s interest. And gradually, the reclamation begins, and self advances from its hideout in our motives, reactions, desires and tempers. Relentlessly it moves back into the sphere of acts and words and thoughts where once only God’s will was done. Holding back a disease brings pain to the face and tension to the body, and these are the marks of the defeated Christian who has not gone all the way with God.
The Bible Remedy
This was Peter’s problem when he was forced into open denial of Jesus by his fear of men. But when the Holy Spirit was allowed fully to take over his life on the day of Pentecost, Peter says in Acts 15:9, our ‘hearts were cleansed by faith.’ This was Paul’s problem when he wrote in Galatians 5:17, ‘The desires of the flesh(man’s desire for inner independence) are against the Spirit,’ and it was the solution to the problem when he realised in Romans 6:6 that ‘our old self was crucified with Christ.’
God’s salvation is a complete one; Christ’s remedy for sin is twofold. He saves us from sin’s guilt and also from its power. He saves us from outward sins and also from inward sin. He saves us not only from the symptoms but from the disease. He cleanses both the life and the heart.
God can give you a replacement for that old self. Jesus promised His arrival in His fullness. He said in John 14:16, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor, to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth.” Until now you have had the Holy Spirit! Will you now allow the Holy Sprit to have you? Unless you allow Him into the ‘holy of holies’ where the disease is nourished, you cannot enter into the second rest, entire sanctification, and the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Will you do it?
How To Be Freed From Self
FIRST, realise the Holy Spirit is a Person, Jesus’ agent in your life. Ask Him to search your heart--your self life--the central headquarters where the ‘real you’ lives, and to show you how rampant the disease is. This may take several weeks, for you have spent years ignoring and burying these attitudes and motives. Open your will to His work by looking at the signs of inward sin. Do you find resentment or irritation or anger rising up within, even though you may remain serene and smiling outwardly? Do you look for praise? Do you push yourself forward in conversation? Do you get comfort from self-pity? Do you like ‘feeling hurt’? Do you ever have bottled -up hostility or impatience which makes you sulk or refuse to speak to someone for hours? All of these spring from our desire to defend self or assert self, because we think we have the right to self.
SECOND, see the sinfulness of this pride, this controlled rebellion against God. Ask the Sprit to show you your real nature as God sees it. That ‘old self’ is the expression of the carnal nature--that inward bent to be personally independent of God. It is this inner attitude of selfishness which brings about outward or actual sins in our lives over which we were given control at conversion. But it is this love of self that shows our nature is still carnal even though we are Christians. While this disease is allowed to remain at the centre of our lives, we are God’s enemies. The carnal nature is rebellion against God. In Romans 8:7, the Bible says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.” This is why it is so dangerous. It loves religion, but hates God; it is invisible to us until we become Christians, yet for years it has been contaminating our lives from within. It cannot be beaten by suppression or law. It must be destroyed!
THIRD, realise that this is just what God has done with your ‘old self.’ Remember Romans 6:6, “Our old self was crucified with Christ!” Just as your sins were borne by Jesus but could only be forgiven when you believed, so your old self--your carnal attitude--was destroyed in Jesus on Calvary, but you can only know freedom from its influence in your life when you believe this. Just as God did a work in your life by regenerating your spirit at conversion when you believed, so in sanctification God will do a second work in your spirit by destroying the bent to sin--by rendering the power of self ineffective--when you believe. God has already in Jesus destroyed that root of bitterness from your life. It certainly was dead in Him, and all that He was for us we can be through Him. God has already done the work in Christ. Are you willing to stay in Christ and appropriate those benefits He has gained for you? Your carnal nature was nailed to the Cross with Christ. The question is, “Are you willing to let it go?” God is able by His Spirit to remove that root of bitterness from your life NOW!
FOURTH, have faith. It is through faith that God does this work in you now. Faith is two-fold--a vote of no confidence in self and a vote of confidence in God.
Are you ready to die to self? Really? Are you ready to be whatever God wants--not what you want, or what you prefer, or what you had planned? Are you ready to hand the future and the present over to His Spirit? Are you ready to be nothing for Him, if He asks? This is what it means to be ‘baptised into Christ’s death’--to have your name removed and in its place Jesus Christ’s, so that ‘I live, yet NOT I, but Christ lives within me.’ Are you ready to die? This is what giving up the right to self means--throwing yourself wide open, casting down the defences, dropping the guard, forever throwing away that private piece of personality you had planned to take into heaven, and making it public property for Christ to do what He wants with it. Are you ready to say, “I can do nothing good of myself--there is nothing good in me”? This is the first part of sanctifying faith--full consecration. Only when you have laid everything on the altar, only when the sacrifice is complete, will the Holy Spirit witness with your spirit that you have reached the ground of your heart--that you are at last utterly honest with God. You cannot believe for sanctification on top of an incomplete consecration. Faith is not the problem. It springs up in response to full consecration. Until the Spirit witnesses to the completeness of the consecration, allow Him to probe for the career, or the personal influence, or the pride which will not yield. Are you ready to ‘reckon yourself dead indeed unto sin,’ to have it truly said of you--”For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God”? Has the Spirit witnessed that you are ready to surrender all?
When you are ready for this, then you are ready to receive the gift of confidence in God. He has promised you the Holy Spirit, the Counsellor. He has already counselled you, or you would not be this far. But God has also promised that “He would cleanse your heart by faith.” The Holy Spirit is ready at this moment to take complete control of you and your life. Yield to Him now. Rest in His arms. Rely upon Him. Hand that ‘old self’ to Him for destruction. He is destroying its inner urge even NOW. Take Him by faith, trust Him and obey Him. He will faithfully do His work. He will guide you now. He will take care of the tomorrows. Your only concern now is to pay attention to the Spirit. Mind the Lord. Make no allowance for your own self-directions now. Follow the Holy Spirit’s commands at once and in every detail. Your life is now His to use as He pleases for the glory of our Saviour. Let Him bear His fruit in you (Gal. 5:22,23) and manifest His gifts through you (I Cor. 12:8-10).
Free to live--at last! Free from that slavery to self--no longer self defending its rights, but self hid with Christ in God. (Whenever you lose your life for His sake, you will save it.) In fact, when you at last lose yourself in God, you find you are at last free to be yourself!
by Ernest O’Neill
"Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?"
Do these words express the cry in your own heart? In private as you read this, what is your reaction to this verse? Here between you and this article, where no one else can hear or see, will you be honest about the state of your own spiritual experience? God yearns for you to be honest at this moment--to forget all the outward witness or the pretence you keep up. He is asking you to be yourself and really look into your own heart.
Jesus said this is where all our defeats and personal failures come from. In Mark 7:21, He said, “For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries....” Many of us, who have been Christians for months or years, discover that the first flush of our devotion and gratitude to Christ, the first enthusiasm for prayer and Bible study, the first determination to go out and witness and give our whole future to Christ begins to dim. We find our zeal diminishing, our devotional habits becoming sporadic, our determination to give all of our life to God’s service diluted by the idea of giving part to ourselves.
So our Christian life begins to have valleys in it---long periods when God’s presence is not felt, when we even doubt if He has made us His children. Often we fight an unequal battle with our feelings, and more and more they break out in open sin. For a while we find it possible to suppress envy and self-centredness. But now we almost give up the “suppression business” and compromise with these evil impulses. Gradually we lower the standard of the converted life in order to convince ourselves that we are still in grace. But with this outward failure, inward tension and surrendered conviction comes almost a complete breakdown of any attempt at real witnessing. Indeed, we get used to a high profession and a low life, a high degree of tolerance and a low degree of excellence, increasing dislike for hypocrisy but greater scepticism for saintliness.
We begin to doubt the Bible promises and to suspect the personal experiences described there as poetic exaggerations. We comfort ourselves by saying this is the fight of faith in the twentieth century, or we run to a demythologised humanist theology which makes us feel there are others like us.
Is this your experience? It need not be! Why? Because you can go further with God. He has a further experience--a further step after conversion--another miracle which He works in your spirit. It may be that you either did not know of this step or that you did not fully take it. To be half healed of sin is like cutting off the decayed branches instead of exterminating the pest in the tree. As time passes the disease will only spread more irresistibly.
The Problem--Inward Sin
So the Bible throughout distinguishes between the disease and its symptoms, inward sin and outward sins, the heart and the life. As we see symptoms first and treat them, so in conversion we are conscious first of our sinful acts and words and thoughts. We confess them and repent and believe God’s word of forgiveness. He gives us His Spirit who regenerates us into spiritual life and gives us victory in the outward life.
