Chevonne's World

Musician Breakthrough Informational Video

2011-07-20T13:41:00.002-04:00

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2011-07-19T13:09:00.006-04:00

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Righteousness - A basic foundation for effective prayers and fasting Part 4

2011-07-06T13:38:00.000-04:00

In our previous series of teaching on “triplet armor of righteousness, prayer and fasting”, we were able to discuss how righteousness comes, what it offers and what makes one righteous, how we could walk in righteousness, the armor of righteousness, and when righteousness is missing. The central message of this series is the heart issue. Having a right heart for God to come in and commune with us through prayers and studying of the Word.

In the above listed series previously discussed we could see how it is very important for every born again Christian who has not started putting into use his or her righteousness to consider stepping out in faith to start exercising that free gift of God. We could do it by abiding in Christ to live a lifestyle that is in harmony with our Christian values. When we commit ourselves to live a life that expresses the image of Jesus Christ, the life of God will gradually permeate our lives to infuse the strength we need to live a victorious Christian life. But for this God’s kind of life giving strength to come in and remain in us we need a daily healthy relationship with God and others. The book of Hebrews 4:15 reminds us that we are being taken care of “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”. But we cannot have a high priest unless we identify ourselves with that high priest. It is only through this identification that the high priest could be touched with the feeling of our infirmities so as to help us always out. Note the term infirmities here could mean limitations and weakness.

As I did mention previously that righteousness is a basic foundation for effective prayer and fasting; it becomes clear then that fasting and praying without right living or right standing with God makes our prayers ineffective. No amount of prayer and length of fasting we could observe will move God if we still practice sin. Sins are clogs that stop the life of God flowing through us.

Note, God is not looking for those who are perfect or those who were born with a certain degree of self-discipline but He is looking for those who are willing to commit to the offer they made on the day they accepted Him into their lives. Those offers are, their lives, wills, emotions and their all. They are the spiritual legal permits God needs in order to take the occupancy of our lives. Once we keep these offers submitted to Him then He will take the full control of our life. Note the term taking control of our lives does not denote that He controls our lives like a robot. That is not God; He does not control us in that way. The control in this term is that He takes the full responsibility of our entire needs- spiritual, physical, emotional, social etc. It is through this way that we can effectively fast and pray with greater results.

Remain blessed

Righteousness - A basic foundation for effective prayers and fasting. Part 3

2011-07-05T13:11:00.000-04:00

In part 3 of our study on Righteousness - A basic foundation for effective prayer and fasting, we will discuss the following topics:

 The armor of righteousness

 When righteousness is missing

In our previous discussions, we have discussed that righteousness is a free gift of God which is earned by faith in Jesus Christ. We studied that righteousness is an aspect of salvation or part of what salvation did for us. It is a means by which we are redeemed, justified and set free from our debt to death because of our sin and sinful nature. It is a divine exchange in which our imperfections, sinful nature, sin, poverty, infirmity, and rejection were exchanged with Christ’s perfection, sinless nature, rich, health, and acceptance. It can be likened to a condemned criminal who was condemned and was at the point of execution by death and suddenly, one-second before the execution, a voice was heard: “Let that man go, let me die his death and let him live my life. Have my freedom”. The man was untied from execution and the other man went in his place and was executed. That is exactly what happened at the cross.

Now we are going to see how powerful righteousness is when we are equipped with the knowledge of it and commit ourselves to its instructions to live a life that harmonizes with its principle. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:7: “By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left”. Paul likens righteousness as armor, just like in Ephesians 6:14: Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Here righteousness refers to as one of the armors of warfare which is used in covering our heart. We are going to see more on this as we discuss “the armor of righteousness”.

The armor of righteousness

I use the term “armor of righteousness” from Ephesians 6:14 in which righteousness is described as one of the weapons of warfare, which verse 11 describes as an armor of God which we could put on. Verses 11-13 explains why we should put on the armor.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. If you read further, you will find the armors to put on and how they should be put on. But we shall limit our discussion to righteousness as one of the armors. If you read the last statement of verse 14 it says “having on the breastplate of righteousness”, in other words it means to put it on. Another interesting thing about this verse is that there is a specific place it should be put on. Not on the head, hand or leg but on the breast or chest. It describes righteousness as a plate for the breast, known as a breastplate. Breastplate is common attire put on by Roman soldiers. The breastplate covers the body of the Roman soldier from the neck to the thighs. It is normally made of strong material to protect the heart.

Why is Paul requesting that we should put on the breastplate of righteousness although we have received it at spiritual birth? We received it as free gift on the day we gave our lives to Christ. Just as I described on one of our previous topics that it is not enough to receive the righteousness by faith but we have to put it in use by living a lifestyle that is in harmony with it. Paul is conveying the same message - the need for our righteousness to be put into use. Just as we may have a beautiful cloth, as long as we do not put it on, it remains un-used and will never serve the purpose for which we bought it - likewise is our righteousness. Unless we put it into use, we may not enjoy all the resources of blessings God offers through it.

Likewise, as the breastplate protects Roman soldiers, so does righteousness protect us and when attacks come, they should be thrown off by our righteousness. It is interesting to know that God designed the breastplate of righteousness for the heart, against the deadly arrows of the enemy. The Bible tells us to guard our heart with all diligence because our life source flows from it (Proverbs 4:23: Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life). The state of our life, both physically and spiritually, depends on the condition of our heart. As a result, it needs to be guarded.

Our heart is one of the most important parts of our body, both spiritually and physically. Physically, it is the powerhouse of a man. It is a place where blood is pumped to our entire body in order to keep us physically alive. Without it, we are dead. Spiritually, it is the living room where God lives. It is a place where our inward man, who is born again, resides. It is an altar of God, which determines the state of the temple. If God is allowed to be in the altar, the temple will then be holy but if not, it will be un-holy. When we first accepted Christ into our lives, it was our heart that we gave Him to come into and live, not our brain. Jesus Christ is not in our brain because the inward man, our spirit, is in our heart. It is a place of communion with God through prayers and through the time we spend in studying the Word.

Our righteousness is made as armor by putting it on, by activating it and/or by revelation knowledge of the worth of righteousness to us personally and all that it offers! Just as you will not be able to have access to a new bank account without activating it first and then continually put it to use. Similarly, when we fail to put on the breastplate of righteousness and put it into use, our heart will remain unprotected. We will discuss this in the next section “when righteousness is missing”. Please refer to our previous discussion under the section “how we should walk in righteousness” for better understanding on how to put on righteousness. This will clarify the meaning regarding how we should put on our righteousness. Please take note that the righteousness is already ours by reason of accepting Christ into our lives. It needs to be put into use for us to enjoy the abundant blessings it has.

When righteousness is missing

The term “when righteousness is missing” is simply meant when we do not put on the breastplate of righteousness. It may be ours, but it is the same as if it is not there because it remains un-activated and un-used.

When we do not put on the breastplate of righteousness, our heart is exposed to the enemy Satan and brings us into many painful experiences. In addition we will not be able to access so many blessings which are associated with righteousness.

Summary

The armor of righteousness is one of the weapons of our warfare armors which we need to put on for protection of our heart against the wiles of Satan. Again, when we do not put on our righteousness or live life that harmonizes with its principle, we will not be able to access the blessings associated with it.

Remain blessed

Righteousness - A basic foundation for effective prayers and fasting. Part 2

2011-07-04T12:00:00.001-04:00

During part 2 of our study on Righteousness - A basic foundation for effective prayer and fasting, we will discuss the following topics.

 Does righteousness mean we must be perfect?

 How do we walk in righteousness?

Does righteousness mean we must be perfect?

Each time the word perfect is mentioned, what readily comes to mind is the keeping of laws, such as: dos and don’ts, sinless living, correctness in every area of life, error free living and so on. It is a fact that God requires that we should be perfect (Matthew 5:48) but it is also a fact that the Bible concretely confirms that no one is perfect. One may not agree, but when the context of many scriptures is applied on that note, it confirms that no one is perfect. For example, Mark 10:18 confirms “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God”. If no one is good, how can anyone then be perfect since perfection is ranked higher than being good in correctness? It is quite clear that if no one is good, then no one is perfect as well, except God. Perfection is an attribute of God.

Can God then contradict Himself by demanding that we shall be perfect, and at the same time says we are not good? Let see what God said in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it”? Genesis 6:5-6: ―And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth; and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually‖. The above scriptures are directed to the nature of the heart of man which disqualifies him for self-perfection.

If we study the account of the atonement work on the cross, we will agree that God does not contradict himself. The perfection He means is that of Christ which is now made ours by reason of justification - purchase of righteousness by His blood. The divine exchange that took place on the cross in which Jesus Christ exchanged our imperfection for his perfection so that we could have a right standing with father God is what makes us perfect. 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”.

Each time father God sees us, He sees Jesus. This is the reason that the only way to attain perfection is by putting on Jesus. He sees us through Jesus Christ. When Jesus says that no one is good except God, we can understand the value of the free gift of righteousness of Christ that qualifies us for perfection. When we understand that, by our own strength, we are not qualified to be rated ―good‖, which is substandard to perfection, and in spites, we are promoted to perfection which we did not merit, then we can better understand how great His free gift is. No wonder the Bible described the preaching of this message as ―good news‖. It is indeed good news. This Godly perfection is not earned by work, title, talents, and/or gender, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus makes us perfect when we accept His atonement for our sinful nature (divine exchange). Thus, we are made perfect through Him. God sees us now through Jesus.

Based on the finished work on the cross, we are correct to say that we are perfect and at the same time we are right to say that we are not perfect. How wrong or right we are on this topic depends on the context or basis of the perfection we meant. Is it based on self-effort or the divine exchange on the cross? If the argument is based on the free gift of righteousness, which is accessible by faith, it is right for us to say a born again Christian is perfect because that is the potential which is infused in each born again Christian at the very moment one steps out and receives Christ. In this context, it would also be right to call a 5 month old baby girl a woman. Though all the potentials of a perfect woman is not yet seen in her, however the potential was born with the baby. It is in the DNA of her blood. It is only a matter of time and condition in which the baby is subjected for growth and development. The same thing works for a born again Christian, it is just a matter of time and condition in which a born again Christian is subjected for growth and development of a Christ like character.

On the other hand, if the argument of perfection is based on our effort, then it is correct to say that we are not perfect. Any claim of perfection on personal merit is scripturally incorrect. Otherwise, there would be no reason for Christ to have come and saved man from the debt of death - penalty of sin. The Bible tells us that the righteousness of man is as filthy rags before God. Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away”. We can be perfect by keeping all the rules of the Old Testament. This would mean that we would keep them all of the time, but this is impossible for sinful humans. The other way is completely different—not by keeping a set of rules, but by faith in Jesus.

The knowledge of the free gift of God’s kind of righteousness will help us in our praying and fasting, as well as assist us to come into the presence of God without guilt of past confessed sins. This knowledge will give us a sense of boldness and confidence in our approach to God regarding our prayer requests.

As I mentioned earlier, after we have exercised our faith in Christ Jesus by repenting and accepting the gift (righteousness), we also need to commit our life to live the lifestyle typical of that gift (righteousness). Living out this lifestyle is what I refer to as walking in righteousness.

How do we walk in righteousness?

Walking in righteousness means living out a life that is in harmony with the image of the lifestyle of God (Jesus Christ), through whom we are born again. Our lives should be expression of Christ in this life, just as Christ is an expression of God the father. 1 John 4:17: “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world”. Just as living things are born and grow into resembling their source of origin, born again Christians should also grow to resemble Christ. The lifestyle of Christ should be our model of life. We can achieve this by abiding in Christ (John 15:1-12) through doing the Word, building an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit as well as spending time in the word of God and prayers.

Paul says the following in Philippians 2:12-16, which relates to walking in righteousness: “

12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”.

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain”.

If we read this scripture carefully, we find that Paul was speaking to believers. They had already given their lives to Christ and were followers of Christ, but he still told them to work out their salvation. What salvation is he talking about if they were already saved by accepting Christ in their life? What Paul was really saying is that they should live out the lifestyle that is in harmony with their salvation so that they will experience the things that salvation has made available for them. Note that righteousness (right standing with God) is a part of many things that salvation offers to believers. Though these were believers like us, they already had the salvation released into their lives at the very moment they gave their lives to Christ, but the potentials and promises deposited in their lives, in the realm of the spirit, need to be expressed in the physical world.

