Overcoming life

Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives
in me."

We all wake up every morning with new dreams, resolutions and plans. We
want to make the day as best as possible. We plan to break that addiction
in our life. We try to suppress our feelings and emotions so that we don't
do anything wrong. In short we put ourselves in a cage with our ideas.

Well, if everything works according to our plans, we can continue doing
this through the rest of our lives. But, it never works that way. The
reason is each and every one of us is corrupt by the nature of "sin" in our
lives. We dont have the strength in ourselves to overcome this. Millions
around the world are going through this routine each day and it is always a
failure if we think that we can solve all our problems.

If you have a thought that we can live a victorious christian lives by our
own strength, then I would like to take you back to what apostle Paul
realized long back. The secret is as christians "we" are already "dead" and
it is no longer "we" who live but it is "Christ" who takes our place and
lives for us.

The choice is ours. Either we can ask Him to live our life, or we can
continue with our self-discipline, motivational and other techniques and be
independent of Christ. But,Bible says there is a way that seems good to a
fool but the end is destruction.

The way of the cross is the path to an overcoming life. There are no short
cuts.

Accept Christ today and get freed of the yoke and bondages!. Allow Him to
fight the battle!.

Answers for prayers

Psalm 40:1

" I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry"

God hears and answers all our prayers.

The answers are always one the following

1. yes
2. No
3. There is a delay for the answer.

We are very happy if the answer is "Yes". We are upset when the answer is
"No". The third answer seems to be very painful. It tests our patience. But
the secret to peace and harmony is waiting patiently for the Lord to answer
our prayers. One thing we should never forget is this "God answers each and
every prayer of our's" and all the answers are for our well being.The
timing of the answer is always "His" and not "Our's". Let the Holy Spirit
of God open our eyes to understand this truth and fill us with that peace
that only He can give us. Next time, when we get frustrated for something
that God is not answering us immediately, let us remember the word
"patience" and wait on Him.

Just Do It!

By Bill Keller
source :www.liveprayer.com

Jesus said in Mark 9:23, "Everything is possible for him who believes."

The Nike sporting goods company used a very simple but powerful phrase in one of their recent ad campaigns, "Just do it." This is going to be a little different Devotional today. I want to take a moment right now before you do anything else and simply ask the Lord to open your heart to hear this message today since it has to do with faith. Now, let me ask you a question. What is something that you have always dreamed of but have never done? Maybe it is to see a certain place or do a certain thing. What is something that you have always dreamed of but have never done?

The writer of Hebrews defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 as, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Note the key words in this definition are SURE and CERTAIN. True Biblical faith is not something we simply hope for, but we are SURE of what we hope for. True Biblical faith is not just a blind leap into the dark, we are CERTAIN of what we do not see. That is why Jesus told us that, "EVERYTHING is possible for him who believes." Not a few things, not certain things, not most things . . . EVERYTHING!

Today, I want to challenge your faith and encourage you to fulfill your dreams. As I share with you often, this journey through life is very short. It is over before we even know it. We know the Bible teaches us that tomorrow is promised to none of us, that each day is literally a gift from God. We must treat each day as the precious gift it is and make the most of it. Too many people live their lives in those "ruts." You get comfortable in making life work for you on a daily basis and get locked into a routine that you rarely if ever deviate from. You complain how boring life is, how unexciting life is, when the problem is not life but the way you choose to live it each day!

Over these past 20 years, I have ministered to and walked with hundreds of people from 10 to 97 in the final days of their life. In almost every case the person shared with me their regrets about things they had always wanted to do but didn't, places they had always wanted to see but never went. Now, in their final hours of this life they felt bad for not having taken the time or made the effort to see and do all of the things they had wanted to do.

Let me ask you again, what is something that you have always dreamed of but have never done?

Here is my word for you today, my challenge. Sit down with a paper and pen and answer the above question on the paper. Write down what it is you have dreamed of but never done. Maybe you always wanted to see the Great Wall of China. Write it down. Maybe you have always wanted to learn how to ride a horse. Write it down. There is not one person reading these words today that doesn't have something you have always wanted to do or some place you have always wanted to visit. Everyone has a dream they have not seen fulfilled.

After you have written down what it is you have always dreamed of, take that paper and pray over it. Pray in faith that God is going to let you see your dream come true. God is not some magic genie in a lamp that we rub and make wishes to. However, God is the One who promised that, "Everything is possible for him who believes." God is the One who promised to, "Give you the desires of your heart." As a follower of Jesus Christ you have very right to hold God to His promises. There is no dream that is too big for God!!!

This journey through life is exciting, exhilarating, and can be a wonderful experience. What I find in so many lives I deal with each day is that they have allowed the trials and tribulations of this life to overwhelm them to the point they have stopped dreaming. They are simply content with not living in turmoil and have forgot how to dream, let alone believe their dreams can come true.