But it is the heart where the real disease dwells. It is there where we are at ‘dis-ease’ with God. It is there that self still reigns. Deep down in the subconscious we still want to maintain a secret independence of God. Inside in our own ‘holy of holies’ we want to be god, and from that safe, secluded spot we control our surrenders to God’s will. Each surrender requires individual treatment and negotiation. Self has to be satisfied where self interest conflicts with God’s interest. And gradually, the reclamation begins, and self advances from its hideout in our motives, reactions, desires and tempers. Relentlessly it moves back into the sphere of acts and words and thoughts where once only God’s will was done. Holding back a disease brings pain to the face and tension to the body, and these are the marks of the defeated Christian who has not gone all the way with God.
The Bible Remedy
This was Peter’s problem when he was forced into open denial of Jesus by his fear of men. But when the Holy Spirit was allowed fully to take over his life on the day of Pentecost, Peter says in Acts 15:9, our ‘hearts were cleansed by faith.’ This was Paul’s problem when he wrote in Galatians 5:17, ‘The desires of the flesh(man’s desire for inner independence) are against the Spirit,’ and it was the solution to the problem when he realised in Romans 6:6 that ‘our old self was crucified with Christ.’
God’s salvation is a complete one; Christ’s remedy for sin is twofold. He saves us from sin’s guilt and also from its power. He saves us from outward sins and also from inward sin. He saves us not only from the symptoms but from the disease. He cleanses both the life and the heart.
God can give you a replacement for that old self. Jesus promised His arrival in His fullness. He said in John 14:16, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor, to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth.” Until now you have had the Holy Spirit! Will you now allow the Holy Sprit to have you? Unless you allow Him into the ‘holy of holies’ where the disease is nourished, you cannot enter into the second rest, entire sanctification, and the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Will you do it?
How To Be Freed From Self
FIRST, realise the Holy Spirit is a Person, Jesus’ agent in your life. Ask Him to search your heart--your self life--the central headquarters where the ‘real you’ lives, and to show you how rampant the disease is. This may take several weeks, for you have spent years ignoring and burying these attitudes and motives. Open your will to His work by looking at the signs of inward sin. Do you find resentment or irritation or anger rising up within, even though you may remain serene and smiling outwardly? Do you look for praise? Do you push yourself forward in conversation? Do you get comfort from self-pity? Do you like ‘feeling hurt’? Do you ever have bottled -up hostility or impatience which makes you sulk or refuse to speak to someone for hours? All of these spring from our desire to defend self or assert self, because we think we have the right to self.
SECOND, see the sinfulness of this pride, this controlled rebellion against God. Ask the Sprit to show you your real nature as God sees it. That ‘old self’ is the expression of the carnal nature--that inward bent to be personally independent of God. It is this inner attitude of selfishness which brings about outward or actual sins in our lives over which we were given control at conversion. But it is this love of self that shows our nature is still carnal even though we are Christians. While this disease is allowed to remain at the centre of our lives, we are God’s enemies. The carnal nature is rebellion against God. In Romans 8:7, the Bible says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.” This is why it is so dangerous. It loves religion, but hates God; it is invisible to us until we become Christians, yet for years it has been contaminating our lives from within. It cannot be beaten by suppression or law. It must be destroyed!
THIRD, realise that this is just what God has done with your ‘old self.’ Remember Romans 6:6, “Our old self was crucified with Christ!” Just as your sins were borne by Jesus but could only be forgiven when you believed, so your old self--your carnal attitude--was destroyed in Jesus on Calvary, but you can only know freedom from its influence in your life when you believe this. Just as God did a work in your life by regenerating your spirit at conversion when you believed, so in sanctification God will do a second work in your spirit by destroying the bent to sin--by rendering the power of self ineffective--when you believe. God has already in Jesus destroyed that root of bitterness from your life. It certainly was dead in Him, and all that He was for us we can be through Him. God has already done the work in Christ. Are you willing to stay in Christ and appropriate those benefits He has gained for you? Your carnal nature was nailed to the Cross with Christ. The question is, “Are you willing to let it go?” God is able by His Spirit to remove that root of bitterness from your life NOW!
FOURTH, have faith. It is through faith that God does this work in you now. Faith is two-fold--a vote of no confidence in self and a vote of confidence in God.
Are you ready to die to self? Really? Are you ready to be whatever God wants--not what you want, or what you prefer, or what you had planned? Are you ready to hand the future and the present over to His Spirit? Are you ready to be nothing for Him, if He asks? This is what it means to be ‘baptised into Christ’s death’--to have your name removed and in its place Jesus Christ’s, so that ‘I live, yet NOT I, but Christ lives within me.’ Are you ready to die? This is what giving up the right to self means--throwing yourself wide open, casting down the defences, dropping the guard, forever throwing away that private piece of personality you had planned to take into heaven, and making it public property for Christ to do what He wants with it. Are you ready to say, “I can do nothing good of myself--there is nothing good in me”? This is the first part of sanctifying faith--full consecration. Only when you have laid everything on the altar, only when the sacrifice is complete, will the Holy Spirit witness with your spirit that you have reached the ground of your heart--that you are at last utterly honest with God. You cannot believe for sanctification on top of an incomplete consecration. Faith is not the problem. It springs up in response to full consecration. Until the Spirit witnesses to the completeness of the consecration, allow Him to probe for the career, or the personal influence, or the pride which will not yield. Are you ready to ‘reckon yourself dead indeed unto sin,’ to have it truly said of you--”For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God”? Has the Spirit witnessed that you are ready to surrender all?
When you are ready for this, then you are ready to receive the gift of confidence in God. He has promised you the Holy Spirit, the Counsellor. He has already counselled you, or you would not be this far. But God has also promised that “He would cleanse your heart by faith.” The Holy Spirit is ready at this moment to take complete control of you and your life. Yield to Him now. Rest in His arms. Rely upon Him. Hand that ‘old self’ to Him for destruction. He is destroying its inner urge even NOW. Take Him by faith, trust Him and obey Him. He will faithfully do His work. He will guide you now. He will take care of the tomorrows. Your only concern now is to pay attention to the Spirit. Mind the Lord. Make no allowance for your own self-directions now. Follow the Holy Spirit’s commands at once and in every detail. Your life is now His to use as He pleases for the glory of our Saviour. Let Him bear His fruit in you (Gal. 5:22,23) and manifest His gifts through you (I Cor. 12:8-10).
Free to live--at last! Free from that slavery to self--no longer self defending its rights, but self hid with Christ in God. (Whenever you lose your life for His sake, you will save it.) In fact, when you at last lose yourself in God, you find you are at last free to be yourself!
by Ernest O’Neill
Personal humility
I was reading through the devotions of Thomas a Kempis. It is very practical and I felt everyone of us need to read through it. I will publish one by one as I read and apply it in my life. Hope everyone reading this would apply it in our lives with the help of the Holy spirit.
Personal humility
Everyone naturally desires knowledge, (Aristotle, Metaphysics I,1.) but of what use is knowledge itself without the fear of God? A humble countryman who serves God is more pleasing to Him than a conceited intellectual who knows the course of the stars, but neglects his own soul (Ecclus.19:22). A man who truly knows himself realizes his own worthlessness, and takes no pleasure in the praises of men. Did I possess all knowledge in the world, but had no loves how would this help me before God, who will judge me by my deeds?
Restrain an inordinate desire for knowledge, in which is found much anxiety and deception. Learned men always wish to appear so, and desire recognition of their wisdom. But there are many matters, knowledge of which brings little or no advantage to the soul. Indeed, a man is unwise if he occupies himself with any things save those that further his salvation. A spate of words does nothing to satisfy the soul, but a good life refreshes the mind, and a clean conscience (I Tim 3:9), brings great confidence in God.
The more complete and excellent your knowledge, the more severe will be God's judgement on you, unless your life be the more holy. Therefore, do not be conceited of any skill or knowledge you may possess, but respect the knowledge that is entrusted to you. If it seems to you that you know a great deal and have wide experience in many fields, yet remember that there are many matters of which you are ignorant. So do not be conceited,(Rom 11:20) but confess your ignorance. Why do you wish to esteem yourself above others, when there are many who are wiser and more perfect in the Law of God? If you desire to know or learn anything to your advantage, then take delight in being unknown and unregarded.
A true understanding and humble estimate of oneself is the highest and most valuable of all lessons. To take no account of oneself, but always to think well and highly of others is the highest wisdom and perfection. Should you see another person openly doing evil, or carrying out a wicked purpose, do not on that account consider yourself better than him, for you cannot tell how long you will remain in a state of grace We are all frail; consider none more frail than yourself.