Paul did not fail to tell them how to work out their salvation. He mentioned the following:

 Obedience

 Fear and trembling (reverence and regard for God)

 Not to murmur

 Not to live in strife

In verse 15, Paul further mentions the results of obeying the instructions listed above:

 Blameless life

 Harmless

 Becoming sons of God

 Free from rebuking

 Becoming light in the world

In verse 14, Paul reminds them that God is working in them to will and do His pleasures. When we look at the entire context, we find that Paul was explaining to the Christians at Philippians how to live out the life in harmony with their salvation.

Working in righteousness does not mean we are immune from making mistakes or from falling into sin. We often make mistakes or fall in sin, but we must be quick to confess and repent immediately upon noticing any sin. 1 John 2:1: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: Our goals as born again Christians should be to align our style of living in a way that takes us to perfections in the physical, which is already ours in the realms of the Spirit. The way to pursue it should not be by keeping of the rules but by faith that expresses itself in our work. This means even when we suddenly fall in sin we have to qucikly repent quick and keep going.

Walking in righteousness should be seen as committing one’s life to living out a lifestyle that is in harmony with our righteousness in Christ. Committing our lives to living out the lifestyle of Christ entails an urgency to repentance, a willingness to die to sin not minding the cost, and willing to develop an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Summary

We have seen above that although righteous living means we must be perfect before God but perfection does not mean the type that could be achieved by human effort of keeping of the rules rather by simple faith in God. It is talking about the perfection of Jesus Christ which we inherited by divine exchange on the cross on the day we accepted Him into our lives – our imperfection was exchanged for His perfection. Now God sees us through Jesus Christ. And each time He sees us, He sees the perfection of Jesus Christ in us, as long as we keep connected to Christ by abiding in Him and His Word in us.

Secondly, we can walk in righteousness by abiding in Christ (John 15:1-12) through doing the Word, building an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit as well as spending time in the Word of God and prayers.

Understanding our value to God by reason of the free gift of righteousness will give depth and quality to our prayers and fasting, and that will take us to positions we could experience miracles in things that we are trusting God for. In the upcoming post, I will discuss, among other things, how our faith in God could impact our lives in becoming more and more Christlike thus bringing us physically to a place where our lifestyle expresses Christ.

Remain blessed

Righteousness - A basic foundation for effective prayer and fasting

2011-07-03T12:00:00.002-04:00

In context of our discussions, we will discuss what righteousness is, how righteousness comes, what makes one righteous, and what righteousness offers. We will also look at how and why righteousness could serve as a basic foundation for effective prayer and fasting.

Righteousness defined

I define righteousness as a right standing with God which is secured by the atonement work of Jesus Christ on the cross, sealed by His blood and is obtainable by simple faith in Jesus Christ.

Description of righteousness

Having a right standing with God means that we are no longer blocked by the middle wall of unpaid debt of our sin, which was death. Jesus has paid the debt by His personal life and has taken away the barrier so that we could come into the presence of God at any time. The void that was created as a result of the enemy of sin was replaced by Jesus Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit. Right standing with God can be translated as having peace with God or being reconciled to God. That reconciliation was made possible by the costly price of the sinless blood of Christ.

Price for the purchase of righteousness

Glory to God that Jesus was willing to pay the price when there was no one who qualified to do so. He was the only one who had the power to give His life and pick it up again. No angels or elders in heaven would have. In addition, the price required sinless blood atonement. Even the blood of blameless animals used in the Old Testament for sacrifices against sin could notdeal effectively with the conscience of man by giving him a new life; it therefore required a better blood sacrifice, which that of Christ qualified.

In the course of the painful journey of purchasing righteousness or redemption, He (Jesus) paid the price for many things for mankind, which includes healing by His stripes, acceptance by His rejections, peace and joy by His crushed life and acquaintance with sorrow (Isaiah 53:2-5). The culmination of the whole debt was paid by His death. Immediately upon givingup His ghost, the curtain of the temple in Jerusalem physically tore open, which symbolized an access to God in the form of right standing with God. No longer could only ordained priests go into the holy of holies in the temple of God, but everyone had access, who by faith received that free gift of righteousness in Jesus Christ.

Righteousness should be lived out

When this was completed, man was redeemed and justified and was set free to go and sin no more. The book of Romans 5:12-18 puts it this way:

12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life”.

If we read the above verses closely, we will find that the righteousness is a free gift of God, by which we are justified from the debt of the inherited sin from the first man, Adam. Potentially we are redeemed and justified, but it does not end there. There is lifestyle typical for the right standing with God. That lifestyle can only be achieved by abiding in Christ (John 15:1- 8). When God speaks of arming ourselves with His armors in Ephesians 6:14, He makes reference that our heart should be protected by a covering plate of righteousness. When we think in that context as well as in the context of John 15:7; we shall know that it refers to the fact that our heart must be made available for Christ to live in. This will enable us be in union with our intercessory partner, the Holy Spirit. When we suppressed our flesh more by fasting, we can experience a deeper union in prayer and the result will be an effectual prayer.

How does righteousness come?

Based on the above scripture, we can see that righteousness, which is a free gift of God, comes from Christ and is earned by man through faith:

“17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life”.

What makes one righteous?

We are made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ, which is the payment for the purchase of our righteousness. We gain access to that free gift by faith in Christ Jesus. We exercise that faith in Christ Jesus by repenting, accepting the gift and committing our life to live the lifestyle typical of that gift (righteousness).

What does righteousness offer?

Righteousness offers us many things when we are committed to abide in Christ Jesus, which is the only means of living the lifestyle required of those who received that precious gift by faith. One of the major things it offers us is a right standing with God. This right standing with God gives us access to God’s resources like boldness, peace, quietness, assurance of salvation, joy etc. It is possible to repent, accept the righteousness of God and refuse to commit our life in living out the lifestyle that is required of us. In this case, we cannot experience the full blessings that this free gift offers us. This is why we see many born again Christians that are flung here and there, harassed by Satan.

Why should righteousness serve as a basic foundation for effective prayers and fasting?

As discussed, righteousness stands for a right standing with God; and this means unhindered access to God. If our access to God is blocked by sin, which is the only barrier that could block our access, then we cannot commune with Him. This convinces us that if we want to commune in prayer effectively, we have to renounce any known sin. If we are convicted by the Holy Spirit in any sin, we should not pretend they are not there, give excuses, and/or play a smart game with Him. It is very important that we are quick to repent. This will enable Him to flow through the channel of our lives, which will bring us into a victorious life. His involvement in our lives will give our prayers depth, dimension and value in functioning effectively to bring results that will put smiles on our faces. In addition, His union with us will help guide us in our fasting.

Strength in fasting and directions on how long we fast are part of the benefits to enjoy when we ensure that there is no un-confessed sin remained in our lives. Let us do all within the strength God has given us to ensure there is nothing blocking our relationship with Him, especially in this season of fasting and prayers.

If you use to talk too much, put your hand in your mouth during this season. If we often tell others how such and such a person has treated us bad, I advise to put that aside and replace the time with reading our Bibles and in prayer. Maybe the enemy has robbed us of much time by flooding our thoughts with self-pity? This is the time to begin studying and reading the word of God as we never have in the past and listen to His inspiring messages. Let them go through the eyes, ears and mind, into our hearts. Then get these inspiriting messages from deep within the belly and confess them more often. It will not take long for our mind and thoughts to be flooded with the word of life, which will give value and victory to our lives.

Summary

Understanding the value of God’s free gift (righteousness), accepting it, and committing our lives to its lifestyle will position us to experience an effective prayer and fasting life. Thus, we will enjoy a victorious Christian life.

In our next post, we will discuss the following topics:

 Does righteousness mean we must be perfect?

 How do we walk in righteousness?

 The armor of righteousness.

 When righteousness is missing.

*****TO BE CONTINUED*****

Back Pocket Band – New Software Tool For Musicians

2011-07-02T13:00:00.001-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, Jermaine Griggs (founder of HearandPlay) has done it again!! He has just released a new software that is guaranteed to take your practicing to a whole new level!

What if you could turn your computer into a complete practicing machine?

What if you could pull a real-sounding band out your “back pocket?” (…so to speak).

Sounds crazy but with the power of technology, I’m going to show you how to finally make practicing fun, productive, and effective.

Here’s what it does:

* It gives you access to over 350 real-sounding backing tracks.

* Practice and live performance files are played in all 12 keys.

* You can choose between multiple speeds: slow, medium, and fast.

* 3 different sections, 9 styles of music, & drums-only option.

* Instant streaming playback and automatic downloading to your system for burning to cd, transfer to ipod, and editing.

* And much more…

For a limited time, Jermaine Griggs is making you an unbeatable deal on everything.

Once you get your hands on this, you’ll see why so many are excited about it.

Click here to watch his video presentation and to order this new software!!

http://www.hearandplay.com/go/?p=a480396&w=backpocketband

Triplet Armor of Righteousness, Prayer and Fasting

2011-07-01T12:00:00.001-04:00

There is unimaginable dynamite which is released by the combined triplet armor of righteousness, prayer and fasting. When one is in right standing (righteous) with God and prayer is combined with fasting, it is capable of doing more than we can imagine. When we have the right standing with God, combined with prayer and fasting, lives are saved, Satan is put to flight and the authority of Jesus Christ is released to enforce the will of God on earth. In addition, Christians are better positioned to reign in life and manifest the glory of God on earth. That is one of the reasons brother James says in James 5:16b: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”.

Righteousness, which is right standing with God, prepares one’s heart and mind to be in unity for partnership with God in prayer. Fasting subdues the flesh, thus bringing down the barriers established by wars between spirit and flesh. As a result, an atmosphere of peace, love and unity are built between each other. Under this atmosphere of unity and peace, the spirit of man, which is born again, can now effectively commune with God in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Under this partnership, established under the foundation of righteousness and deepened by fasting and the covenant that was already established at spiritual birth, the inner man is renewed. It is made more effective to bring one into intimate fellowship with God. Under the umbrella of this intimate fellowship, effective prayer in partnership with God is carried out.

We will discuss in the upcoming series of teachings how right standing with God, combined with fasting, can make our prayer more effective. We will see, in detail, each piece of the triplet armor and how they depend on one another for the very purpose of enforcing the will of God on earth and on our behalf.

Within the first topic of righteousness, which is right standing with God, we will discuss how righteousness comes, what it offers and what makes one righteous. Other important topics we will discuss are: walking in righteousness (how we can walk and how we can be effective in our walk in righteousness), the armor of righteousness, and when righteousness is missing.

Next, during the discussions of prayer, we are going to discuss what prayer is, how to pray, when we should pray, why we should pray, and the enemies of an effective prayer. We will also discuss how we can deepen and bring more effectiveness to our prayers, as well as what happens when we do not pray.

Lastly we are going to discuss fasting. In this discussion, we will talk about my personal experience with fasting, benefits of fasting, types of fasting, when to fast, how fasting can be abused, what is biblical recommended fasting, and tips for effective fasting.

As mentioned, we will start with “righteousness” as the basic foundation that will enable God to partner with us as we pray and fast for effective results.

*****TO BE CONTINUED*****

Seeking God's hand vs Seeking God's face!

2011-06-04T12:00:00.001-04:00

Have you ever been around a person who is always asking you for something? If this get's on your nerves, can you image how God must feel when we are constantly asking him for miracles and blessings? It's time to get to a place in God where we are no longer seeking his hand but seeking his face. I must warn you though, seeking God's face isn't as easy as it sounds. In this post we are going to look at the difference between seeking God's hand and seeking his face.

Seeking God's hand

Seeking God's hand means to constantly ask God for houses, cars, land, and other physical things without caring about spiritual things. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting those things but those THINGS can not become more important to you than spiritual things. Matthew 6:32-33 (KJV) says: (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Your spiritual maturity isn't shown by how many times you shout and speak in tongues, but by what you seek God for. Christians who are mature will ask God, what can I do for you and not God what are you going to do for me.

We have to realize that God wants to bless us! There's nothing a good father wouldn't give his child. He wants to give his children the best! 3 John 1:2 says: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. The problem is when a person cares or wants more of the blessing and not the blessor (the one who blesses). As we grow and mature in God, our blessings will automatically grow and overtake us. Joshua 1:8 says: This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Seeking God's face!

Seeking God's face means to seek God for who he is. 1 Chronicles 16:11 says: Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually. A person who seeks God's face has grown enough in God to understand that God will provide the physical things if we seek him for spiritual things. One of my favorite songs is called "Because of who you are" by Martha Munizzi. That song truly demonstrates what it means to seek God's face. Some of my favorite lyrics to this songs says...Because of who you are, I give you glory. Because of who you are, I give you praise. Because of who you are, I will lift my hands and say, Lord I worship you..because of who you are. Spiritually mature Christians don't care whether God blesses them, they just want to bless God for who He is.