Your life, just like your relationship with the Lord will be exactly what you choose it to be. We ALL have to face the problems that life throws our way. That is simply part of living in this sin-filled and fallen world. There are always problems, things that don't go the way we expect or like. The key is do you allow the problems of life to choke off your joy? Do you allow the trials you face to steal your peace. Do you allow the challenges of life to rob you of the abundance Christ promised you?

I love you and care about you so much. I want to encourage you to start living each day in faith, the faith that "everything is possible for him who believes." That doesn't just mean being victorious over the day-to-day trials of this life, but seeing your dreams fulfilled as well. I want to encourage you today to take the piece of paper you have written down whatever you have always dreamed about and work to make your dream a reality! God will help you.

Don't listen to the liar satan tell you don't have the money, you don't have the time, it can't be done, or any other lie he will tell you to discourage you. Who are you going to believe, the liar who says your dream won't come true or God who promised you that "everything is possible?"

This message today is MUCH deeper than just challenging you to make your dream come true. Once you do whatever it is you have dreamed about, once you make that dream a reality, you are going to want to make your next dream come true. After you see that dream become a reality, you will want to make the next dream come true. Over time, you are not just living life, you are making the most of each day and instead of simply dreaming, YOU ARE LIVING YOUR DREAMS EACH DAY!

Jesus promised us, "Everything is possible for him who believes." Don't dream it, DO IT!!!

Responsibilities in work

Many a times we become very happy when we come to know that our managers/superiors at work are on leave. We feel so much of freedom and think that the day is ours. Do we get this sort of feelings?. Are we feeling irritated or upset when we see our managers or if they call us?.

These are clear indicatios that we are not fulfilling our responsibilities properly. We are gripped by fear and uncertanities when we do not fulfill our tasks properly. There is always a sort of lack of confidence and anxiety in our hearts when we fail in our work.

The Bible says that we need not be afraid of anyone or anything other than God. But we must respect everyone and be at peace with them. We should walk upright and be very active and energetic in our works. We shlould be people that others look for help. We should always be bubbling with energy and enthusiasm that Christ gives us.

Jesus Christ was never afraid of anyone. He did all His responsibilities without the slightest of the failures. He was completely perfect in all that He did and He fullfilled His responsibility of carrying our sins on the cross and sacrificing His life for us.

A true child of God will be perfectly at ease with everyone under all the circumstances.

Memorizing scriptures

I read this article regarding the importance and power of memorizing the verses from the scripture. I am publishing it here so that we may read and implement this as a practice in our daily lives.


First, a few testimonies: I have it third hand, that Dr. Howard Hendricks of Dallas Seminary once made the statement (and I paraphrase) that if it were his decision, every student graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary would be required to learn one thousand verses word perfect before they graduated.

Dallas Willard, professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, wrote, “Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That’s where you need it! How does it get in your mouth? Memorization” (“Spiritual Formation in Christ for the Whole Life and Whole Person” in Vocatio, Vol. 12, no. 2, Spring, 2001, p. 7).

Chuck Swindoll wrote, “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified” (Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], p. 61).

One of the reasons Martin Luther came to his great discovery in the Bible of justification by faith alone was that in his early years in the Augustinian monastery he was influenced to love Scripture by Johann Staupitz. Luther devoured the Bible in a day when people earned doctorates in theology without even reading the Bible. Luther said that his fellow professor, Andreas Karlstadt, did not even own a Bible when he earned his doctor of theology degree, nor did he until many years later (Richard Bucher, "Martin Luther's Love for the Bible"). Luther knew so much of the Bible from memory that when the Lord opened his eyes to see the truth of justification in Romans 1:17, he said, “Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory,” in order to confirm what he had found.

So here are a few reasons why so many have viewed Scripture memorization as so essential to the Christian life.

1. Conformity to Christ
Paul wrote that “we all, . . . beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18)) If we would be changed into Christ likeness we must steadily see him. This happens in the word. “The Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:21). Bible memorization has the effect of making our gaze on Jesus steadier and clearer.

2. Daily Triumph over Sin
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. . . . I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:9, 11). Paul said that we must “by the Spirit . . . put to death the [sinful] deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). The one piece of armor used to kill is the “sword of the Spirit” which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). As sin lures the body into sinful action, we call to mind a Christ-revealing word of Scripture and slay the temptation with the superior worth and beauty of Christ over what sin offers.

3. Daily Triumph over Satan
When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness he recited Scripture from memory and put Satan to flight (Matthew 4:1-11).

4. Comfort and Counsel for People You Love
The times when people need you to give them comfort and counsel do not always coincide with the times you have your Bible handy. Not only that, the very word of God spoken spontaneously from your heart has unusual power. Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” That is a beautiful way of saying, When the heart full of God’s love can draw on the mind full of God’s word, timely blessings flow from the mouth.