Thomas a Kempis in "The imitation of Christ"
Personal humility
Everyone naturally desires knowledge, (Aristotle, Metaphysics I,1.) but of what use is knowledge itself without the fear of God? A humble countryman who serves God is more pleasing to Him than a conceited intellectual who knows the course of the stars, but neglects his own soul (Ecclus.19:22). A man who truly knows himself realizes his own worthlessness, and takes no pleasure in the praises of men. Did I possess all knowledge in the world, but had no loves how would this help me before God, who will judge me by my deeds?
Restrain an inordinate desire for knowledge, in which is found much anxiety and deception. Learned men always wish to appear so, and desire recognition of their wisdom. But there are many matters, knowledge of which brings little or no advantage to the soul. Indeed, a man is unwise if he occupies himself with any things save those that further his salvation. A spate of words does nothing to satisfy the soul, but a good life refreshes the mind, and a clean conscience (I Tim 3:9), brings great confidence in God.
The more complete and excellent your knowledge, the more severe will be God's judgement on you, unless your life be the more holy. Therefore, do not be conceited of any skill or knowledge you may possess, but respect the knowledge that is entrusted to you. If it seems to you that you know a great deal and have wide experience in many fields, yet remember that there are many matters of which you are ignorant. So do not be conceited,(Rom 11:20) but confess your ignorance. Why do you wish to esteem yourself above others, when there are many who are wiser and more perfect in the Law of God? If you desire to know or learn anything to your advantage, then take delight in being unknown and unregarded.
A true understanding and humble estimate of oneself is the highest and most valuable of all lessons. To take no account of oneself, but always to think well and highly of others is the highest wisdom and perfection. Should you see another person openly doing evil, or carrying out a wicked purpose, do not on that account consider yourself better than him, for you cannot tell how long you will remain in a state of grace We are all frail; consider none more frail than yourself.
Thomas a Kempis in "The imitation of Christ"
Double - edged sword
Hebrews 4 :12,13
"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account"
We all know that we are made up of spirit, soul and body. The spirit is the inmost being that alone is capable of communicating with God. The soul is what makes our personality, our attitudes, emotions, thoughts intelligence etc..and the body is the one that is in contact with the outside world.
Let us pay close attention to the order of spirit, soul and body. We see that spirit comes first then the soul and body. If this is the way that operates in our life, then we are fine. But most of the time it is not this way. After we are born again, the Holy spirit dwells in us and we need to allow the Holy spirit to control us.
We should put our "self" which is the soul and the "flesh" which is the body to death. We should not be driven by anything other than the Holy spirit of God. But sadly in our lives, we are driven either by the flesh or the self even after we are born again. That is the reason why the spiritual lives of many of us are in a pathetic condition.
Whenever we hear a good sermon, or read an inspirational book, we feel a high and after some time we lose the passion. This is because we are driven by emotions, which again belongs to self or the soul. All our worships with the best of the musics would be of no use if we do not worship God in truth and spirit.
Let us not fool ourselves by living in flesh and self and experiencing an emotional high inspired by either our thoughts or the situations. Let us ask the Holy spirit of God to cut through us and examine us thoroughly. Let this spiritual surgery be performed on us by the Holy spirit of God. Let us yeild to Him.
We need to analyse our lives by comparing with the word of God. As we read in the above verse, God's word will pierce through us and divide our soul and spirit. It will analyze our deep thoughts, motives attitudes and all the filth inside us. We can never hide anything from God. Remember we can never out smart God.
Let us not be lukewarm Christians feeding our body and soul with all the filth and dirt of the world and then acting as though we are religious and Godly. God will womit us if we live a life like this.
Let us run to the throne of grace and ask for forgiveness.Let us allow the Holy spirit to teach us how to live. Let us be driven by the spirit and let us live a victorious Christian life which is pleasing to God.Let us never forget all through our life the fact that "Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account".
"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account"
We all know that we are made up of spirit, soul and body. The spirit is the inmost being that alone is capable of communicating with God. The soul is what makes our personality, our attitudes, emotions, thoughts intelligence etc..and the body is the one that is in contact with the outside world.
Let us pay close attention to the order of spirit, soul and body. We see that spirit comes first then the soul and body. If this is the way that operates in our life, then we are fine. But most of the time it is not this way. After we are born again, the Holy spirit dwells in us and we need to allow the Holy spirit to control us.
We should put our "self" which is the soul and the "flesh" which is the body to death. We should not be driven by anything other than the Holy spirit of God. But sadly in our lives, we are driven either by the flesh or the self even after we are born again. That is the reason why the spiritual lives of many of us are in a pathetic condition.
Whenever we hear a good sermon, or read an inspirational book, we feel a high and after some time we lose the passion. This is because we are driven by emotions, which again belongs to self or the soul. All our worships with the best of the musics would be of no use if we do not worship God in truth and spirit.
Let us not fool ourselves by living in flesh and self and experiencing an emotional high inspired by either our thoughts or the situations. Let us ask the Holy spirit of God to cut through us and examine us thoroughly. Let this spiritual surgery be performed on us by the Holy spirit of God. Let us yeild to Him.
We need to analyse our lives by comparing with the word of God. As we read in the above verse, God's word will pierce through us and divide our soul and spirit. It will analyze our deep thoughts, motives attitudes and all the filth inside us. We can never hide anything from God. Remember we can never out smart God.
Let us not be lukewarm Christians feeding our body and soul with all the filth and dirt of the world and then acting as though we are religious and Godly. God will womit us if we live a life like this.
Let us run to the throne of grace and ask for forgiveness.Let us allow the Holy spirit to teach us how to live. Let us be driven by the spirit and let us live a victorious Christian life which is pleasing to God.Let us never forget all through our life the fact that "Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account".
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Does the Holy spirit live in you?
"The Holy Spirit can come and indwell you right now. You can start over again. You can become brand-new, with the Holy Spirit pulsating spiritual life through you and in you. The Bible says, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27). It is impossible to understand the Bible, Christian living, the structure of the church or our own relationship with God without understanding the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. "
The Holy Spirit is not an “it.” The Holy Spirit is a Person. The Bible says that He is not something, He is Someone. He is God. There are three Persons in the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is all-powerful. We read in Micah 3:8, “I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.” The Bible says that God is present everywhere. No matter where we go, He is there. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). The Holy Spirit can be in both your heart and my heart, even though we may live a thousand miles apart.
The Holy Spirit has all knowledge. The Bible says, “The Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us and takes us deeper and deeper into God’s truth as we go along in our Christian life. We are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, but we can grow only by the help of the Holy Spirit.
The moment that we receive Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts. Our body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit helps us live the Christian life. There is not a person anywhere who can be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. There is not a person who can follow Christ without the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sees everything that goes on. He knows what goes on in our hearts. He knows what goes on in our minds. Nothing is hidden from Him. And in Hebrews 9:14 the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is eternal.
The Spirit is called holy. The Bible says, “Be holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). And one of the Holy Spirit’s ministries is to help make us holy. We ought to be more holy today than we were yesterday. We should always be conforming more to the image of Jesus Christ, and it is the Holy Spirit who helps us in this growing process.
Conviction of Sin
First, the work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of our sin. Jesus said, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). The Holy Spirit uses a mother’s prayers, a tragic experience, a pastor’s sermon or some other experience to convict us of sin and of our need to turn our lives over to Jesus Christ. He points to us and says, “You are a sinner. You need to repent.” We don’t like to hear that, but that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Without that work we could never have our sins forgiven. We could never be saved. We could never go to Heaven.
New Life
Second, the Holy Spirit gives new life. The Bible says that we are dead in sins and trespasses. Our spirit within us, made in the image of God, is dead toward God. Mankind needs life. All have sinned. Therefore, all are dead toward God. The Holy Spirit gives us new life in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). You must be born again. And the Holy Spirit is the One who does the work of making you a born-again person. It is a supernatural act.
Paul said to Titus, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). Our good works and all the good things that we have done are not going to save us. We are saved by the mercy of God, by the grace of God. It is something I didn’t earn, something I didn’t work for. It is the gift of God, the gift of salvation.
Indwelling Spirit
Third, the Holy Spirit indwells us. Many of you are spiritually dead and are completely immersed in our hedonistic culture. God says, “I will put my Spirit in you. I will come to live in you.” Your body becomes the temple where God dwells by His Holy Spirit.