Psalm 27:8 says When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek. The Bible teaches us that no one can look upon the face of God and live. The fullness of God’s glory is so great that nothing created can contain it; the measure of God’s majesty is so incredible that no human words can describe it; the perfection of God’s holiness is so hallowed that none dare approach it. Why then does God encourage David to seek His face? In Numbers 6, the LORD gave to Aaron and his sons a blessing to pronounce upon the people. Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV) says: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Whereas no man may look upon the glory God’s face and live, the graciousness of God’s face looks upon us. It is the graciousness of God’s face that we must seek. Seeking the graciousness of God’s face involves seeking at least three things.

1. It involves seeking God’s presence.

“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.” (vs. 4)

The temple David sought was much more than the tabernacle at Jerusalem. To dwell in the house of the LORD meant that he would seek to live with constant recognition of the presence of God in his life. David’s mind would ever be on the LORD; therefore the LORD’S face would ever be before David.

2. Seeking the graciousness of God’s face also means seeking God’s praise.

“And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.” (vs. 6)

3. Lastly we see that seeking the graciousness of God’s face means seeking His pathway.

“Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.” (vs. 11)

One day when we are in heaven, we will be able to look upon the face of God and worship Him in all the fullness of His glory. But until that day arrives, we are blessed to have the graciousness of God’s face look upon us.

“When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee,

Thy face, LORD, will I seek.”

“Oh Lord, bless us and keep us;

LORD make thy face shine upon us and be gracious to us;

LORD turn thy face toward us and give us peace.”

Remain blessed

The Diotrephes Syndrome- A strategy for using church discipline as a weapon

2011-05-31T19:04:00.004-04:00

This blog was inspired by a Bible study I attended tonight about Diotrephes. The lesson was taught very beautifully by Dr. BJ Relefourd. Her lesson peaked my curiosity about Diotrephes so I'm going to share what I learned with you. By the way, you can find out more about Dr Relefourd on her website http://www.vision-of-life.org/ She holds bible study online every Tuesday at 7pm. Join us there...you'll be blessed! Here we go!

How do you stop the discerning faithful in the church from disrupting your plans to sneak in a false doctrine or two? Your biblical model is Diotrephes. He found an ideal mechanism to silence those whom opposed him and was even able to make it seem as though his approach was spiritual. Even grander, this approach can be used in personal relationships. We will explore how.

I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. (3 John 1:9-11)

Ambition

It is unclear whether Diotrephes was the formal elder (overseer/pastor) of the church or whether he simply desired to be especially prominent. In reality, this is irrelevant because it is equally true of pastors or laymen that they can become "ambitious for the place of first distinction." Ambitious for preeminence in the church is entirely different than being desirous to do the work of shepherding/pastoring. Ambition for prestige and control is what leads to "lording it over the flock" (1 Peter 5:3), that is, to become the monarch of the flock and the object of adoration, and it might be added, some small amount of intimidating influence. Contrast that with being desirous to do the work of pastor, which is to dedicate oneself to service, to study, to counseling, and to openly debating and refuting doctrinal errors.

Poor Doctrine

Diotrephes did not accept the teaching of the apostles (v.9). Given his standing of prestige in the church it should be readily evident that he was likely a Christian, and maybe even the majority of his doctrine was "orthodox." Nonetheless, some aspect of Diotrephes’ doctrine, probably the specific "something" to which John refers when he says he "wrote to the church," was not aligned with the apostles’ teaching.

Now, the problem for Diotrephes is that he had run out of arguments and Scripture to justify his stance. Some do-gooder in the body was obviously pressing Diotrephes to give a biblically sound defense for his corrupted doctrine and he was unable to do so. In short, he was trapped. How do you shout down the discerning individuals who just will not shut up and who refuse to stop demanding an answer for the false hope you have articulated so well?

But a Really Good Strategy

Diotrephes used a wonderful and almost unassailable two-pronged attack. An almost perfect strategy. First he attacked the character of the apostles, not their doctrines or theology, but their character, "unjustly accusing us with wicked words." This is so precious. For it should be noted that Diotrephes was able to sidestep his real problem. He could not address the doctrines because he had no Scriptural leg to support him, so he attacked the character of those with good doctrine in order to discredit them and by association, everything they said.

How beautiful that strategy is. How do you counter a character assassination? He said, she said, someone said, all leaves impressions in the minds of the hearers and truth becomes secondary and ultimately lost. The focus is no longer doctrine but whether the person has a good reputation, which by the way was just defamed by the very accuser who is trying to hide his doctrinal failings in the first place.

Prong two is the stroke of genius to the master plan. Cut off fellowship between those who have true biblical discernment and those on whom you are trying to impose the erroneous doctrine. Once fellowship is broken, it becomes impossible for anyone to contradict you. Those who remain in fellowship are those whom you have already won to your point-of-view (who lack appropriate discernment) or are those who are too intimidated to invoke the Word of God against you or against your faulty doctrine. The result is that no one is left to raise any dissent or to contradict you, or worse, raise a valid biblical debate.

In other words, you win by default. You have silenced all your detractors and you win. You do not have to be right, because you win. And by winning, you do not mean that you have attained good doctrine but that you have retained control in spite of your lack of answers and in spite of your poor doctrine. You win, the others lose.

How do you break fellowship between the discerning and the deluded? This requires careful scheming and impeccable execution. You must "put them out of the church" just as Diotrephes did. The only known mechanism that has the appearance of Scriptural and ethical propriety is by using "church discipline." Not genuine "church discipline" however, but pseudo (fake / imitation) church discipline.

Genuine church discipline is all about bringing the sinner back into fellowship by encouraging his repentance from a sin. To encourage his repentance you must privately rebuke him, publicly rebuke him in front of the church, then ultimately treat him as you would any sinner on the street (Matthew 18). Of course, this means no longer inviting him to your breaking-of-bread church services, asking him to take on deacon duties, or allowing him to teach, pray, or read Scripture during meetings of the church. Every interaction will be polite, filled with quotations of Scripture that entreat him to confess his sins and turn from them, always inviting him back to fellowship with God and the church.

This, of course, will never do for your purposes. You goal is not restoration to fellowship, but to permanently sever it. You do not want the Bible-thumpers being lovingly confronted with Scripture because you have none to offer. And frankly, you are the sinner (introducing improper doctrine—remember?), so you do not want or need the discerning ones to repent from any sins, you just want them to go away and not come back. OK, you would also settle for them to just stay quiet and let you run things, but you know that someone who has sufficient discernment to know the Word also knows he is obligated to speak the truth in love, always and often, so you know they will not stay silent.

Executing an Evil Strategy Well

The solution is to level a charge that is improvable, and most importantly, is impossible from which to repent. Among church power brokers the favored charge is "factiousness" (Titus 3:10). Paul says that you should reject a factious man after one or two warnings. Issue these warnings generically from the pulpit, offer no names or specifics, just make generalized warnings—later you can refer to those warnings as already being issued and streamline the entire process.

Then defame and slander their character by adding the charge of anger because those who are passionate about the Word always express emotion sooner or later out of frustration at not being heard so you will always be able to point to some tangible public display of emotion. Oh, never mind that Titus 3 actually defines a factious man as being the one who is introducing destructive and error laden doctrines and who is dividing the fellowship of the church based on improper motives because almost no one is discerning enough in the church to look up the passage on their own, much less properly interpret it in context (hmm, the irony is that while you are falsely accusing the righteous man of being factious Titus 3 actually defines the real factious man as being you). The charge of factiousness itself is sufficient to win the day.

Then, out the door the trouble-making Bible-quoting discerners will go. Most will leave of their own accord anyway, having had enough of their characters being maligned. The few that stick around can easily be sent through a pseudo-church discipline meeting and they too will soon be gone. And since they have nothing they can repent from, they will never return to plague your fellowship again. In fact, this form of ungodly "discipline" might best be characterized by the term "shunning" because its sole goal is to irrevocably destroy fellowship. However, you must never use that term in public because it might draw attention to fact that what you are doing to these innocent individuals really is shunning which is strictly an illegitimate act; we are nowhere called to destroy fellowships but to restore them.

Only One Complication

There is one down side to the tactic. John calls the Diotrephes strategy both "wicked" and "evil." To implement such an approach in the church, in a personal relationship, or in a family setting requires that you leave your interest in obeying the Word of God behind, that you stop loving the victims (love is defined as doing things for their benefit not yours--1 Corinthians 13:5), and that you determine that you are willing to tolerate living in a state of perpetual sin. This is a hard thing for a true believer and follower of our Lord to do, but if you want to act on your ambition to become preeminent in the local church, able to implement whatever doctrine strikes your fancy, and not have to answer to those who insist on biblical accuracy, what choice do you really have?

Really, what choice do you have?

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. (3 John 1:11)

Gospel Keys 600 and 625 with Jonathan Powell!!

2011-05-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

Dear Friend,

If you've always wanted to learn how to play contemporary, urban

gospel music, I've found the perfect resource for you.

It's a course by "Hear & Play" that specializes in giving you

that neo-soul, jazzy, R&B feeling when you play gospel music. It

fuses all of them together to create a very modern, "urban"

sound.

It's hard to explain but they have live video clip samples on

their website so I recommend going through them all. You'll

learn a lot.

Visit: http://www.hearandplay.com/go/?p=a480396&w=gkurban600

Meanwhile, here are a few things it covers:

* How to implement a host of simple tricks that are guaranteed

to instantly add that well-known west coast, "urban" flavor to

your playing (...you hear this style on a lot of contemporary

gospel albums)

* Beef up your playing drastically by adding these small little

grace notes, slides, and fill-ins to your chord transitions.

Jon utilizes this trick at least 80% of the time and he spills

the beans on exactly what to do to "own" it.

* How to master the art of passing chords so that your chord

progressions and songs never sound dull or "predictable." As

you'll learn in the course, the goal is to be unpredictable."

That's when you know you've arrived.

* Learn the ways of the west coast and how to contemporize your

playing by using countless numbers of "phat" chords, movements,

and accidentals!

* How to play tons of opened and closed chords and how to use

them at the right time.

... And much much more!

Visit: http://www.hearandplay.com/go/?p=a480396&w=gkurban600

...for more information visit the above websites and also visit my website for free resources. God's Glory http://www.chevonnereynolds.webs.com

All the best,

Chevonne Reynolds

God's Glory

Words to live by for musicians and others!

2011-05-27T10:00:00.001-04:00

These are just a few lessons that I have learned the hard way from playing music for over the past 12 years. I just wanted to share these things with you because many of you are beginning musicians. If you’re not a musician, some of these words of wisdom can and will apply in any area or field you explore. Your success or failure in ANYTHING is dependent upon the amount of dedication and time you’re willing to put into it or the lack there of. No time…No success….Much time….Much success!! It’s a simple as that. We must realize that God has not equipped everyone to do or be successful at everything. For example, some people can’t sing no matter how hard they try. Whereas, other people have been gifted with a beautiful voice and can sing anything. So don’t expect to be able to just do anything. Now let’s go into the words of wisdom.

1. If you’re going to do something….do it right!! Don’t half do ANYTHING!! Either you want to do something or you don’t. Many times we expect to just hit or miss when it comes to doing things for God but you don’t want him to do you like that do you? If you ask God to bless you with a car, you don’t want him to give you half a car…do you? NO!! So don’t half do anything for him. Many times we pick up music because the musician leaves the church or just as something to do. If you have just picked it up as something to keep you busy, this doesn’t apply to you. What I am saying applies to someone who is ministering music for their church. I know you may have a job, kids, etc. I am a very busy woman as well but whatever you do for the love must be done with all you’ve got. God knows very well what we do every day but he also knows that we have to priorities things also. The things of God MUST carry more weight than regular things. Colossians 3:23 says: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.

