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Archive for the ‘Encouragement’ Category

Encouragement With Love

29 Jul

Philemon 1:8-9 – 8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—

Don’t get me wrong, Paul was never too shy about correcting a brother in Christ also.  It is our duty to try and strengthen our fellow Christian Brother and Sisters. 

A loving touch is always the best way to reach out to others in trying to remind them what the scriptures say.  We’re born rebellious sinners and when someone takes the approach of trying to ram something down our throats we get defensive and push away.

That doesn’t mean we need to walk on egg shells or sell a gospel less than the truth.  It means we need to present it and encourage it in a loving way.  Make it their idea.  Get them to drink and feed on the Word a little at a time.  Over time many of them will become stronger and then hopefully someday the Holy Spirit stays in them strong and they want to live for Him and seek Him constantly.

Many Christians who ram their take on the bible down others throat are usually trying to prove THEIR point, not that of the Lord. 

Study it.  Present it accurately and lovingly.  The Word itself cuts like a sword; it doesn’t need an arrogant touch to it.  Those who don’t want to receive it will already have it sting enough even when it is presented lovingly.

However, you don’t have to walk on eggshells if you are trying to really share it out of love.

 

Narrow minded

28 Jul

Psalm 51:9 – 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

The world doesn’t understand that God has to do this for us to enter into Heaven.  Without our sins being covered they aren’t blotted out.

John 13:8 – 8“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

You can’t enter into God’s presence unless you are washed by the blood of the lamb.

John 14:6 – 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This isn’t narrow mindedness like the world is telling you, Its God letting people know there is one way and that is the way He provided.  The only one who has closed his mind is those that don’t want to listen to what the Word of God says.

There is one way to the Lord.  He provided the way.  It’s a free gift for those willing to acknowledge and accept it.  More and more pressure is coming that narrow mindedness is dangerous.  Our Lord has commanded us to be narrow minded when it comes to salvation.

 

No Favoritism

27 Jul

Colossians 3:25- 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

Rewards and consequences, they exist.  Don’t we live better lives when we acknowledge these things?

Why do many people on this earth not break the law?  Because they don’t want to be punished.

Why do many people work hard on this earth?  To receive a reward for their hard work.

Now if we can just focus on what God’s says we are supposed to do, because there is going to be rewards in heaven and there is going to be consequences for our actions as well.

With a just and loving God the good news is, we can count on him to do right.  That’s why there is no
favoritism.

If you don’t believe you’ll be rewarded or think you’ll be held accountable, you haven’t been reading the New Testament closely enough.  It’s our love letter from the Lord.  The Christian Handbook.

 

We’re Geared By Him In All We Need

22 Jul

2 Peter 1:3-4-3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he 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.

The Lord made the earth wonderfully.  The devil came and tricked Adam and Eve and received the power of this domain.  Jesus defeated sin on the cross and all who believe and confess He is Lord will be
saved.  The Lord is coming back in the last days to rule and reign on this earth for 1,000 years.

Peter is reminding us that we have been set free from the sinful nature.  Our number 1 job is to serve our Lord and worship Him.  Not number 2, 3, 4, 5 or clear up to 37.  It’s to share Him with others.  The day of enjoying the world, more like it was meant to be, is coming again.

Too many of us are geared to recognize God and make the best of this one shot on the world that we have.  You only live once here.  Is that the correct way to live?  Is that what the Word says?  Is that the faith the Lord is looking for?

I believe a serious study of the New Testament will tell you no.

Live for the Lord and all things you truly need will be given to you.

Matthew 6:33- 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The Word indicates that by faith we are to die to our selfishness now and we will
be able to enjoy it with Him the way it was supposed to be later.  It does take faith.  Who will be the ones to trust in Him and the Word?

 

No One Righteous Not Even One

21 Jul

Romans 3:9-20 –  9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written:

   “There is no one righteous, not even one;
 11 there is no one who understands,
   no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
   they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
   not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
   their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 
 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
 16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.” 
 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

This should pretty much take the wind out of anyone’s proud sail if they think they are hot stuff.  The reason is; we are nothing without Him.  And if we are nothing without Him, there is no reason to brag, be proud, or giving oneself a pat on the back.

Romans 3:21-24 –   21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  

It would be like finding $5 million dollars on the side of the road and then telling eveyone how hard you worked to earn it.  The free gift of salvation and any righteousness is from Him.  Be greatful, be humble.     

 

Almost All False Religions Promise You Can Be Like God

19 Jul

Many times when this subject is talked on it comes across as attacking or self righteousness.  Nothing
can be further from the truth in my post that I’m doing.  It is one hundred percent out of love that I
have for many people.  It’s also a couple of pages long, but please read it all the way through.

Genesis 3:1-5 – 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must nottouch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.  5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

What happened?