That is the reason we should never take anything unclean into our bodies. That is the reason we should discipline our bodies. God loves your body. He doesn’t want it polluted by fleshly lusts and the things to which you give yourself. The Bible says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
Power to Serve Christ
Fourth, the Holy Spirit gives you power to serve Christ. “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). I couldn’t do the work I am doing without the power of the Holy Spirit. I am a communicator of God’s message. He called me and gave me that gift. What counts is the message that—according to Scripture—Christ died for our sins, He rose again, He is coming back again and He is ready to come into your heart by the Holy Spirit and make you a new person. That is the Gospel.
The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). There are people whom you may not be able to love easily. But the Holy Spirit will give you the power to love them. Love is the greatest evidence that you know Christ. The Holy Spirit can love through you.
There are times I feel that I don’t have joy, and I get on my knees and say, “Lord, where is the fruit of joy in my life?” I find that the joy is there, down deep. It is a deep river. Whatever the circumstances, there is a river of joy.
The peace that passes understanding comes from the Holy Spirit. Whatever the circumstances, I have peace in my heart. I know where I am going, I know where I have been. And I know why I am here—by the Holy Spirit.
Do you know Christ? The Holy Spirit comes to magnify, to glorify and to exalt the Son. Jesus said the Holy Spirit shall not speak of Himself. He comes to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to glorify Jesus Christ (John 16:13-14). And the Holy Spirit is pleased when you glorify Christ in your life.
It is the Holy Spirit who draws you to Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts you of your need of Christ. There is only one way of salvation, and that is Christ. It is a dangerous thing to resist the Spirit. “Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:28–29).
I am asking you to give in to the call of the Holy Spirit. I am asking you to say, “I want Christ in my life, to be my Lord and my Savior.” I know thousands of churchgoers who need to come to Christ, led by the Holy Spirit. You need to say, “I want Christ in my heart.” Say, “I want to know I am going to Heaven. I want my sins forgiven. I want to start a new life.”
By Billy Graham
source :www.billygraham.org
The Holy Spirit is not an “it.” The Holy Spirit is a Person. The Bible says that He is not something, He is Someone. He is God. There are three Persons in the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is all-powerful. We read in Micah 3:8, “I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.” The Bible says that God is present everywhere. No matter where we go, He is there. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). The Holy Spirit can be in both your heart and my heart, even though we may live a thousand miles apart.
The Holy Spirit has all knowledge. The Bible says, “The Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10). It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us and takes us deeper and deeper into God’s truth as we go along in our Christian life. We are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, but we can grow only by the help of the Holy Spirit.
The moment that we receive Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts. Our body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit helps us live the Christian life. There is not a person anywhere who can be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. There is not a person who can follow Christ without the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sees everything that goes on. He knows what goes on in our hearts. He knows what goes on in our minds. Nothing is hidden from Him. And in Hebrews 9:14 the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is eternal.
The Spirit is called holy. The Bible says, “Be holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). And one of the Holy Spirit’s ministries is to help make us holy. We ought to be more holy today than we were yesterday. We should always be conforming more to the image of Jesus Christ, and it is the Holy Spirit who helps us in this growing process.
Conviction of Sin
First, the work of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of our sin. Jesus said, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). The Holy Spirit uses a mother’s prayers, a tragic experience, a pastor’s sermon or some other experience to convict us of sin and of our need to turn our lives over to Jesus Christ. He points to us and says, “You are a sinner. You need to repent.” We don’t like to hear that, but that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Without that work we could never have our sins forgiven. We could never be saved. We could never go to Heaven.
New Life
Second, the Holy Spirit gives new life. The Bible says that we are dead in sins and trespasses. Our spirit within us, made in the image of God, is dead toward God. Mankind needs life. All have sinned. Therefore, all are dead toward God. The Holy Spirit gives us new life in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). You must be born again. And the Holy Spirit is the One who does the work of making you a born-again person. It is a supernatural act.
Paul said to Titus, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). Our good works and all the good things that we have done are not going to save us. We are saved by the mercy of God, by the grace of God. It is something I didn’t earn, something I didn’t work for. It is the gift of God, the gift of salvation.
Indwelling Spirit
Third, the Holy Spirit indwells us. Many of you are spiritually dead and are completely immersed in our hedonistic culture. God says, “I will put my Spirit in you. I will come to live in you.” Your body becomes the temple where God dwells by His Holy Spirit.
That is the reason we should never take anything unclean into our bodies. That is the reason we should discipline our bodies. God loves your body. He doesn’t want it polluted by fleshly lusts and the things to which you give yourself. The Bible says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
Power to Serve Christ
Fourth, the Holy Spirit gives you power to serve Christ. “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). I couldn’t do the work I am doing without the power of the Holy Spirit. I am a communicator of God’s message. He called me and gave me that gift. What counts is the message that—according to Scripture—Christ died for our sins, He rose again, He is coming back again and He is ready to come into your heart by the Holy Spirit and make you a new person. That is the Gospel.
The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). There are people whom you may not be able to love easily. But the Holy Spirit will give you the power to love them. Love is the greatest evidence that you know Christ. The Holy Spirit can love through you.
There are times I feel that I don’t have joy, and I get on my knees and say, “Lord, where is the fruit of joy in my life?” I find that the joy is there, down deep. It is a deep river. Whatever the circumstances, there is a river of joy.
The peace that passes understanding comes from the Holy Spirit. Whatever the circumstances, I have peace in my heart. I know where I am going, I know where I have been. And I know why I am here—by the Holy Spirit.
Do you know Christ? The Holy Spirit comes to magnify, to glorify and to exalt the Son. Jesus said the Holy Spirit shall not speak of Himself. He comes to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to glorify Jesus Christ (John 16:13-14). And the Holy Spirit is pleased when you glorify Christ in your life.
It is the Holy Spirit who draws you to Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts you of your need of Christ. There is only one way of salvation, and that is Christ. It is a dangerous thing to resist the Spirit. “Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:28–29).
I am asking you to give in to the call of the Holy Spirit. I am asking you to say, “I want Christ in my life, to be my Lord and my Savior.” I know thousands of churchgoers who need to come to Christ, led by the Holy Spirit. You need to say, “I want Christ in my heart.” Say, “I want to know I am going to Heaven. I want my sins forgiven. I want to start a new life.”
By Billy Graham
source :www.billygraham.org
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Trapped in debt - Part 3
Read part 1 - http://seeklifepurpose.blogspot.com/2009/05/trapped-in-debt-part-1.html
Read part 2 - http://seeklifepurpose.blogspot.com/2009/05/trapped-in-debt-part-2.html
In the last post we saw that God has to shake something that we think as the most valuable possession in life, so that He could get us back to turn to Him. Abraham was slowly losing focus on God after the birth of Isaac. He started to consider Isaac as the most precious thing for him. It is a natural human tendency to consider something very valuable when it was given after a very long wait. Abraham had to wait for a very long time to get Isaac. But, God wants us to give Him the first preference all the time. He tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Isaac.
Abraham was a righteous man. He obeyed God instantly. He believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. He decided to sacrifice Isaac for God. God is so loving that He was moved by the obedience of Abraham. He stopped him from sacrificing his son, and blessed him. We believe that this incident would have made Abraham to put God in the first place all throughout his life.
Jacob too was a man who wanted to grab many things. But God had to shake him by touching his hip and dislocating him. He limped and walked, and it is during this time of weakness that he realized the need for God. He said "Lord I will not leave you unless bless me". God blessed him and thereafter he depended on God for everything in his life.
God had to take Moses out from the pleasures and honors of Egypt and put him in the wilderness so that he would depend only on God. He had everything in Egypt. Money, fame, education, luxury and everything were there in Egypt. It was the most powerful nation at that time. Maybe, Moses would not have known God intimately had he not been taken out of the luxury of Egypt. It is in the wilderness, when he was weak, he found God. He was turned into one of the greatest leaders the history has ever known after he surrendered himself totally to God.
The tower of Babel had to be destroyed by God and the language of people needed to be scattered so that they understood the power of God.Naaman had to be afflicted with leprosy so that he turned to God. Jonah had to be swallowed by a fish when he went to Darshish instead of going to Nineveh as God had told him. It was inside the belly of the fish that he learnt his lesson to obey and trust God.
In the Bible we find at many places that people turned to God when all the treasures of the world that they had put their trust were shaken by God. Today, during this period of recession when our mind is so disturbed with the fear of losing jobs or securities, God wants us to trust Him. May be He is shaking us as He did with great people of the Bible.He assures us that if we put our trust in Him and obey Him, no matter what the situation is, God would deliver us out of it.