2. Don’t allow a few negative comments to deter you! It’s a shame, but some of the meanest most inconsiderate people can be found in the church. I don’t mean other musicians, I mean people who can’t play dead but yet they have the most to say about what you do or don’t do. Keep in mind, this doesn’t just apply to being a musician…you could be an usher, preacher, choir director, financial advisor, etc. Sometimes people just love to hate on people who are doing something. Why? Just because they can, I guess. Either way, you have to be determined to not allow these people to stop you from achieving your vision or goals. I have had people tell me that I might as well quit because I would never be good enough anyway. I’ve been called out in front of a group of people and been told all sorts of mean and hurtful things. The worse part about it was my leader allowed this person to do this in front of everyone even though he knew I was just starting out. I must admit that I basically quit after that because I felt that what this person was saying had to be true if he allowed it. I have since learned otherwise but you get the point, words can be very, very destructive but you have to find a way to keep going. There’s been plenty said since then, but I’m never going to allow that stuff to stop me again. I’ll relocate before I allow anyone to stop me from using my gift. Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

3. Don’t allow a few positive comments to give you the big head! Allowing positive comments to get to you can be just as disastrous as allowing negative comments to get to you. Why? Because that is called the spirit of pride. Pride is when a person fails to give God all of the credit for their gifts or good deeds. You may think this sounds odd but I’m telling you…when people hear you play or do anything they tend to pat you on the back. The pats on the back themselves are not harmful, it’s how you receive them. Jesus was told all the time, how great he was but he always received those comments humbly. Even Jesus was humble…so what do you think about us. Jesus was able to turn water into wine before he went to the cross…he raised people from the dead before he went to the cross but yet he didn’t ignore the fact that God was the one working through him. We mustn’t forget this either. It’s all by the power of God that we even have our being. So don’t get too high or too low. Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

4. Put time and dedication into your craft. This means you must invest practice. If you’re a musician, learn from other more seasoned musicians. Purchase materials that pertain to your craft. If you don’t have any money to spend, there are lots of tutorials on Youtube, my website http://www.chevonnereynolds.webs.com, as well as countless other websites such as LGM, Hearandplay, Gospelmusicians, etc. If you’re a preacher, learn from other more seasoned preachers. There are countless study websites and sermon search sites. Just put in the effort and God will bless your effort. 1 Corinthians 3:7-8 So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. In other words, whatever you put in, is what you’ll get out. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing. I have listed some practice techniques on my website for beginning pianists, organist, or drummers. No matter how slow your learning may seem to progress…you have to make up your mind to keep going. Those seasoned musicians you hear playing had to start somewhere.

5. You must have patience!! Your skills may not come instantaneously but it will come if you continue to make an effort. It has taken me a longer period of time than others because of many things but God has still blessed my effort. When you pick up a cd, it can be very difficult for a beginning musician. It sounds like those musicians have 12 or 13 hands and double the amount of fingers, but they don’t! They have put in the time, effort, practice, and patience. Anyone who gets or receives anything easily, will not appreciate it as much in the long run. Look at kids who get cars just for turning 16 years old. They usually go right out and wreck their new car but those who work for their car, cherish that car and guard it with every fiber of their being. The same principle applies when it comes to earning the things of God. Ecclesiastes 5:3 [Amp] For a dream comes with much business and painful effort, and a fool's voice with many words.

6. Pray!! This should have been listed number one but for purposes of this post, I’ll list it here. Prayer is IMPERATIVE!! Before you make a goal of achieving anything, you must pray first. You may have a gift of doing a particular thing but that gift came from God. James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Prayer gives you power, patience, and determination you don’t even know you have. I’m not going to go too far into detail but prayer is a conversation between you and God. When you pray, you are telling God, “I can’t do this with my own strength, I NEED YOUR HELP”!!! The most basic thing that you can do as a Christian is BELIEVE! You have to believe God faithfully and without doubt. If he gave you the gift, he will see it through. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing. Psalm 138:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth forever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. So we have to remember to keep talking to God, not only about our gifts, but about EVERYTHING!! This is just a small list of things that you need to know as a musician or whatever you are, but if you put these things into practice, YOU WILL GROW and PROGRESS in whatever you do!! Not because I'm saying so, but because God say's so. If you include God in whatever you do, he will bless it!! Just keep in mind that things take times. Things are almost never going to come instantly and without great effort, but if you keep on keepin on, God will elevate you to heights you would never imagine.

More helpful scriptures:

Joshua 1:8-9 [Amp] This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good [b]success. Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Hebrews 13:5

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

1 Corinthians 3:24-27 [English Standard Version]

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Phillippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Romans 12:1-2

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

John 15:16

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Remain blessed

Why keep believing, when everything around you says otherwise?

2011-05-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

How do you continue to believe when everything around you says otherwise. This particular question has been known to cause a lot of discord and really get people upset. Why? Because chances are they are trying to make a sinner believe in something they are too blind to understand. This question is also asked among believers as well. I found myself asking this question this week after the sudden sickness of my baby sister in law. But as a person who has been delivered from the impossible...I know better than to fool around like this. God has shown himself strong in my life a million or more times. Today I'm going to share with you some things that help me cope with impossible situations.

First thing we must realize is that what is impossible to man is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS possible with God. There is no storm or trial that you face that is impossible for God to bring you through. I recall the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo. Before I go into them being thrown into the furnace let's look at Daniel 3:16-18 [NIV] ¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us^[c] from Your Majesty’s hand. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Notice what they said in verse 18 (my interpretation) Even if he doesn't deliver us....We will not give up. My God what faith these men must've had in the face of a dire situation!! We must have this same type of resolve when it comes to dealing with our daily tests.

Now in Daniel 3:19-25 [NIV] says: 19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual 20 and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. 21 So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. 22 The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, 23 and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace.

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?”

They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”

25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

As you can see the King got mad and threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo into the furnace but God allowed them to come out without so much as a scent of smoke on them. That's the God we serve! A God who is able to do the absolute impossible...IF...we are willing to just believe him. Either you believe or you don't. Don't be the type of person who is what we call a fair weather Saint. Be all in or nothing. I KNOW that God is my only choice. Whether he gives me what I want or not....I'm not going anywhere because there is nowhere else to go. What am I going to do when trouble arises? Call the President? That won't help me. What am I going to do, call on a friend or family member? There are some situations in which God is the only one who can help you. This situation that my sister is dealing with, is one of those situations.

Why keep believing for her complete recovery when there are other members in the same family who have suffered the same thing, but still have not recovered. We're talking almost a decade or more with no healing! I'll tell you why. Because there is no other answer. I know that's simple and too light of an answer for some of you deep folks but I'm not deep....I'm saved and I believe that there is NOTHING too hard for my God. Many times if you're not careful, you can become too deep and end up over complicating the simplest things. Hebrews 11:1 which says...Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The word NOW is highlighted because it is one of the most important words in this scripture. It means that one must have NOW FAITH...in other words, I believe right Now...I believe tomorrow...I believe in 10 years...I believe FOREVER!! My faith in God will never end!

Finally I want to share with you 2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus. He will never fail...He can not lie....His word is eternal...It will not return unto him void or without affect. As long as we know that God is still sitting on the throne and that he still has all power in his hands....we have no choice but to continue to believe and trust in him. He knows what we don't know. Isaiah says that his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. He is able to see what we can not yet see or understand. He already knows the outcomes of our lives and everyone in this world. God is Omnipotent...he's Omnipresent!! So whatever we face in life, understand that there's nothing I can do anyway. Worrying isn't going to make this situation better so I may as well rest in God. He'll do what needs to be done...and if he doesn't...I still believe and know that he can!!!

Remain blessed

Don't wait until the storm comes to build your house!

2011-05-06T12:00:00.003-04:00

Let's just imagine for a minute....a huge, ferocious, violent storm. Imagine the winds blowing 150 mph and trees being uprooted from the ground. Now imagine a carpenter out in the middle of that storm trying to build a house. Sounds crazy doesn't it? Sounds down right INSANE doesn't it? Why? Because he should wait until the weather is fair to build a house. What if I told you that this type of thing happens all the time among Christians. We don't store up prayers and fasting in times of plenty and in times of success. Many Christians wait until the devastations of life come to begin to fast and pray. Today we're going to talk about this and how to keep laziness and complacency from taking a hold on us.

Genesis 41:47-49 and 53-55 (Amplified version) says:

47 In the seven abundant years the earth brought forth by handfuls [for each seed planted].

48 And he gathered up all the [surplus] food of the seven [good] years in the land of Egypt and stored up the food in the cities; he stored away in each city the food from the fields around it.

49 And Joseph gathered grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it could not be measured.

53 When the seven years of plenty were ended in the land of Egypt,

54 The seven years of scarcity and famine began to come, as Joseph had said they would; the famine was in all [the surrounding] lands, but in all of Egypt there was food.

55 But when all the land of Egypt was weakened with hunger, the people [there] cried to Pharaoh for food; and Pharaoh said to [them] all, Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.

Before I go any further, I think that it's important for me to explain what I mean when I say "storm". There are various types of storms such as: tornado, hurricane, tsunami, blizzard, etc. In this particular post we're not talking about those types of storms, we are talking about the storms of life. What are storms of life you may ask? A storm of life could be any of the following: job loss, death of a loved one, loss of health, children misbehaving, poverty, trouble in your marriage, and other related issues. Now that we have explained that let's go into the Word of God.

In the above scriptures we can see that Joseph used foresight. He knew that according to Pharaoh's dream, there would be 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine. Instead of overlooking the revelation that God gave him, he decided to put something back for the 7 years of famine. Many times Christians get that income tax check and go out and spend every last cent of it. I know because my husband and I have been guilty of this very thing. When tough times came we always ran into trouble simply because we didn't think about saving anything in our time of plenty.

People often ask me, why do you ask people to pray for your marriage when everything is still going fine? I tell them because I don't want to wait until things get bad before we get prayer. We want to store prayers up right now so that when we face problems, we will be able to withstand the enemy. Look around and see how many good people are ending up divorced and you'll completely understand why we have to get down to business with God when things are going well. Don't wait until the storm comes to build your house! 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (KJV) says: Pray without ceasing. No matter how good things are going in life, remember to stay prayerful. Don't wait until someone dies to pray...Don't wait until you lose your job to pray....Don't wait until another terrorist attack happens to pray....Now is the needed time.

Before I end this post let me also say that it's important that we not only invest prayers and fasting but we should also invest time. Not just time with God but also time with our loved ones. What usually happens is we get comfortable and complacent when it comes to spending time with our family, but when that person passes away we want to nut up and go crazy. We then start to regret that we didn't call or visit that person. I've been guilty of the same thing. I've been blessed with the best grandparents that any human being could ever have. They raised me from the age of 10 years old to the age of 23. They raised me in spite of the fact that they had already raised their kids to be productive adults. After I got married and had two kids of my own, I became so enveloped in them that I didn't give my grandparents the time they deserved. Now that God has brought this to my attention, I do all I can to spend more time with them. So it's important that we invest our time as well as our prayers into every area and aspect of our lives. Don't wait until the storm comes to build your house!!

Remain blessed

Chevonne Reynolds

God's Glory http://www.chevonnereynolds.webs.com

Pursue your dreams and goals!

2011-04-30T04:17:00.006-04:00

I have been so blessed to have come into contact with people who have been willing to help me better myself with no strings attached. For quite a while it's been my vision to be able to someday give back what was so freely given to me. That time has finally come in the form of a new website God blessed me with called "God's Glory". It's not professional or anything like that but I just wanted to at least make a start. I began this site on April 28th and I must say that it has been very exciting and difficult at the same time. My mind's been going 100 miles per hour with new ideas that I believe would be an asset to Christians, musicians, singers, churches, businesses, etc. I realize that maintaining a website is a very tedious thing but I also believe that God will give me the strength, wisdom, and determination I need in order to maintain this site. The only real failure in life is the failure to try.

There are so many people out there who have dreams, goals, and visions but they've been told all their lives that they could never dream. They've been told that they just have to go with the flow and not think outside the box. I can't speak for any other race but as a black woman, I know that I have found more discouragement from my own race than anywhere else. For some reason, we grew up being told to never dream. Thank God that I have come into the knowledge of the truth. What is this truth I learned you ask? The truth is God has planted dreams and visions inside of each and ever person regardless of the sex, race, limitations, and creed. God wants us to dream! He wants us to see ourselves doing the impossible. Why? Because this gives him the opportunity to show himself strong. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says: For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

One of the best examples I've read in the Bible about pursuing the impossible is found in 1 Samuel the 30th chapter. If you get a chance read the entire chapter but for the sake of this post I will focus on verse 8 which says: 8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. God told him to PURSUE! Why? Because this gave God the opportunity to reveal his power in an impossible situation. Don't be afraid be afraid to pursue your dreams! Don't allow anything or anyone to hinder or abort the dream God has placed inside of you. Will it be easy? NO! Will you face opposition? YES! But God wouldn't have given you a dream that he couldn't make come true. Luke 1:37 says: For with God nothing shall be impossible. All we have to do is believe and PURSUE!!