They ate of the tree they were not supposed to and they now were not permitted to eat from the Tree of Life.  They bought the lie of the serpent, which is you can become like God.  There are religions based completely off the fact that Satan or the serpent was telling the truth.

Was he telling the truth?

Genesis 3:13- 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Well Eve now acknowledges she was deceived by the serpent, so I don’t think she believes he was now telling the truth.  God is now punishing them so I don’t believe he thinks the serpent is right.

Genesis 3:16-20 –16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.  Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of
it all the days of your life.  18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the
field.  19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it
you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Once again is God interested in you becoming God or like Him?

Genesis 3:21-24 – 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must
not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24
After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Isaiah 45:5 –5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me,

Isaiah 45:18 – 18 For this is what the LORD says—he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited— he says:  “I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:22 – 22 “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

Isaiah 46:9 – 9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.

God’s love came in the form that He couldn’t allow a sinful fallen man to live forever.  Without the Tree of Life one doesn’t live forever.

It doesn’t appear that He is interested in us being God or like Him.  However, He loves us more than we could ever know.

The plan for redemption was already planned just versus before God kicking Adam and Eve out of the Garden.

Genesis 3:14-15- 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.  15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

God’s letting Satan know that He (Jesus) would crush his (Satan) head, and Satan would strike the heal of Jesus.  Satan may have thought he had the Son of God beaten when He was crucified on the cross, but that turned into victory for everyone who is now willing to accept Him as Lord and His death to take the
place of theirs.  His work…nothing of our own .

We might not be able to become God, in fact God opposes that pretty strongly.  However, to be an heir
of the Lord and share in the Kingdom with Jesus, that has been stated.

Titus 3:4-8 –  4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a
trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.  These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

Galatians 4:6-7 – 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

God’s Word makes it clear that He alone is God and there is NO other. The Dead Sea Scrolls have proven the text hasn’t changed in the last 2,000 years, so we can count on it to be accurate.  An opportunity to rule and reign with Christ as an heir, is an incredible opportunity and biblically accurate.

 

Do Not Just Merely Listen

18 Jul

James 1:22-25- 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks
intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Most people do hear it and then pick and choose, take the rest with a grain of salt, and on we go.
I did for years.  The problem is we struggle enough when we try to do what it says.  Putting full-fledged effort into trying to obey the Word leads to many shortfalls.  How much so more when we aren’t really trying?

It is important that we do what the Word says.  As verse 25 states, doing it leads to being blessed.

 

Gotta Have Love

14 Jul

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 –  1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

We cannot forget the reason of why we are to do what we do.  It needs to be for the Love of the Lord that we do it.  God created, has stuck with and has a plan of redemption for man because He loves us.

The closer we get to the Lord and the further away we get away from our selfish wants in life the better God’s love can penetrate through us and onto others.

 

Psalm 5:4-6

13 Jul

Psalm 5:4-6 – 4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with you the wicked cannot dwell.

5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.

6 You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.

We can’t forget that we serve a just God.  He is so much Love that people forget that He
is also righteous.

This is way we can’t take sin lightly.  We can’t just do it and think it’s no big deal.  We’re going to sin without trying enough already as fallen beings.

Hell is a terrible place and is going to be where the evil, wicked, arrogant, lying, bloodthirsty, and deceitful people who choose not to repent are going.

This world is full of people who have rejected God and have those qualities.  As children of God we
have to separate ourselves.  We can’t take sin lightly, our Lord hates it.

 

The Spirit Of Truth

12 Jul

John 16:13-14 – 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14
He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

How do you know if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you?  If it matches up to the Word of God.

What happens if this is not the case?  Chaos!

You can have one guy saying peanut butter is the revelation I was given.  Another says oh no you have
to eat pistachio nuts at 2:00 PM every day or you won’t get certain gifts.

Without the Word of God anyone, anyone can claim they are hearing from the Lord.  Oh there are a
lot of voices talking to people out there.  It’s not fake, they are hearing voices.

In the last days people will run after things that tickle their ears but the doctrine…..isn’t sound.

1 Timothy 4:1 –  1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and
follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

Romans 16:17 – 17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.

2+2=4 or 2+2=5

Ones right and ones not.  It’s not about perspective and they both aren’t correct.  One is the true equation that adds up to truth.  You have every right to believe the second one is correct and die with that belief, but your determination and sincerity doesn’t change the truth.

Don’t seek for what makes you satisfied or matches up well with you, seek truth.  Because as sinful
human beings we don’t naturally seek what’s right or truth.  We just seek what we want and if that isn’t
what God wants, eternity isn’t ultimately going to be what you want.

The Good News is the Good News.  Once you find the truth, it will set you free.  At that time you will find out that it is who you were supposed to be all along.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and never contradicts the Word of God.  Who is the Word of God?  Jesus!