Whatever we need to do is very simple. We need to ask Jesus Christ to come into our hearts and surrender ourselves to Him. He will wipe away all our debts. We would see His miracles in our lives. We need to trust God above anything else.
The chorus of a very popular christian song goes like this
"Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
There is only one security that we can trust in this world. It is God.
Read part 2 - http://seeklifepurpose.blogspot.com/2009/05/trapped-in-debt-part-2.html
In the last post we saw that God has to shake something that we think as the most valuable possession in life, so that He could get us back to turn to Him. Abraham was slowly losing focus on God after the birth of Isaac. He started to consider Isaac as the most precious thing for him. It is a natural human tendency to consider something very valuable when it was given after a very long wait. Abraham had to wait for a very long time to get Isaac. But, God wants us to give Him the first preference all the time. He tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Isaac.
Abraham was a righteous man. He obeyed God instantly. He believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. He decided to sacrifice Isaac for God. God is so loving that He was moved by the obedience of Abraham. He stopped him from sacrificing his son, and blessed him. We believe that this incident would have made Abraham to put God in the first place all throughout his life.
Jacob too was a man who wanted to grab many things. But God had to shake him by touching his hip and dislocating him. He limped and walked, and it is during this time of weakness that he realized the need for God. He said "Lord I will not leave you unless bless me". God blessed him and thereafter he depended on God for everything in his life.
God had to take Moses out from the pleasures and honors of Egypt and put him in the wilderness so that he would depend only on God. He had everything in Egypt. Money, fame, education, luxury and everything were there in Egypt. It was the most powerful nation at that time. Maybe, Moses would not have known God intimately had he not been taken out of the luxury of Egypt. It is in the wilderness, when he was weak, he found God. He was turned into one of the greatest leaders the history has ever known after he surrendered himself totally to God.
The tower of Babel had to be destroyed by God and the language of people needed to be scattered so that they understood the power of God.Naaman had to be afflicted with leprosy so that he turned to God. Jonah had to be swallowed by a fish when he went to Darshish instead of going to Nineveh as God had told him. It was inside the belly of the fish that he learnt his lesson to obey and trust God.
In the Bible we find at many places that people turned to God when all the treasures of the world that they had put their trust were shaken by God. Today, during this period of recession when our mind is so disturbed with the fear of losing jobs or securities, God wants us to trust Him. May be He is shaking us as He did with great people of the Bible.He assures us that if we put our trust in Him and obey Him, no matter what the situation is, God would deliver us out of it.
Whatever we need to do is very simple. We need to ask Jesus Christ to come into our hearts and surrender ourselves to Him. He will wipe away all our debts. We would see His miracles in our lives. We need to trust God above anything else.
The chorus of a very popular christian song goes like this
"Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
There is only one security that we can trust in this world. It is God.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Share your deepest longings with God
We all have several thoughts. We could share some of these with our family members and some more with our close friends. This is very common. Apart from these there are certain things that we could not share with anybody in this world. This could be certain habits, addictions, sins, fantasies and the list goes on...
We have to understand that it is these sort of unsharable things that create anxiety and depression in us. Our burdens seem a bit lighter when we share it with somebody we trust. But this too gives only a temproary relief. There may be some unknown fear deep inside our hearts that we could not explain to anybody. This may really tear us apart every day. We may live most of our lives ruled by these fears if they are not conqured at the earliest.
We long to find somebody to whom we can just pour out our hearts with a hope that we could get a solution. But none in the world could give us a solution. This is the longing that is there in each and every heart that has not found a friend in Jesus Christ.
I want to open your eyes to the fact that only Jesus Christ is able to satisfy our longings. Evey human heart has a vaccum that can only be filled by God and Jesus is God. He is God,friend and He is everything for those who have accepted Him by faith.Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?Do you talk to Him as talking with a friend?Do you have a passion for Him?
If not, it is not too late. He is now offering to be our friend and someone whom we can trust with all our heart. He is ready to listen to our deepest longings. He is ready to forgive the worst and wretched of the sins that we have commited. He says that He will remember our sins no more. He wants us to cast all our anxieties and burden on Him.
He wants to give us the living water, and to make us never feel thirsty and hungry. He was torn for our sins, whipped for our iniquities, trashed for our evil. He who knew no sin, became sin for us. He gave His life for us in the cross of calvary. It is because of Jesus we have hope for tommorow.
Why dont we give ourselves totally to Jesus today and receive His salvation? The Bible says "Jesus is the way truth and life". Jesus said "All you are weak and heavily ladden, Come to me and I will give you rest". All who have given their life to Jesus so far have never been ashamed.
It is only in Jesus we can find the most trusted friend who would love us unconditionally. No human being can love as much as Jesus. Let us also not forget the fact that a day will come when Jesus will come back into this world as a righteous judge. If we are not saved at that time, He would throw us into the hell. At that time we can never expect grace from Him. Even if we cry and confess at that time, it would be too late...
This is the oppurtunity Christ gives us today. Let us turn to him now. Today is the day of salvation.
We have to understand that it is these sort of unsharable things that create anxiety and depression in us. Our burdens seem a bit lighter when we share it with somebody we trust. But this too gives only a temproary relief. There may be some unknown fear deep inside our hearts that we could not explain to anybody. This may really tear us apart every day. We may live most of our lives ruled by these fears if they are not conqured at the earliest.
We long to find somebody to whom we can just pour out our hearts with a hope that we could get a solution. But none in the world could give us a solution. This is the longing that is there in each and every heart that has not found a friend in Jesus Christ.
I want to open your eyes to the fact that only Jesus Christ is able to satisfy our longings. Evey human heart has a vaccum that can only be filled by God and Jesus is God. He is God,friend and He is everything for those who have accepted Him by faith.Do you have a personal relationship with Christ?Do you talk to Him as talking with a friend?Do you have a passion for Him?
If not, it is not too late. He is now offering to be our friend and someone whom we can trust with all our heart. He is ready to listen to our deepest longings. He is ready to forgive the worst and wretched of the sins that we have commited. He says that He will remember our sins no more. He wants us to cast all our anxieties and burden on Him.
He wants to give us the living water, and to make us never feel thirsty and hungry. He was torn for our sins, whipped for our iniquities, trashed for our evil. He who knew no sin, became sin for us. He gave His life for us in the cross of calvary. It is because of Jesus we have hope for tommorow.
Why dont we give ourselves totally to Jesus today and receive His salvation? The Bible says "Jesus is the way truth and life". Jesus said "All you are weak and heavily ladden, Come to me and I will give you rest". All who have given their life to Jesus so far have never been ashamed.
It is only in Jesus we can find the most trusted friend who would love us unconditionally. No human being can love as much as Jesus. Let us also not forget the fact that a day will come when Jesus will come back into this world as a righteous judge. If we are not saved at that time, He would throw us into the hell. At that time we can never expect grace from Him. Even if we cry and confess at that time, it would be too late...
This is the oppurtunity Christ gives us today. Let us turn to him now. Today is the day of salvation.
12 Principles for personal progress
1. Paradigm
A paradigm is the mental perspective or frame of reference we use to interpret reality. A synonym for paradigm is worldview which is both descriptive (how things are) and proscriptive (how things should be). God is the supreme realist and we are realistic only insofar as we see things from His point of view. The Bible is the blueprint of reality—it helps us, in some limited measure, to see as God sees. Our paradigm determines how we answer the four basic questions of human existence:
1. Where did I come from?
2. Who am I?
3. What am I here for? And…
4. Where I am going?
Our mental paradigms affect, not only the way we think, but also the way in which we feel (attitude) and behave (actions). The most important component of our worldview is our understanding of the nature and character of God. Our understanding of God depends on whether we allow God to define himself—in the Bible or whether we try and remake Him in our image—as a figment of our imagination.
2. Proactive
A proactive person is one who is willing and able to take initiative and assume personal responsibility; he would rather act than be acted upon. Proactivity is the key to being a victor rather than a victim. The opposite of being proactive is being reactive. Proactive people don’t play the blame game because they take personal responsibility. This is a key characteristic for leaders. They are willing to take initiative as they move toward a vision of a better tomorrow. It has been said that there are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who don’t know what’s happening. A proactive person makes things happen.