As a new site owner I welcome people's input, especially other site owners. So far people have really encouraged me but I have also been given the doomsday scenario of running and maintaining a site. I don't let it bother me because many times people tell me things like this because they have tried it and failed and they just don't want me to go through the same thing. I just can't allow myself to think negatively right now. I have to continue to pursue my dream because I want my dreams to become reality. They already are to tell the truth.

I can't close this post without sharing some of the features of my site and without inviting anyone who reads this post to check it out. You can click on this link to visit http://www.chevonnereynolds.webs.com . If you like it please feel free to join it's free! Please pray that God helps me see this thing through. There's a lot of work involved but I have confidence in God. Below is a clip of me demonstrating the features of "God's Glory"

Would you like to improve your singing?

2011-04-26T20:02:00.003-04:00

Dear Singer,

If you're interested in improving your singing,

I've found the perfect resource for you.

The Vocal Mastery System will help you extend

your vocal range, eliminate straining, perfect

your pitch, and start singing in any key like

a pro within weeks.

In fact, most students report feeling and

hearing the difference in their singing within

days of taking just the first course in the

system.

Visit:

http://www.hearandplay.com/go/?w=300pg&p=a480396

By the way, there are 10 different courses

wrapped up into one system. There's something

for the total beginner, the intermediate

singer, and even the advanced, experienced

performer (like the "Runs & Stylization" cd).

I recommend visiting their website, reading

what it has to offer, and listening to some

of the free lesson clips. You'll learn a lot

just on the website.

Visit:

http://www.hearandplay.com/go/?w=300pg&p=a480396

If you have any questions, please do not

hesitate to let me know.

All the best,

2011-04-26T13:25:00.000-04:00

Matthew 28:1-17

1 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary

Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

After the Sabbath, on Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead. This fact led to

the disciples and early Christians meeting together weekly on “the first day of the

week” (see Mark 16:9; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). They broke bread (perhaps

meaning they celebrated the Lord’s Supper) and perhaps received a collection

and probably heard the scriptures read (probably including the Old Testament,

gospel portions, and letters from the apostles) and taught or discussed the

scriptures. The women went to care for the entombed body of Jesus, not because

they expected to see Him raised from the dead.

2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the

Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and

sat on it.

The earthquake was explained by the coming of the angel to roll away the stone

door in front of the tomb. The angel then sat on the stone, remaining at the tomb

entrance. The angel did not come to let Jesus out of the tomb (as Jesus had the

stone rolled away for Lazarus to come out of the tomb alive when He called

Lazarus to come out). Jesus passed through the stone walls, for the women found

the tomb empty and they did not see Jesus walk out of the tomb when the angel

rolled away the stone. Jesus later passed through walls or a closed door to appear

to His disciples who were fearfully hiding in a locked room (see John 20:19).

3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

The angel appeared to both the guards and the women. The women were not

confused about where Jesus was buried or the location of His tomb (see Matthew

27:61). The guards reacted with fear, similar to the guards’ terrified response

when Jesus died on the cross and there was an earthquake (see Matthew 27:54).

The Bible says we can entertain angels unawares (see Hebrews 13:2). In the case

of Jesus’ resurrection, both guards and women were aware of the angel coming to

the tomb and they were overwhelmed at his appearing.

4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.

The Roman guards had both a physical and mental reaction to the angel. Rather than bravely stand their ground as they had been taught and challenge the angel

over his actions, they shook with fear and fell to the ground. Perhaps they had

also learned from the guards at the crucifixion (or were the same guards) that

Jesus was the Son of God, so they expected immediate execution from an angry

God at the hands of the angel. The guards fell unconscious and the women

witnessed their response.

5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you

are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

The angel disregarded the guards, and sought to comfort the women who had

come to honor Jesus by caring for his dead body according to their burial

practices. The angel reinforced the fact that Jesus had indeed been crucified; that

in fact He had died and had been buried at that exact location where he appeared.

The women were right to come there looking for Jesus, but they were not

accurate in their thinking because they expected to find Jesus still dead.

6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the

place where he lay.

The angel corrected their thinking and invited them to become witnesses

regarding the empty tomb. He declared they would not find Jesus’ body because

Jesus had been raised (though at one time Jesus had been laid in the empty

tomb, in which no other body had ever been laid). Jesus’ resurrection had

occurred sometime prior that day, prior to the opening of the tomb by the angel

and the earthquake. The angel’s perfect timing made it possible for the women to

see the guards guarding the tomb, experience the earthquake, and see the stone

rolled away before they entered the tomb. There could be no confusion or doubt

about someone having come to the tomb earlier to remove Jesus’ body.

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the

dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see

him.’ This is my message for you.”

After the women saw where Jesus had been laid and the angel once again

emphasized that Jesus had been dead and had been raised from the dead, the

angel told them that Jesus also had the ability to travel to Galilee (He had not just

been resuscitated, which would have required months of rehabilitation). Jesus

would later need to demonstrate His fully human resurrected powers by

appearing to them in a locked room to convince them that He was alive and well

and that they should travel to Galilee to see Him again.

8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell

his disciples.

The women believed the angel because he was no ordinary man and miracles

accompanied his appearing. They saw the guards fall in fear. They saw the empty tomb. They felt the earthquake and the earthquake’s perfect timing. They saw the

angel roll the stone away without the help of other angels or people. Presumably,

the disciples felt the great earthquake where they were in hiding, and the women

could explain the cause of the earthquake. The two women could give good and

sufficient reasons for the disciples to believe that Jesus had been raised from the

dead, but the disciples were foolish and slow to believe (see Luke 24:25-26).

9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to

him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

The Bible teaches the need for two witnesses in case of a trial. Two witnesses to

an event should be believed in they are know to be trustworthy. The Hebrews

knew that witnesses would be held accountable by God for bearing false witness

or lying. In addition to the events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection, both the angel

and the living, resurrected Lord Jesus bore witness to the fact that Jesus had

been raised from the dead. At this point in time, the women worshiped Jesus as

would all those in the early Christian church. Jesus received their worship as was

He right as the Son of God. Angels and the apostles (no matter what miracles they

worked) always refused the worship of others, saying only God deserved to be

worshiped. Jesus did not refuse to be worshiped. He willingly received the

worship of others as God.

10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers

to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

This was the second time that the women were told not to be afraid. Though

Jesus is the Son of God, He called His disciples “brothers” (see also Hebrews

2:11). He reaffirmed what the angel told the women, again we have two witnesses

to the command because the command was given to them twice by two different

persons. Obedience to this command would become a test for the disciples, and

they failed the test by remaining in the locked room until Jesus appeared to them

to convince them He was raised from the dead—which also gives us more good

reasons to believe that the facts presented regarding Jesus’ resurrection are true.

11 While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and

told the chief priests everything that had happened.

The women went to reveal the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to His disciples as

He commanded. The guards went to reveal the “bad news” (from their

perspective) to the people responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion and death. They felt

the earthquake, and presumably so did the chief priests and the Roman

authorities, for the earthquake was great. The guards saw the angel and the

empty tomb, and they reported all of this to the religious authorities.

12 After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan

to give a large sum of money to the soldiers,

The elders of the people were convinced by the facts the soldiers presented to

them, but just as they had lied and borne false witness to crucify Jesus, one who

was innocent, so they implicated the guards in bearing false witness again

regarding His resurrection. To avoid being held responsible for the death of the

Son of God, and for other reasons, they bribed the soldiers (another crime by

religious leaders) to join in their lying schemes.

13 telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole

him away while we were asleep.’

The lie that the religious leaders devised is highly implausible. The disciples’

hopes were crushed. They went into hiding. They would not venture out of

hiding, but the women did go to Jesus’ grave. They were hiding in fear that they

would be found and crucified too, as rebels, to satisfy the blood lust of the

religious leaders. The women went to embalm Jesus’ body. None of Jesus’

followers had any reason to steal His body or try to concoct a fraud that would

lead to their deaths. All of this is plausible and consistent with the facts of

Scripture. They certainly would not have had the courage to steal Jesus’ body or

fight armed Roman guards, or take the chance of awakening the Roman guards

while they slept as they rolled away a heavy stone. How could the Roman guards

have stayed asleep while a stone was rolled away, especially since they would be

killed for failure to do their duty in securing Jesus’ body (see Acts 16:27)?

14 If this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep

you out of trouble.”

Everyone knew the guards would be punished for failure to do their duty, and the

story would have resulted in their execution, so the religious leaders determined

to achieve their fraud by plotting with the governor or lying to him. The guards

needed the leaders to protect them and explain the disappearance of Jesus’ body

for them. If they had not been bribed, to escape punishment for dereliction of

duty, the guards would have told the truth.

15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this

story is still told among the Jews to this day.

Even today, various atheists and other religious teachers promote the story

concocted by these religious leaders (or some variation of the story) in their

efforts to deny the fact of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. This is another

prophecy that has been fulfilled. For almost 2,000 years since the gospel of

Matthew was written “this story is still told among the Jews to this day.” (I will

not promote any of these books here, but if you want to know an example you can

send an e-mail to me.)

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which

Jesus had directed them.

Matthew wrote a shortened version of Jesus’ resurrection appearances and added

some facts some of the other gospel writers omitted (this is to be expected of any

biographer). From the other gospels we learn that the disciples did not

immediately believe the women and do what Jesus commanded them to do

through the women; however, the eleven did eventually go to Galilee as Jesus had

commanded them and as Matthew reported. They should have immediately

believed and obeyed what Jesus said through the women, but they did not (Jesus

called them foolish).

17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.

Just as the women worshiped Jesus, some of the disciples also worshiped Jesus

when He appeared to them on the mountain. Rather than doubting His

resurrection (which they had become convinced of by Jesus himself), I believe

that some doubted whether they should worship Jesus as God. Jesus’ response

when He gave them the Great Commission answers the doubt about whether they

should worship Him as God, for Matthew wrote (beginning with verse 18) “And

Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been

given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching

them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with

you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20). Notice: Jesus used

“name” in the singular when speaking of “the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit.” He declared clearly that worshiping Him as God was right and

permissible.

Remain blessed

God's mercy is new every morning!

2011-04-21T12:00:00.000-04:00

For some reason or another, I have found myself waking up earlier and earlier in the morning. I finally figured out that God wanted to share some things with me concerning his mercy and grace. Many people don't understand that God gives us a do-over every day. Every day that I wake up is a chance for me to correct what I got wrong yesterday. Every day that I wake up is a chance for me to experience his undying love.

Lamentations 3:21-23 KJV says: This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness!!

Before I go any further let me just say: I get tired of this entitlement mentality that has crept into Christians and prevails in American society today. This attitude that "I have a right to it" or "I am entitled to it" or "You owe it to me." This idea that we have no responsibilities, no obligations, no price to pay; that we don't have to work or put any effort into succeeding in life. Getting saved is the easy part but excelling in the faith will cost you something. It is a heretical notion that somehow the Lord owes us something. The Lord does not owe us anything: we owe Him everything!

Jeremiah tells us, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, then it follows that our salvation, our not being consumed, is entirely on God's terms. Again, taking the Bible as a whole, we see that the Lord does set the conditions on which we will be saved. Now, mind you, our meeting these conditions still doesn't entitle us to salvation. We still have not earned it. And we can never earn it (Matthew 19:26). We'll never be entitled or have a right to it -- at least not by anything we can ever say or do in and of ourselves. Paul tells us in Titus 3:5-7 (one of those anti-works proof-texts) "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration" (water baptism in Jesus' name) "and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (receiving the Holy Ghost); "which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Verse 23 tells us, "They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness," like we sing in the old hymn. What are new every morning? God's compassion. They are fresh in our lives every day. They are in full strength. They do not deteriorate, spoil or go stale. We've heard throughout our Christian journey about how much the Lord loves us and cares for us. Here is yet another confirmation of this. And that's the whole point: it is HIS love, HIS care, HIS mercy, His compassion. It is of the Lord's mercies! It is of the Lord's mercies! It is of the Lord's mercies! Revelation 4:11 tells us, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." God isn't here for us, we're here for Him. We're here to honor Him, glorify Him, bring pleasure to Him; not the other way around. Any blessing or pleasure or honor we receive as a result of our serving Him, is entirely out of the goodness of His heart.