5. Communicating the Gospel to Unbelievers
Opportunities to share the gospel come when we do not have the Bible in hand. Actual verses of the Bible have their own penetrating power. And when they come from our heart, as well as from the Book, the witness is given that they are precious enough to learn. We should all be able to sum up the gospel under four main headings (1) God’s holiness/law/glory; 2) man’s sin/rebellion/disobedience; 3) Christ’s death for sinners; 4) the free gift of life by faith. Learn a verse or two relating to each of these, and be ready in season and out of season to share them.

6. Communion with God in the Enjoyment of His Person and Ways
The way we commune with (that is, fellowship with) God is by meditating on his attributes and expressing to him our thanks and admiration and love, and seeking his help to live a life that reflects the value of these attributes. Therefore, storing texts in our minds about God helps us relate to him as he really is. For example, imagine being able to call this to mind through the day:

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:8-14)

I used the word “enjoyment” intentionally when I said, “communion with God in the enjoyment of his person and ways.” Most of us are emotionally crippled—all of us, really. We do not experience God in the fullness of our emotional potential. How will that change? One way is to memorize the emotional expressions of the Bible and speak them to the Lord and to each other until they become part of who we are. For example, in Psalm 103:1, we say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” That is not a natural expression for many people. But if we memorize this and other emotional expressions from the Bible, and say them often, asking the Lord to make the emotion real in our hearts, we can actually grow into that emotion and expression. It will become part of who we are. We will be less emotionally crippled and more able to render proper praise and thanks to God.

There are other reasons for memorizing Scripture. I hope you find them in the actual practice.

source www.desiringgod.org

Pharaoh’s dream and my experience

By C. H. Spurgeon

"And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows."—Genesis 41:4. NIV

PHARAOH'S dream has too often been my waking experience. My days of sloth have ruinously destroyed all that I had achieved in times of zealous industry. My seasons of coldness have frozen the warm and pleasant glow of my periods of fervency and enthusiasm. My fits of worldliness have thrown me back from my advances in the divine life. I need to beware of lean prayers, lean praises, lean duties, and lean experiences, for these will eat up the fat of my comfort and peace.

If I neglect prayer for even a short time, I lose all the spirituality I had attained. If I draw no fresh supplies from heaven, the old corn in my granary is soon consumed by the famine which rages in my soul. When the caterpillars of indifference, the cankerworms of worldliness, and the palmerworms of self-indulgence lay my heart completely desolate and make my soul to languish, all my former fruitfulness and growth in grace avails me nothing whatever. How anxious I should be to have no lean-fleshed days, no ill-favored hours!

Backsliding leaves me far away from the prize of my high calling and robs me of the advances I had laboriously made. The only way my days can be as the "fat cows" is to feed in the right meadow, spend time with the Lord in His service, in His company, in His fear, and in His way. O Lord, keep me far away from the curse of leanness of soul. Let me not have to cry, "My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!" Instead, may I be well-fed and nourished in Thy house, that I might praise Thy name.

In the midst of trial

In the midst of trial we tend to throw our arms up and cry, “God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”, not fully understanding the significance of such trial. How many can honestly say that they welcome trials and tribulations? Not I for sure. Yet in our Christian faith, we must at some point partake of the cup of Jesus. It is only through this drinking that we come to understand our walk of faith and grow strong in its ramifications.

Jesus was Lord and He knew the reason for his sufferings, the purpose for which He came. This is the great paradox of our Christian faith, the “great mystery of the cross,” that is mentioned in the Bible. And yet through the dire image of the cross comes our greatest blessing, our greatest joy, our greatest hope. How unhumanly conceivable! To the world, the cross is foolishness, as Paul the apostle so rightly states. But God did not choose what would be ordinary or common sense to save the world. It is this that should ground our faith. For after all, put yourself into God’s position: Would you choose something common to save the world, or would you choose something that would require intense belief because it was so contrary to majority opinion? When we view the cross from this perspective, the scales fall from our eyes, and the blinding light shines through.

Now in the midst of trial, we should look to the cross as our saving grace. This is hard to do as we are human and weak by nature; and yet the spirit be willing, the flesh is always weak. Now here is something to consider that might help in our struggle: the realization that Christ knew His purpose, yet we know this only through our faith. Although this knowledge could never attenuate the physical suffering He experienced—as God designed it this way—Christ was in a position that we could never be. How precious might we be in His sight then, as He watches us, knowing full well we have neither the resources nor essence of His most beloved Son, to go through trials while we cling tenaciously to our faith? And though we stumble and drop our cross, yet He knows how noble our efforts in the midst of trial.

Let us not be ashamed therefore by what the world throws our way. All this is part of His divine plan. Let us be comforted by the knowledge that Christ suffered—yet He was God; we suffer—yet we are men.

By Joe Pagano
source : http://www.mathbyjoe.com