3. Purpose
People who make meaningful progress are those who have discovered God’s purpose for their lives, that is, they live purpose-driven lives. They invest their lives in time for eternity. Purpose-driven people realize that their lives were made by God and for God, therefore, they are committed to knowing, loving and doing His will. Knowing God’s purpose will help to reduce stress, focus energy, clarify decision making, add meaning to life and most importantly, help prepare us for eternity. A purpose-driven person has a blueprint for living—the Holy Scripture, which contains distilled wisdom on the essence of what life is all about. "Only one life twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last." Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
4. Principles
Someone once said, "Methods are many, principles are few, methods often change, principles never do." Successful people are those who base their lives on the wise and loving principles of God’s Word (2 Tim. 3:16, 17).
God said, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (Josh. 1: 8).
Those who live by biblical principles base their life on a character ethic as the foundation of success—such principles as integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty and the golden rule. The character ethic teaches that there are certain principles of effective living and people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn to integrate them into their daily living.
Those who live by biblical principles have adopted a character-based definition of success. Success is when those who know you the best, love, trust and respect you the most. It is only possible to measure up to this definition of success by living a life of the highest moral integrity.
5. Plan
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. If you don’t have a target, you will hit it every time. Successful people not only have a worthy life purpose with an end in view but they also have a plan or an effective strategy to get them where they want to go. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Most people don’t plan to fail but many people fail to plan. A successful person realizes that a few minutes in planning can save hours in execution.
Successful people learn to think strategically. They identify and focus on what is most important. They have learned not only proper values but also proper priorities. The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least. Such people are not controlled by the tyranny of the urgent but by what is important but not urgent. In short, they are committed to doing God’s will God’s way for God’s glory. Nothing significant is achieved without a workable plan. God says that if we lack wisdom, we should ask Him and He will give it to us (Jas. 1:5).
6. Potential
This involves the idea that we can and should grow and develop our God-given abilities. We are all capable of being and doing more. Our greatest limitation is our unwillingness to try and do more. We don’t lack potential; we lack ambition, motivation and commitment. According to the Gospel, we were created for greatness; we are destined to become like Jesus (1 Jn. 3:2). If we make an effort to live up to our potential, there’s no telling what God can do in and through us (Phil. 4: 13). One thing is for sure, without Him we can do nothing of any eternal consequence (Jn. 15:5). Developing our potential involves character and relational development as well as developing our know-ledge, natural talents and spiritual gifts. What are you doing to develop your God-given potential?
7. Passion
We become passionate about those things that are important to us and the things to which we are committed and involved. A God-given vision evokes passion; there is no such thing as a passionless vision. A clear, focused vision of what God wants us to do and be allows us to experience ahead of time the emotions associated with our anticipated future. Vision is always accompanied by strong emotion and the clearer the vision, the stronger the emotion. Passion, in turn, helps provide motivation. The writer of Hebrews said that, "for the joy that went before Him, he endured the cross, despised the shame and is seated at the right hand of God." Christ’s passionate vision and purpose enabled him to endure the wrath of God on our behalf. What are you passionate about? Are you passionate about knowing, loving and serving God?
8. Power
Before Jesus ascended into heaven He promised His disciples power (Acts 1:8). Paul said God has not given us "a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control" (2 Tim. 1:7). God not only gives us the knowledge and the desire to please Him; He also gives us the power to do it. Paul says that God is at work in his people to will and do His good will. This power is experienced when we let God’s Word dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16), and when we submit ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18). God’s Word in conjunction with God’s Spirit is the key to experiencing God’s power in our lives (2 Tim. 1:7). God’s power is given to us for the purpose of accomplishing His purpose. We cannot do God’s will, God’s way in our own strength, but we can with His strength (Phil. 4:13).
9. Persistence
Part of the good news of the Gospel is that God gives us the grace to "keep on keeping on." He who began a good work in us will continue to perform it until Christ returns (Phil. 1:6). Very often we become too easily discouraged. A setback only turns into a failure if we allow ourselves to become discouraged and give up. Here is a wise resolve: "When life kicks you, let it kick you forward." Anyone can start well but an important measure of our character is how well we finish.
Consider this "Code of Persistence":
1. Never give up as long as you are right.
2. Believe that all things will work for your good if you love and obey God.
3. Be courteous and undismayed even when the odds are against you.
4. Don’t permit anyone to deter you from your God-given goals.
5. Fight to overcome handicaps, hurdles, barriers and setbacks.
6. Try again and again until you accomplish your God-given goals.
7. Realize that other successful people had to fight defeat and adversity. Also…
8. Never surrender to discouragement or despair no matter what the obstacles.
10. Prayer
We must never underestimate the potential and power of God-directed prayer. Prayer brings about more things than this world can imagine. Fervent heartfelt prayer can move the hand of God. In prayer we learn to share our whole lives with God and relate everything to Him. Prayer is not so much trying to convince God to do our will but rather seeking His will and then asking that we could be part of the answer to our prayers. Prayer is important but it is never a substitute for obedience.
Just as it is important to have a balanced diet of food, so it is important to have a balanced prayer life. Instead of just selfishly asking God for things, we should praise God for who He is and thank Him for what He does. We should express adoration in song, confess our sins and not forget to thank God for answered prayer. We should pray for others as well as ourselves.
11. Pattern
For better or worse, we are all creatures of habit. We establish either healthy or unhealthy patterns of living and relating. To establish a habit we need to align our knowledge, skill and desire in the same direction. Knowledge tells us what to do. Skill tells us how to do it and desire gives us the motivation to want to do it. In order to establish good habits we initially need to be able to subordinate fluctuating feelings to God’s wise and loving principles. We must be willing to subordinate what we want now for what we want later. This process of developing healthy habits produces long term success and happiness. Happiness can be defined in part as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want in the future. In order to establish good habits, we need to see the long-term consequences of our thoughts, attitudes and actions. The pattern for our lives is found in the person and example of Jesus Christ.
12. Promises
God can do anything, but what can we realistically expect Him to do? We can expect Him to always keep His Word. Specifically, we can expect God to keep His promises. Peter says in 2 Peter 1:4, God "has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
There is a familiar Christian song called, "Standing on the Promises." In the 2nd stanza we read these words: "Standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God…" The promises of God have always been the bedrock of the Christian faith. As we trust and obey God’s promises we become more conformed to Jesus Christ. What could be more important, exciting or successful than becoming more conformed to the character and conduct of Christ? (Rom. 8:28-9)
by Dr. Steven C. Riser
source : www.johnankerberg.org
A paradigm is the mental perspective or frame of reference we use to interpret reality. A synonym for paradigm is worldview which is both descriptive (how things are) and proscriptive (how things should be). God is the supreme realist and we are realistic only insofar as we see things from His point of view. The Bible is the blueprint of reality—it helps us, in some limited measure, to see as God sees. Our paradigm determines how we answer the four basic questions of human existence:
1. Where did I come from?
2. Who am I?
3. What am I here for? And…
4. Where I am going?
Our mental paradigms affect, not only the way we think, but also the way in which we feel (attitude) and behave (actions). The most important component of our worldview is our understanding of the nature and character of God. Our understanding of God depends on whether we allow God to define himself—in the Bible or whether we try and remake Him in our image—as a figment of our imagination.
2. Proactive
A proactive person is one who is willing and able to take initiative and assume personal responsibility; he would rather act than be acted upon. Proactivity is the key to being a victor rather than a victim. The opposite of being proactive is being reactive. Proactive people don’t play the blame game because they take personal responsibility. This is a key characteristic for leaders. They are willing to take initiative as they move toward a vision of a better tomorrow. It has been said that there are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who don’t know what’s happening. A proactive person makes things happen.
3. Purpose
People who make meaningful progress are those who have discovered God’s purpose for their lives, that is, they live purpose-driven lives. They invest their lives in time for eternity. Purpose-driven people realize that their lives were made by God and for God, therefore, they are committed to knowing, loving and doing His will. Knowing God’s purpose will help to reduce stress, focus energy, clarify decision making, add meaning to life and most importantly, help prepare us for eternity. A purpose-driven person has a blueprint for living—the Holy Scripture, which contains distilled wisdom on the essence of what life is all about. "Only one life twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last." Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
4. Principles
Someone once said, "Methods are many, principles are few, methods often change, principles never do." Successful people are those who base their lives on the wise and loving principles of God’s Word (2 Tim. 3:16, 17).
God said, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful" (Josh. 1: 8).
Those who live by biblical principles base their life on a character ethic as the foundation of success—such principles as integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty and the golden rule. The character ethic teaches that there are certain principles of effective living and people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn to integrate them into their daily living.