I believe that Christians can get a bit self-righteous and think they are more than what they are. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Everyday we must understand just how much of a mess we would be in without God's mercy. We may not speak wrong but we all have had wrong thoughts. Look at the many scriptures about thoughts and how powerful they are. I have thought of committing suicide in the past and even attempted it but THANK GOD FOR HIS MERCY!! We will never deserve the unfailing, undying, unmerited favor that God bestows upon us. So let us always remember this before we decide to bad mouth someone for the wrong they've done. If it wasn't for mercy you wouldn't be where you are.

Remain blessed

Praise your way out!

2011-04-07T12:00:00.001-04:00

Did you know that your praise is one of your greatest weapons? Praise is a weapon that can be used to deliver us from any problem or situation. It takes absolutely nothing to praise God when things are going alright but something happens when you praise God in the face of adversity. You can praise your way out of any situation. Let's look at an example of this.

Acts 16:23-32 (KJV)

²³And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:

²⁴Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

²⁵And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

²⁶And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

²⁷And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

²⁸But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

²⁹Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

³⁰And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

³¹And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

³²And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

As you can see, Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Can you imagine doing your job and getting beaten and thrown in prison for it? Instead of Paul and Silas mumbling and complaining they begin to use their main weapon...praise. Even though, they had been beaten and humiliated they chose to praise the Lord. As we have said before, something happens when you praise God in the midst of your trials and tribulations.

We must realize that getting saved doesn't cost us anything but in order to go anywhere in Christ it comes with a great price. Paul and Silas had to pay for doing what thus says the Lord. If you notice something begin to happen when they praised God. There was an earthquake that took place. An earthquake that was so powerful that it loosed their shackles and set them free. Not only did their praise deliver them, but it delivered everyone else that was in jail that night. Notice that Paul and Silas could easily have escaped but they didn't. They stayed there in order to do the work of the Lord. And because of their obedience to God, the guard/keeper got saved that night. Why? Because praise is a powerful weapon. That guard knew that there was something different about these guys. He saw the impossible happen and wanted what Paul and Silas had. Christians should radiate the power of God so strongly that people know there's something different about us. People will marvel at you when you refuse to allow your situation to dictate your happiness.

No matter what you're facing today in your life, just like Paul and Silas praised their way out...you can praise your way out. We just have to make up our minds that we're not going to take our focus off of what really matters and that's living to please God. Has God ever failed you? No, so why would he fail you now. Understand that God is with us wherever we go, just waiting to show himself strong. All we have to do is trust him. When you praise God in the midst of your storm you are telling him, "God I trust you"..."God I know you're going to make a way out of no way"...."God I know that somehow, someway you're going to work this out in my favor". Things can not remain the same when you begin to praise God anyhow. So chose today not to mumble your way out, not to grumble your way out, not to worry your way out, but to Praise your way out!!!

Remain blessed

To live, we must die!

2011-04-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES:

Genesis 45:1-15
1 Corinthians 15:35-50

When I say, "To live, we must die," it cannot be in the physical world, for we know that in the physical world, we live until we die.

Thus, "To live, we must die," is an expression to describe what must take place spiritually for us to enter our everlasting life with the Lord.

But then, we may ask, "How must we die, that we may live forever?"

The answer is that we must die to our pride and to our other sins.

So, this morning we are going to look at two examples of this dying to self.

The first example is from Genesis 45:1-15, when Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, the very brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt.

1. Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, "Have everyone go out from me." So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
2. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it.

Joseph had known who his brothers were for a long time, and he had been playing a game with them, to bring fear to their hearts, because of what they had done to him.

But now, Joseph can no longer do that, for his previous actions are troubling him, and he is really glad to see them.

Joseph was dying to self, to his office of prime minister of Egypt, and to his thoughts of revenge.

Joseph was just their brother.

3. Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
4. Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come closer to me." And they came closer. And he said, "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
5. "And now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.

Sometimes we question how much we are to forgive others.

But here, we see that there should be no limit, no matter what was done against us.

Joseph was looking at the bigger picture, and not just at the sinful act done against him.

Joseph saw the hand of God in the whole matter.

Joseph saw how God turned their evil into good, because of the way he lived before the Lord.

So he explains further to his brothers what is still to take place.

6. "For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
7. "And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
8. "Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9. "Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph, "God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.
10. "And you shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.
11. "There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your household and all that you have be impoverished." ’
12. "And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you.
13. "Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here."
14. Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck.
15. And he kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

Joseph was acting as a type of Noah, who was there to save his family from the disaster to come.

He was not forcing them to come and be saved, but he was encouraging them.

But the ultimate decision was theirs to make.

They, likewise, had to die to self; for they would now have to tell their father what they had done, and stand before him confessing that they knowingly brought all the past grief upon him, who mourned for his son.

We can also see in the life of Joseph an example of God's saving grace given to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is also telling us He has paid the price of our sins, and is willing to forgive us, and to bring us to a land of everlasting life; but we, on our own, must die to self, confessing our sins to our Father in heaven, and then willingly come to Him.

In other words, we too must die, if we are to live.

Let's now take a look at our second example for this morning,

1 Corinthians 15:35-50, where Paul is trying to explain this concept of dying to self to the Corinthians.

35. But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?"
36. You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies;
37. and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

Paul is trying to explain to them, and to us, that a spiritual being is no longer the same as the physical being it was before rebirth, or when we are planted in the Lord.

And as we go on, picture our life before we came to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, as a seed, and our life with Him as the growing plant that produces additional seed of its own.

38. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
39. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
40. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another.
41. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

Remember that this was written before microscopes or telescopes, or any of the technical advancements we have today; yet, what Paul is saying we know to be true.

Thus, it should be the reminder to us of what he is saying of the spiritual realm.

42. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;
43. it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
44. it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

We cannot see the spiritual body now, but one day hopefully we will all see it, and rejoice.

Now Paul gives us another example of how we got to where we are today: that we will look to what we shall be, if we take advantage of what is being offered to us.

45. So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

“The last Adam” refers to Jesus.

46. However, the spiritual is not first [speaking of God's created beings], but the natural; then the spiritual.
47. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
48. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.

Here is where the choice must be made, for we are earthy until we choose to be heavenly.

49. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

We must remember that Paul is speaking to believers, for until we are born again, we do not bear the image of the heavenly.

50. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

We must die to that part of us that is perishable, and we must be spiritually born into that which is imperishable.

And what is imperishable will not die or decay, for it is no longer physical, but spiritual.

Thus, to live, we must die.

Seek Christ, that we may live.

And encourage others to do the same; that we may live together in everlasting love and peace forever and ever.

Jude 17-25

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Jude 17-25

17 But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Jude calls us to think about the predictions and prophecies in the Bible, especially the predictions of the apostles as they travelled with Jesus and learned from Him the prophecies He would fulfill in His first coming and those He would fulfill in His second coming. We need to be watching what is happening in our world today and consider the predictions in the Bible as we make ready for the Lord’s return.

18 for they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.”

What we know as selfish, self-centered, self-indulgent, sinful worldly pleasures Jude labels “ungodly lusts.” Those who are motivated to indulge these ungodly lusts scoff at God, at the Bible, at Bible-believing Christians, whether Christians try to encourage them and offer to help them change their behavior or not. As the second coming of Jesus Christ draws near, such ridicule and scoffing by unbelievers will increase in volume and intensity, often leading to persecution. Moreover, such scoffers will develop their own belief system or theology or adopt an established one or find a church that will enable them to live an ungodly life, harden their conscience, and disregard the truth of God.

19 It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions.

Unfortunately, Jude needed to recognize and warn people about situations we also know of by experience today. In the church, we find worldly people who do not follow Jesus Christ and His teachings, people who do not believe the Bible is the infallible word of God (without error in all that the Bible affirms). These people are not indwelt by the Holy Spirit; indeed, they actually call God a liar when they reject the Bible’s clear and consistent teachings on the most basic moral and theological truths that Jesus and the apostles especially upheld as of first importance for all believers and the church in all times and places. They reject the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit as He tries to teach them the meaning of the Bible and help them apply the Bible’s teachings to their behaviors and beliefs. Such people cause divisions in the church, divisions that we experience or hear about almost everyday, divisions we try to overcome in Christ. 2

20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;

Our response as Bible-believing Christians to such self-centered people and sinful situations must begin with increasing our own faith in the face of such disappointments within the church. We need to increase our most “holy faith,” a “holy faith” that loves, trusts, and obeys the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. We do this with constant prayer as we study the word of God written, the Bible, to hear from God with a purpose to obey God and go wherever God leads. We pray with the Holy Spirit and in the Holy Spirit, Who indwells us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit prays (or intercedes) for us even in our grief and groaning.

21 keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

Furthermore, we want to knowingly remain within the circle of God's live by obeying His commands in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus declared: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Though believers sin from time to time, rather than live in the practice of known sin (of which they are ashamed) as they did in the past, we look to the merciful forgiveness and grace of Jesus Christ to save us and lead us into eternal life – now and forever. In these troubled days, to “look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” gives us a heartwarming blessedness.

22 And have mercy on some who are wavering;

The pressures from those who are worldly in the church and the temptations the world puts before us to lead us astray can become so great that some may waver in their faith and temporarily walk into sin. Believers need to have mercy on these weak Christians or these times of weakness in strong Christians (knowing that the same could happen to any of us) as we try to build everyone up in their faith in Jesus Christ, Who alone can save us and show us the way of escape.

23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.

There may be some believers that we can physically and mentally lead away from the false teaching and sinful temptations toward which they are committing themselves. We need to have mercy on many, with the fear and certain knowledge that if it were not for the Lord’s sustaining grace and power we would be headed in the wrong direction too. Unhappily, some can have so defiled themselves through sinful practices that we can even hate the clothing they wear, especially when their clothing and appearance sometimes advertises their sinful preferences and desires to entrap others in their lifestyle.

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing,

The pressures of sin and temptation in this world are so great that we cannot save ourselves from falling or walking into sin. We have all sinned in the past, and only Jesus Christ can free us from our slavery to sin or preference for sin. Only one Person can save us and bestow eternal life upon us – God in Jesus Christ – so we must turn to Jesus Christ moment-by-moment when the world tries to shape un into its mold. Only Jesus can cleanse us and help us so live that we will be able to stand before Him with a rejoicing heart when we meet Him face to face.

25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Pray only to God our Savior. Pray to God our Father in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Pray as Jesus taught us to pray: Jesus taught us to pray to the Father in His Name and make our requests known to God in His Name. Pray to God in the power and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In prayer and by the way we live, we also want to offer God our recognition that all glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to God alone, and not to any other being. We look forward to the time when the glory, majesty, power, and authority of God are obvious to all beings in heaven and on earth and wherever God has placed them. We look forward to the time when all will bow before God and acknowledge He is King of the universe.

Five Questions for Discussion

1. Why is it important for us as believers to remember some of the predictions

that Jesus Christ fulfilled in the past? In what ways does knowing the “yet to be fulfilled predictions” help you in your daily life?

2. In what specific ways do some scoff at Christians and Christian beliefs today? Pray for any who scoff at Christ and Christian teachings today.

3. What does “most holy faith” mean to you? Is there any distinction between “faith” and “most holy faith”?

4. In what ways can you keep yourself in the love of God? How can the church help people keep themselves in the love of God?

5. In what ways can believers and the church show mercy toward others today? Why must the mercy we show be “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ” instead of simply our own mercy? What is the difference between the two types?

2 Timothy Chapter 2

2011-03-31T22:06:00.004-04:00

As I have already shared before, I am now the Sunday school teacher at my church so whenever I get a chance I'd like to share some of what I plan to teach. Our lesson this week will be coming from 2 Timothy 2:8-15 . This lesson will hopefully bless someone.

Verse 8. "Remember that Jesus Christ" - The apostle seems to say: Whatever tribulations or deaths may befall us, let us remember that Jesus Christ, who was slain by the Jews, rose again from the dead, and his resurrection is the proof and pledge of ours. We also shall rise again to a life of glory and blessedness.

"According to my Gospel" - The false teaching of Hymeneus and Philetus stated that the resurrection was past already. Paul preached the resurrection from the dead; and founded his doctrine on the resurrection and promise of Christ. This was his Gospel; the other was of a different nature.

Verse 9. "Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer" - This verse contains one of the proofs that this epistle was written while St. Paul was a prisoner the second time at Rome. See the preface, where this is particularly considered.

Verse 10. "For the elect's sake" - For the sake of the Gentiles, elected by God's goodness to enjoy every privilege formerly possessed by the Jews, and, in addition to these, all the blessings of the Gospel; the salvation of Christ here, and eternal glory hereafter.

Verse 11. "If we be dead with him" - That is: As surely as Christ rose again from the dead, so surely shall we rise again; and if we die for him, we shall surely live again with him. This, says the apostle, is pistov o logov, a true doctrine. This is properly the import of the word; and we need not seek, as Bp. Tillotson and many others have done, for some saying of Christ which the apostle is supposed to be here quoting, and which he learned from tradition.

Verse 12. "If we suffer-with him" - These are other parts of the true doctrine, which the apostle mentions above.

Verse 13. "If we believe not" - Should we deny the faith and apostatize, he is the same, as true to his threatenings as to his promises; he cannot deny - act contrary to, himself.

Verse 14. "That they strive not about words" - WORDS, not things, have been a most fruitful source of contention in the Christian world; and among religious people, the principal cause of animosity has arisen from the different manner of apprehending the same term, while, in essence, both meant the same thing. All preachers and divines should be very careful, both in speaking and writing, to explain the terms they use, and never employ them in any sense but that in which they have explained them.

"The subverting of the hearers." - This is the general tendency of all polemical divinity and controversial preaching, when angry passions are called in to support the doctrines of the Gospel.

Verse 15. "Study to show thyself approved unto God" - Endeavour so to cultivate and improve thy heart and mind, that thou mayest not be a reproach to him from whom thou professest to receive thy commission.

"Rightly dividing the word of truth." - It is generally supposed that the apostle alludes here to the care taken to divide the sacrifices under the law; the priests studied, in dividing the victim down the spine, to do it so scrupulously that one half of the spinal marrow should be found on each side the backbone. Probably nothing was much farther from the apostle's thoughts than this view, which is now commonly taken of the subject.

Indeed this scrupulously dividing does not appear to have been any original ordinance among the Jews; much stress was laid upon it in later times, but from the beginning it was not so. The word orqotomein signifies, 1. Simply to cut straight, or to rectify. 2. To walk in the right way; it is thus used by Gregory Nazianzen, who, in Orat. Apol. fugae, opposes orqotomein to kakwv odeuein, walking in a right way to walking in a bad way. Thus, kainotomein signifies to walk in a new way, and kateuqunein to walk in a straight way. See Kypke. Therefore, by rightly dividing the word of truth, we are to understand his continuing in the true doctrine, and teaching that to every person; and, according to our Lord's simile, giving each his portion of meat in due season-milk to babes, strong meat to the full grown, comfort to the disconsolate, reproof to the irregular and careless; in a word, finding out the necessities of his hearers, and preaching so as to meet those necessities.

Are you on empty?

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Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

I’ve heard so many Christians ask, “How can I get more of the Holy Spirit?” As if the Holy Spirit is some kind of power or force that we can control or weild. What we should really be asking is, “How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?”

We cannot control this power from on high. If we could, then we could be led to pride and strut around as if we’re some kind of “Super Christian”.

But if we recognize that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person — and that this Person is actually willing to live in us, we’d greatly be humbled! We must be very honored that the Spirit of God would inhabit these these corrupt vessels of ours and more importantly that He would even consider using us!

It’s only when we empty ourselves that we truly become filled! Let’s empty ourselves of our selfish ambitions and desires today and allow ourselves to become broken before the Lord. We need to be truly filled with God’s Power if we’re going to impact the world for Him! There’s SOOOOOO much work to be done!!

Remain blessed

Commentary on 1 Timothy 2:1-6; 3:14-16

2011-03-04T08:43:00.004-05:00

I was recently named the Sunday school teacher at my church which I am very excited about. So now I want to share with my readers some of what I teach the students during class. This weeks lesson is titled "Instructions about worship". The following is a commentary that I will be sharing about this weeks lesson. It includes the scripture text from the New American Standard

Bible—Updated (NASU) and the King James Version (KJV), in addition to the

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

1 Timothy 2:1-6 — NRSV

2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions,

and thanksgivings be made for everyone,

Paul lists some types of requests that can be a part of every prayer (conversation

with God). Supplications discuss with God the needs of others and ourselves,

trusting that God knows and will meet the needs of His children. Intercessions

often involve concern for our sins and the sins of others, where we ask God to

forgive, cleanse, and free people from the power of sin. We sometimes pray as

though we were in their place, confessing their sins as though they were ours and

asking God to forgive us. We offer all of our prayers with thanksgiving to God,

Who by grace invites us to come to Him. Though we are undeserving to come into

His presence, He invites us to come in Jesus’ name. No one should be outside of

the circle of our prayer concerns, for Paul told us to pray for everyone.

2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a

quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.

In praying for everyone, Paul wants us to include leaders that are political or

religious, business or home, etc. Paul requests that we pray for God to work in

their lives so those who follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior do not suffer

persecution or hardships because they are believers, so believers can live godly

and receive respect for living righteous lives.

3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

Praying for everyone, for God to work in the lives of everyone to meet their needs

and help them make the changes in their heart, mind, and behavior that they

need to make is right and acceptable in God’s mind. God is our Savior, and the

Savior of all who trust in Him. We can pray for people, especially all leaders, to

come to know God and follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of

the truth.

God desires certain events. Some events are directly caused by God. Other events

are permitted by God as He allows people to exercise their ability to choose in

opposition to His will. God desires that everyone love God and their neighbor, but

many fight against God and His desire that we love Him and others. When people

come to a knowledge of the truth, they may choose to live in accordance with the

truth or not; they may choose to follow God as Savior or not. We can pray that

they will choose rightly, which is what God desires.

5 For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and

humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human,

Christians believe in one God, but here Paul writes of God the Father and God the

Son, two of the three Persons of the Trinity. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary

and conceived by the Holy Spirit; therefore, Jesus is fully human and fully divine.

As such, Jesus Christ can, did, and does serve as the One who brings God and

people together.

6 who gave himself a ransom for all — this was attested at the right

time.

Jesus’ death on the cross was sufficient to provide for the forgiveness of sin, the

cleansing from sin, and the freeing from sin of all people; however, some do not

want to be cleansed and freed from the sins they enjoy; some do not think they

need forgiveness nor do they want forgiveness from God. People can refuse to

accept the ransom that Jesus paid in their behalf. God sent His Son into the

world at just the right time, according to His plan and perfect timing.

1 Timothy 3:14-16 — NRSV

3:14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to

you so that,

Paul wrote his letter to Timothy in case he was delayed in coming to him. In the

providence of God, his letter was written and saved for us, and so it provides

instruction for us as well. The troubles Paul and Timothy faced we face today, and

the solutions are God-given for us to apply.

15 if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the

household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and

bulwark of the truth.

Paul describes in his letter the best way to behave and the church and the best

way to discipline and organize the church. The church is the household of the

living God. Those truly a part of the church are members of God’s family. The true church will hold up the truth, as a pillar holds up a roof, and the people will

live under and protected by the truth. The bulwark serves as a defense. The

bulwark protects people on the ship when waves wash over a deck. The church

must defend the truth which saves people and enables them to live godly lives

16 Without any doubt, the mystery of our religion is great: He was

revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed

among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory.

Jesus is the truth and the Bible is the truth of God written. We cannot and do not

understand completely all the truth of God, that we can understand enough truth

to be saved and enough truth to share with others that they might come to a

knowledge of the truth and be saved. Here, Paul describes Jesus, Who came in

the flesh so the invisible God became visible; Who was raised from the dead after

a ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit; Who was seen by angels at the to and

that his resurrection; Who is proclaimed as Lord and Savior not only among the

Jews, but also to non-Jews, who is believed in by some wherever the gospel is

preached around the world, and Who is seated at the right hand of God in glory.

1 Tim 2:1-6 — NASU Text

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings,

be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we

may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and

acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and

to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator

also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a

ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

1 Tim 3:14-16 — NASU Text

14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in

case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself

in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and

support of the truth. 16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:

He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels,

Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.

1 Tim 2:1-6 — KJV Text

2 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and

giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in

authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and

honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who

will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For

there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time

1 Tim 3:14-16 — KJV Text

14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: 15 But if I

tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the

house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the

truth. 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was

manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the

Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

[Feel free to leave your comments, conclusions, suggestions, and thoughts as a

Comment on the Bible Lesson Forum. We can learn from one another.]

Five Questions for Discussion

1. What does Paul say we should include in our prayers? Compare his list with

what we normally include or omit in our prayers. How might we need to improve

our prayer life? Can you add to Paul’s list (think of the Lord’s Prayer).

2. What reason does Paul give for praying for leaders? Can you think of additional

reasons to pray for them? Pray for the leaders where you live and others around

the world who need our prayers.

3. In what ways might a Christian leader govern differently from a non-Christian

leader, or differently from a “Christian” leader who does not govern according to

the revealed will and spirit of God in the Bible (who does not seek the Kingdom of

God and His righteousness, though he or she says they are Christian)?

4. Why is truth important? How you and your church can become a better “pillar

and bulwark of the truth”?

5. Read 1 Timothy 3:16 again. What does Paul include in his list that surprises

you? What truths about Jesus from the Bible would you add to Paul’s list? Give a

reason for your answers.

Remain blessed

Jesus took your sickness away!

2011-01-29T16:20:00.002-05:00

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5 (KJV)

Understanding what Jesus did for you on the cross will help you to connect your faith to God's healing power.

God loves you. He thought about you before you were a twinkle in your daddy's eye. He already made provisions for your body long before anybody ever thought you'd ever be around. That's called a God who loves you, a God who cares, a God who's on your side, a God who wants to make sure you are blessed in everything in your life. He wants you blessed in the city and blessed in the field. And most importantly, He wants you healed in your body.

Isaiah says, "Surely, he bore your griefs..." The word "grief" means sickness, disease and pain. "Sorrow" means pains. In other words, surely he hath borne our sicknesses, diseases and pain. The word "borne" means to suffer punishment for something. So we can conclude that somebody deserved punishment, somebody deserved to suffer, somebody deserved to have cancer and AIDS and sickle cell and lung disease and heart disease, and other diseases. Who was it? It was me and it was you.

We were born in sin, our forefather's sin, Adam's sin, and Eve's sin. We deserved to have all that, but Jesus bore that punishment in our place on that cross. He took in his body every sickness, every disease, every pain, every AIDS, every cancer cell, every lung disease, every heart disease, every kind of sickness and disease for you and He bore it away for you. Why? S o you don't have to have it.

With every stripe Jesus took on His back, He was looking at you. With every stripe He bore, Jesus was thinking about you, knowing that if He took it, you would not have to. Now that is love.

You don't have to be sick. You don't have to die prematurely. You don't have to lay down to the devil and say, there's nothing I can do. There's one who's already done it for you. His name is Jesus. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Scripture References: Hebrews 13:8; Jeremiah 1:5; 1 Peter 2:24

Remain blessed

Be Blessed by: Bishop Paul S. Morton

2010-12-31T20:07:00.001-05:00

Love is ACTION- Part 2

2010-12-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

Our last post was centered around a specific incident that allegedly happened with a man of God. We focused on the love chapter which can be found in 1 Corinthians 13. Today we're going to pick back up on verses 4-8 in the Amplified Bible:

⁴Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

⁵It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

⁶It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

⁷Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

⁸Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].

These scriptures basically give us the true definition of love. This is what God expects of his people on a daily basis. The truth of the matter is, how hard could it possibly be to love someone who always does what you want them to do, always acts the way you want them to act, etc. Love means sacrificing. It means that I have to love people regardless of how they treat me.

We all have heard various portrayals of the Bishop Eddie Long situation. My heart goes out to both him and his church family. Whether the accusations are true or not, the prayer warrior in each of us should have been activated immediately. Whenever accusations start swirling, Christians should reserve comment until the truth comes out. Verse 7 says: Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Instead of sitting around talking about how dirty and nasty this man is and what a liar he is, just simply pray the mercy of God upon him and his family. Treat them as you would want to be treated if you were accused of something. Even if the accusations were found to be true remember what the scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:12 (Amplified Bible) Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands [who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm], take heed lest he fall [into sin].

The final thing we should know about love comes from verse 8 which says: Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. My love for you and your love for me should never end regardless of what I do to you or what you do to me. Love does not end! Before judging or begrudging someone it's always important to remember that we're not perfect. As a matter of fact, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6 KJV). What would we have done if Jesus hadn't loved us in spite of ourselves? What would we have done if God had a respect of persons? None of us would be alive if Jesus hadn't looked beyond our faults and saw our needs. So whenever something comes out about any of our brothers and sisters, whether true or not, let's love them the way that Jesus loves us. (Galatians 6:1 AMP) BRETHREN, IF any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also.