Those who live by biblical principles have adopted a character-based definition of success. Success is when those who know you the best, love, trust and respect you the most. It is only possible to measure up to this definition of success by living a life of the highest moral integrity.
5. Plan
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. If you don’t have a target, you will hit it every time. Successful people not only have a worthy life purpose with an end in view but they also have a plan or an effective strategy to get them where they want to go. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Most people don’t plan to fail but many people fail to plan. A successful person realizes that a few minutes in planning can save hours in execution.
Successful people learn to think strategically. They identify and focus on what is most important. They have learned not only proper values but also proper priorities. The things that matter most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter least. Such people are not controlled by the tyranny of the urgent but by what is important but not urgent. In short, they are committed to doing God’s will God’s way for God’s glory. Nothing significant is achieved without a workable plan. God says that if we lack wisdom, we should ask Him and He will give it to us (Jas. 1:5).
6. Potential
This involves the idea that we can and should grow and develop our God-given abilities. We are all capable of being and doing more. Our greatest limitation is our unwillingness to try and do more. We don’t lack potential; we lack ambition, motivation and commitment. According to the Gospel, we were created for greatness; we are destined to become like Jesus (1 Jn. 3:2). If we make an effort to live up to our potential, there’s no telling what God can do in and through us (Phil. 4: 13). One thing is for sure, without Him we can do nothing of any eternal consequence (Jn. 15:5). Developing our potential involves character and relational development as well as developing our know-ledge, natural talents and spiritual gifts. What are you doing to develop your God-given potential?
7. Passion
We become passionate about those things that are important to us and the things to which we are committed and involved. A God-given vision evokes passion; there is no such thing as a passionless vision. A clear, focused vision of what God wants us to do and be allows us to experience ahead of time the emotions associated with our anticipated future. Vision is always accompanied by strong emotion and the clearer the vision, the stronger the emotion. Passion, in turn, helps provide motivation. The writer of Hebrews said that, "for the joy that went before Him, he endured the cross, despised the shame and is seated at the right hand of God." Christ’s passionate vision and purpose enabled him to endure the wrath of God on our behalf. What are you passionate about? Are you passionate about knowing, loving and serving God?
8. Power
Before Jesus ascended into heaven He promised His disciples power (Acts 1:8). Paul said God has not given us "a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control" (2 Tim. 1:7). God not only gives us the knowledge and the desire to please Him; He also gives us the power to do it. Paul says that God is at work in his people to will and do His good will. This power is experienced when we let God’s Word dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16), and when we submit ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18). God’s Word in conjunction with God’s Spirit is the key to experiencing God’s power in our lives (2 Tim. 1:7). God’s power is given to us for the purpose of accomplishing His purpose. We cannot do God’s will, God’s way in our own strength, but we can with His strength (Phil. 4:13).
9. Persistence
Part of the good news of the Gospel is that God gives us the grace to "keep on keeping on." He who began a good work in us will continue to perform it until Christ returns (Phil. 1:6). Very often we become too easily discouraged. A setback only turns into a failure if we allow ourselves to become discouraged and give up. Here is a wise resolve: "When life kicks you, let it kick you forward." Anyone can start well but an important measure of our character is how well we finish.
Consider this "Code of Persistence":
1. Never give up as long as you are right.
2. Believe that all things will work for your good if you love and obey God.
3. Be courteous and undismayed even when the odds are against you.
4. Don’t permit anyone to deter you from your God-given goals.
5. Fight to overcome handicaps, hurdles, barriers and setbacks.
6. Try again and again until you accomplish your God-given goals.
7. Realize that other successful people had to fight defeat and adversity. Also…
8. Never surrender to discouragement or despair no matter what the obstacles.
10. Prayer
We must never underestimate the potential and power of God-directed prayer. Prayer brings about more things than this world can imagine. Fervent heartfelt prayer can move the hand of God. In prayer we learn to share our whole lives with God and relate everything to Him. Prayer is not so much trying to convince God to do our will but rather seeking His will and then asking that we could be part of the answer to our prayers. Prayer is important but it is never a substitute for obedience.
Just as it is important to have a balanced diet of food, so it is important to have a balanced prayer life. Instead of just selfishly asking God for things, we should praise God for who He is and thank Him for what He does. We should express adoration in song, confess our sins and not forget to thank God for answered prayer. We should pray for others as well as ourselves.
11. Pattern
For better or worse, we are all creatures of habit. We establish either healthy or unhealthy patterns of living and relating. To establish a habit we need to align our knowledge, skill and desire in the same direction. Knowledge tells us what to do. Skill tells us how to do it and desire gives us the motivation to want to do it. In order to establish good habits we initially need to be able to subordinate fluctuating feelings to God’s wise and loving principles. We must be willing to subordinate what we want now for what we want later. This process of developing healthy habits produces long term success and happiness. Happiness can be defined in part as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want in the future. In order to establish good habits, we need to see the long-term consequences of our thoughts, attitudes and actions. The pattern for our lives is found in the person and example of Jesus Christ.
12. Promises
God can do anything, but what can we realistically expect Him to do? We can expect Him to always keep His Word. Specifically, we can expect God to keep His promises. Peter says in 2 Peter 1:4, God "has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
There is a familiar Christian song called, "Standing on the Promises." In the 2nd stanza we read these words: "Standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God…" The promises of God have always been the bedrock of the Christian faith. As we trust and obey God’s promises we become more conformed to Jesus Christ. What could be more important, exciting or successful than becoming more conformed to the character and conduct of Christ? (Rom. 8:28-9)
by Dr. Steven C. Riser
source : www.johnankerberg.org
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Know God by yourself
“Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves . . . ”
-Psalm 100:3
Whenever anyone asks me how I can be so certain about who and what God really is, I am reminded of the story of the little boy who was out flying a kite. It was a fine day to go kite-flying, the wind was brisk, and large billowy clouds were blowing across the sky. The kite went up and up until it was entirely hidden by the clouds. “What are you doing?” a man asked the little boy. “I’m flying a kite,” he replied. “Flying a kite, are you?” the man said, “How can you be sure? You can’t see your kite.” “No,” said the little boy, “I can’t see it, but every little while I feel a tug, so I know for sure that it’s there!” Don’t take anyone else’s word for God. Find Him for yourself, and then you too will know by the wonderful, warm tug on your heartstring, that He is there, for sure.
source :www.billygraham.org
-Psalm 100:3
Whenever anyone asks me how I can be so certain about who and what God really is, I am reminded of the story of the little boy who was out flying a kite. It was a fine day to go kite-flying, the wind was brisk, and large billowy clouds were blowing across the sky. The kite went up and up until it was entirely hidden by the clouds. “What are you doing?” a man asked the little boy. “I’m flying a kite,” he replied. “Flying a kite, are you?” the man said, “How can you be sure? You can’t see your kite.” “No,” said the little boy, “I can’t see it, but every little while I feel a tug, so I know for sure that it’s there!” Don’t take anyone else’s word for God. Find Him for yourself, and then you too will know by the wonderful, warm tug on your heartstring, that He is there, for sure.
source :www.billygraham.org
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Certainty in an Uncertain World
We are living in a changing and increasingly dangerous world. Everything is in transition. Jesus said, “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26). We are living in a period of social change, scientific change and religious change. Jesus asked, “Will there be any faith at all when I come back?” (Cf. Luke 18:8). In recent years we have seen upheavals in every area of life. And we are seeing it all over the world
Is there anything that we can hold on to? Is there anything that gives us meaning in our lives? In the midst of these changes, certain things never change.
The nature of God does not change. In all these centuries God has not changed. He said, “I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should [change]” (Numbers 23:19).
The Bible says that God is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:2). I can’t comprehend that. I cannot understand that God never had a beginning and will never have an end. I accept it by faith because the Bible declares it. There is “no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17) with God.
God is unchanging in His holiness. God is a holy God, a righteous God: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8).
God is unchanging in His judgment. A day is coming in which all of us will stand before the judgment of Almighty God to give an account of our lives; we will give an account of what we did with His Son, Jesus Christ, and of our response to Him when He said, “I love you, I want to forgive you, I want to change you, I want to be your Friend.” What will we answer? What will we do with Christ? The Bible says, “The Lord will judge the ends of the earth” (1 Samuel 2:10).
God is also unchanging in His love: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God loves us! God is interested in us. He has the hairs of our heads numbered. He knows all about us, and He loves us!
God loves us with a love that we do not understand. When we come to Christ and give our hearts and lives to Him, He will give agape love—His love—to us so that we can love people whom we usually don’t even like. Now we will love them. He will give us a supernatural power to love.
The Word of God has not changed: “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever,” says the Bible (Isaiah 40:8). The Bible was given to us by God. The Bible is our guide, our compass through life.
The first question that the devil put to Eve in that encounter in the Garden of Eden was, “Has God indeed said?” (Genesis 3:1). He was questioning the word of God. The devil will do everything in his power to keep you from reading God’s Word, from studying it, because believing the message in this Book will change your life!
Human nature has not changed. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Human nature is the same the world over. I have preached in all kinds of cultures and in all kinds of conditions, and I have learned that the human heart is the same everywhere. The Gospel meets the need of the human heart when a person turns by faith to Christ.
The Bible says,“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We are sinners. We have broken the moral laws of God. We are all sinners.
And the moral Law has not changed. God gave the moral Law to Moses who recorded it in the Ten Commandments.
•“You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Anything can become a false god.
•“Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). Even when we no longer have to obey our fathers and mothers, we are to honor them.
•“You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Adultery is thrown at us from every angle. I don’t know how people today can stay clean and pure in their moral lives without Christ. With Christ we can.
•“You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). Robberies, muggings—all kinds of things like these are going on; we read about them every day in the newspapers.
•“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). That’s lying.
These are from the Ten Commandments, and Scripture says that if we have broken one of those Commandments, we are guilty of breaking all of them (James 2:10). So we are guilty in the sight of God. That makes us sinners, and sin comes between us and God. We are separated from God by our sin. We all need Christ!
The way of salvation has not changed. You ask, “How can I be saved? How can I have a changed life?” The Scripture says, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
Jesus said that we need to enter the narrow gate, to walk down the narrow road (Matthew 7:13-14). There is only one way, and that way is through Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, shed His blood for us and rose again. He is the living Christ. God is not calling us to a dead Christ on a cross. He is calling us to the living Christ. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is coming back and that the Kingdom of God will prevail.
The only way to God is through Christ. He is the only One in history of whom it is written, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Christ will never change, but you need to change. And today, out of love, He offers you salvation. He can come into your heart right now and change you. That is the beginning of a whole new life.
It doesn’t mean that you will become perfect overnight. As long as you live on this earth, you will be imperfect. And you won’t find a perfect church. Only One who has ever lived was perfect: Jesus Christ.
There are three things that you must do. The first is to repent of your sins. The word repent means to change—to change your mind, to change your way of living, to change your attitude. You can’t do that alone, but God can help you to change. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
The Apostle Paul, when he preached his great sermon in Athens, said, “God ... now commands all [people] everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). All men and women have been commanded by God to repent, to change. And if you are ever to get to heaven, if you are ever to have your sins forgiven, if you are ever to have assurance and peace and joy in Christ in this life, you need to repent.
Second, you need to believe. That word believe means much more than just head belief. It means that you put your confidence in Christ, you put the entire weight of your thought in Christ: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). You need to put your confidence in Him. You need to commit yourself to Christ without reservation.
Third, you need to confess Him openly. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
Do you want to be saved? You say, “Well, I don’t even know what ‘saved’ means.” It means that you are saved from judgment. It means that you are saved from hell. It means that you have a new joy and a new peace in your heart, a new power to face the problems of your life. It means that when you die, you will go to heaven.
Without salvation, without knowing Christ, you can’t have that. But when you come to Christ, He changes you. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus”—you do that today—“and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
If there is a doubt in your heart that you know Christ, say today, “I want to be sure. I want to be certain that Christ lives in me.” Christ can come into your life.
I am not calling you to a church. I am not calling you to an organization. I am calling you to the Person of Jesus Christ. Make sure that Christ lives in your heart.
By Billy Graham
source : www.billygraham.org
Is there anything that we can hold on to? Is there anything that gives us meaning in our lives? In the midst of these changes, certain things never change.
The nature of God does not change. In all these centuries God has not changed. He said, “I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should [change]” (Numbers 23:19).
The Bible says that God is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:2). I can’t comprehend that. I cannot understand that God never had a beginning and will never have an end. I accept it by faith because the Bible declares it. There is “no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17) with God.
God is unchanging in His holiness. God is a holy God, a righteous God: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8).
God is unchanging in His judgment. A day is coming in which all of us will stand before the judgment of Almighty God to give an account of our lives; we will give an account of what we did with His Son, Jesus Christ, and of our response to Him when He said, “I love you, I want to forgive you, I want to change you, I want to be your Friend.” What will we answer? What will we do with Christ? The Bible says, “The Lord will judge the ends of the earth” (1 Samuel 2:10).
God is also unchanging in His love: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God loves us! God is interested in us. He has the hairs of our heads numbered. He knows all about us, and He loves us!
God loves us with a love that we do not understand. When we come to Christ and give our hearts and lives to Him, He will give agape love—His love—to us so that we can love people whom we usually don’t even like. Now we will love them. He will give us a supernatural power to love.
The Word of God has not changed: “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever,” says the Bible (Isaiah 40:8). The Bible was given to us by God. The Bible is our guide, our compass through life.
The first question that the devil put to Eve in that encounter in the Garden of Eden was, “Has God indeed said?” (Genesis 3:1). He was questioning the word of God. The devil will do everything in his power to keep you from reading God’s Word, from studying it, because believing the message in this Book will change your life!
Human nature has not changed. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Human nature is the same the world over. I have preached in all kinds of cultures and in all kinds of conditions, and I have learned that the human heart is the same everywhere. The Gospel meets the need of the human heart when a person turns by faith to Christ.
The Bible says,“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We are sinners. We have broken the moral laws of God. We are all sinners.
And the moral Law has not changed. God gave the moral Law to Moses who recorded it in the Ten Commandments.
•“You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Anything can become a false god.
•“Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). Even when we no longer have to obey our fathers and mothers, we are to honor them.
•“You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Adultery is thrown at us from every angle. I don’t know how people today can stay clean and pure in their moral lives without Christ. With Christ we can.
•“You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). Robberies, muggings—all kinds of things like these are going on; we read about them every day in the newspapers.
•“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). That’s lying.
These are from the Ten Commandments, and Scripture says that if we have broken one of those Commandments, we are guilty of breaking all of them (James 2:10). So we are guilty in the sight of God. That makes us sinners, and sin comes between us and God. We are separated from God by our sin. We all need Christ!
The way of salvation has not changed. You ask, “How can I be saved? How can I have a changed life?” The Scripture says, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
Jesus said that we need to enter the narrow gate, to walk down the narrow road (Matthew 7:13-14). There is only one way, and that way is through Christ, who died on the cross for our sins, shed His blood for us and rose again. He is the living Christ. God is not calling us to a dead Christ on a cross. He is calling us to the living Christ. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is coming back and that the Kingdom of God will prevail.
The only way to God is through Christ. He is the only One in history of whom it is written, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Christ will never change, but you need to change. And today, out of love, He offers you salvation. He can come into your heart right now and change you. That is the beginning of a whole new life.
It doesn’t mean that you will become perfect overnight. As long as you live on this earth, you will be imperfect. And you won’t find a perfect church. Only One who has ever lived was perfect: Jesus Christ.
There are three things that you must do. The first is to repent of your sins. The word repent means to change—to change your mind, to change your way of living, to change your attitude. You can’t do that alone, but God can help you to change. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
The Apostle Paul, when he preached his great sermon in Athens, said, “God ... now commands all [people] everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). All men and women have been commanded by God to repent, to change. And if you are ever to get to heaven, if you are ever to have your sins forgiven, if you are ever to have assurance and peace and joy in Christ in this life, you need to repent.
Second, you need to believe. That word believe means much more than just head belief. It means that you put your confidence in Christ, you put the entire weight of your thought in Christ: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). You need to put your confidence in Him. You need to commit yourself to Christ without reservation.
Third, you need to confess Him openly. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
Do you want to be saved? You say, “Well, I don’t even know what ‘saved’ means.” It means that you are saved from judgment. It means that you are saved from hell. It means that you have a new joy and a new peace in your heart, a new power to face the problems of your life. It means that when you die, you will go to heaven.
Without salvation, without knowing Christ, you can’t have that. But when you come to Christ, He changes you. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus”—you do that today—“and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
If there is a doubt in your heart that you know Christ, say today, “I want to be sure. I want to be certain that Christ lives in me.” Christ can come into your life.
I am not calling you to a church. I am not calling you to an organization. I am calling you to the Person of Jesus Christ. Make sure that Christ lives in your heart.
By Billy Graham
source : www.billygraham.org
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