Remain blessed

Love is ACTION- Part 1

2010-09-29T16:00:00.004-04:00

This next series of blogs that I write will be pertaining to 1 Corinthians 13 aka the love chapter. As Christians many times I feel that we say this word way too loosely and when the time comes to step up to the plate we step back. It's time to realize more now than ever that love is not just a word that you say....IT IS WHAT YOU DO!! I believe that when Jesus returns for us and we stand before him, he is going to look at the definition of love and way our lives against it. So without further ado lets get started with this first section.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (Amplified Bible)

¹IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

²And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).

³Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing.

In a nutshell the above scriptures are telling us that we are worthless without the love of God in our hearts. No matter what type of outer appearance we try to put up, if there's no love behind it...its worthless. Many people are impressed when they see the saints of God shouting and preaching and going through the religious motions but they are soon taken back when they find out that you can't judge a book by its cover. LOVE IS ACTION!!!

Many of you have heard about the Bishop Eddie Long situation and you have already formed your own opinion on the matter. You talk about it and then you basically throw him under the bus. But yet, you say that you're saved. Check the scriptures above again...LOVE IS ACTION!!! The love of God in us should have kept our mouths shut no matter how bad we wanna talk about it. Let me be the first to say that I don't watch Bishop Long's shows but I respect him as a man of God. I admit that when I first heard about his case, I immediately wanted to pass judgement and say...SHAME ON HIM. He calls himself a BISHOP and look at what he has gotten himself into. But then a friend of mine, Leah LaRue, reminded me of the fact that no one really knows what happened and who are we to judge anyone knowing that we have our own faults. The next thing was that, we need to allow the legal process to take its course and let all of the facts come out and even then its not for us to pass judgement on anyone. I had to repent and start praying for own heart and then I begin to pray for him and his family.

1 Corinthians 10:12 (Amplified Bible) Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands [who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm], take heed lest he fall [into sin].

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (King James Version)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

People of God if we ever forget what God had to drag us out of, we are in major trouble. Mechanical holiness ain't worth a hill of beans. To me mechanical holiness is: standing up and clapping when everyone else claps, shouting when everyone else does or when the music is fast, memorizing scripture in order to look like you really know the Lord, doing things for the man or woman of God in order to get on their good side, fasting and telling everyone how holy you are, etc. It reminds me of a robot. When we were kids we used to go to the toy section of Wal-mart and find toys that would say "Press here". Instead of pressing just one, I decided to press them all. All of the robots or whatever would be moving at the same time and saying the same thing. If we're not careful we could become the same way. We can say whatever and do whatever but if it is not done in love without MOTIVES, it is a HUGE waste of time.

**To be continued...............

I AM STRONG.m4v

2010-09-08T14:33:00.000-04:00

Beginners Guide To Stock Market Investment

2010-08-10T12:19:00.004-04:00

What is the best advice to help start off a Beginner Guide To Stock Market Investment? Don’t try to learn everything at once. Instead, start by creating an investing plan. Then research the opportunities that match up with your goals. You can always expand your research as your investment knowledge and confidence grows. The creation of an investment plan starts by first identifying what you want to achieve, and how you will be done. On a sheet of paper, write down the amount of money that you can afford to invest on a monthly basis. Next write down the reasons that you want to begin stock market investing, and assign an amount of money to each investment goal. Then, separate them into categories:

Short-term investments - Less than a year – i.e., a vacation or money for the holidays. Short-term goals can often be met through the use of a CD or by opening a money market account.

Certificates of Deposits (CDs) are a good safe way of investing for beginners, and are offered with various maturity dates and interest rates by banks and brokers.

Money Market Accounts are also a safe bet. They are offered by banks, and are therefore FDIC insured. They are also very liquid. They usually come in two flavors: tax-free and traditional accounts. Look around for the interest rate that will come closest to meeting your investment goal.

Mid-term and long-term goals usually involve working with a broker to invest in the stock market and/or taking advantage of various opportunities offered by your State or employer.

College funds:

Every state now offers a 529 Prepaid Tuition Program

The Coverdell IRA (formerly known as an Educational IRA) can be opened through a brokerage firm.

Retirement Planning:

401K's are offered through employers.

Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAsare both available through brokers.

Stocks on the stock market involve more risk than other methods of investment for beginners. It is therefore recommended to start with mutual funds or work with a broker under a managed account.

Mutual Funds are lower risk because they are diversified. They are made up of many different stocks. If one stock goes way down in price, the overall mutual fund only goes down a fraction of the amount. Mutual funds are divided into numerous risk categories such as: Capital, Income, Growth, and Aggressive. You would choose one based upon your goals. Research and compare the various funds in that category through either your broker, or online. You’ll also want to read the fund’s prospectus for an overview of the mutual fund’s risks and performance history.

Bond Funds are like mutual funds, and are separated into various categories organized by their term length. A beginning investor should select the term-length that best meets their investment goals then research and compare the various bonds offered. Each bond has a prospectus that you will also want to read to fully understand the bond’s risks and performance.

Art and Collectibles Investing For beginners, art or collectibles is very risky, therefore invest in something that you are either passionate about or that you truly like. Maintain a narrow investment focus, get involved in your investment’s community and follow a trend. You will be in it for the long-term with no guarantee of certain returns.

Hopefully this short stock market for beginners guide has made a few things more clear for you. Whether you are investing in bond funds, art, or stocks, it will always be important to do your research and know what you are buying. Learn as much as you can from books or articles, and then do specific research on each individual investment. It may seem like a lot of work. As you probably know though, success with anything involves lots of small amounts of practice or learning that adds up to a champion athlete, or in this case, a successful investor. I have been looking to invest in the stock market pretty soon and I just wanted to share what I've learned through research.

Remain blessed

The Gift of Prayer

2010-08-06T16:27:00.004-04:00

Do you pray? Do you pray often, or only occasionally? Is prayer important to you?

I ask you these questions because prayer and praying are essential for your life of faith. Like breath to the human body, prayer makes the spirit live. Without it, faith dies. On the other hand, a person who prays grows in spirit and life.

Let me tell you some things that may encourage you to pray.

Prayer is a Gift of God

To begin with, prayer is a gift of God. "Gift" is a good word to describe prayer, because praying is not something we can do of ourselves. " We do not know how to pray as we ought," scripture says. Prayer is a gift God must give.

And God gives that gift generously, without consideration of our worthiness or our unworthiness. Sinners as well as saints can pray. People of every religious tradition receive the gift. In fact, every human being is able to pray.

Yes, all are called to pray. All receive the gift. And, surprisingly, sometimes those thought to be "ungifted" pray best and are graciously heard. That's the lesson Jesus taught in his parable about the Pharisee and the Publican who together went up to the temple to pray. The Publican, an outsider who thought himself unworthy of approaching God in prayer, was found more pleasing by God than the Pharisee, a professionally religious person, who prayed so effortlessly.

Prayer, then, is God's gift to the strong and the weak, to the smallest child and frailest of the old. It's given to those who say, " I'm not really religious; prayer is beyond me." It's given to everyone, no matter who you are.

That's not to say we can't refuse to pray or we can't neglect it. Like any gift, prayer must be received. If someone gives you a beautiful piece of clothing, you may use it or not. You may take it and wear it. Or, you can throw it in the back of your closet and never look at it again. The piece of clothing becomes a gift unused. "If you knew the gift of God," Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well. A Gift was there before her eyes, but she was blind to it.

How tragic to go through life leaving the gift of prayer unused!

Prayer: God's Search for Intimacy with Us

Why does God give the gift of prayer? The main reason is because of love for us. God looks for intimacy with us. How strange that sounds! God all-sufficient, all-powerful, all-knowing, wishes to draw close, to communicate, to speak to us, to seek our response, to hear our prayer. It may seem unbelievable, but it is true.

At the same time, by praying we fulfill the desire we have as human beings to know God. After all, we are made in God's image. Something in in our being thirsts for intimacy with God. That thirst is described in the psalms, O God, you are my God, for you I long. For you my soul is thirsting. Like a dry weary land without water... so my soul longs for you, my God. Something in us cannot be satisfied unless we are draw near to God. "Our hearts are restless," St. Augustine says, "until they rest in you." By praying, we rest in God.

The church in her formal prayers often humbly acknowledges that prayer is God's gift and asks God to give and strengthen that gift in us. At the beginning of her daily prayers, the liturgy of the hours, the church prays two verses of the psalms.

O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

O God, come to my assistance.
O Lord, make haste to help me.

Simple, truthful words. I cannot open my lips in prayer unless God give me the gift. O God, come and assist me; help me that I may approach you.

And God does give this beautiful gift. In prayer God comes and helps; God invites us into the divine presence where we can open our lips and our hearts. There God welcomes our slightest word or cry, our smallest effort.

Delighting to give us the gift of prayer, God wishes that we come near to share our hearts and minds, our very life with One who loves us. Prayer is God's precious gift; cherish it always.

Remain blessed

The Serenity Prayer

2010-08-05T19:17:00.003-04:00

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3, 5-6

Fred Hammond & RFC - All Things Are Working - 1998

2010-05-18T11:06:00.000-04:00

This is one of my favorite songs to listen to when I'm going through a hard time. I don't know if any of you heard about it or not but I have been very, very sick for the last two months. I was in the hospital for about a month and I didn't think that I was going to make it for a while. But I'm so glad to know that no matter what we're going through... All things are going to work out for our good. God allows us to go through struggles for our benefit not for our detriment. I hope this clip blesses someone the way it blessed me.

Ezra Bufford -I'm Avail to you, organ

2010-05-17T16:15:00.000-04:00

Time with God

2010-03-20T18:00:00.001-04:00

Proverbs 3:1-8 says:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (vv. 5-6)

If you want God to lead you in life, put Him first in everything!

"He will make your paths straight"—that is, the way forward will be obvious to you, and God will remove the obstacles that would keep you from following His will for you. It sounds wonderful, doesn't it? But why are we not experiencing it every day? Notice that there are three conditions to this promise.

Trust in the Lord. When you sense Him leading you and you don't know where you will end up or how you will get through, obey Him anyway. Act on the reality that God is there. If He leads you, you can trust Him. This is not just verbal trust, but the kind that iswith all your heart!

Don't lean on your own understanding. Don't try to be the master of your own fate. Don't get the idea that you can plan your way through life. Recognise that you desperately need God's hand in your life, both guiding you and enabling you.

In all your ways acknowledge Him. Make sure that your life shows that God is the one you honour, love and obey.

Meet these three conditions and you can rest in the reality of God's guiding hand.

Remain blessed

Our God Breathed Bible

2010-03-18T12:00:00.002-04:00

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequate , fully equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

The content of the Bible is revelation. The process by which that content was written down is called inspiration. And it wasn't a high level of human activity, it wasn't even a high level of religious human activity. Men were in the process but it didn't originate with them and it didn't come from their desire and their will, they were used as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit and enabled to speak from God. They spoke divine words. God used them. It was their personality. It was their background, some of their insights, their experiences, their perceptions, but ever word was the word of God. That's the miracle of inspiration. Men...they were used...carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. That's what the Scripture says.

So, when you pick up your Bible, you're not reading the word of men, you're reading the Word of God that was written down by men who were moved along in the process by the power of the Holy Spirit. Not apart from their personalities and not apart from their experiences and not apart from their vocabulary and not apart from their heart passion and compulsion, but integrating all of that into the power of the Spirit of God and never compromising the truth that every word came from God...a great and glorious miracle, so vital.

So, God spoke in the Old Testament to the fathers by the prophets in many ways and in many portions. And God has spoken in the New Testament by His Son in the gospels and then about His Son in the rest of the New Testament. The process by which God gave us that revelation is inspiration and inspiration was God putting His revelation in, as it were, the hands of men to be written down first to be spoken and proclaimed and then written down as they were energized, carried along by the Holy Spirit. Men were used and yet no word of God was ever violated. The totality of Scripture, pasa graphe, all Scripture, every Scripture, is theopneustos, God breathed. It is the breath of God, the writing of Scripture. The totality of it, according to Romans 3:2 is called the oracles of God. When Paul is talking about the benefit of Israel, what is it that they had that set them apart from other nations, he has reference to the Old Testament which he calls the oracles of God...the speeches of God...the words of God.

Remain blessed

No weapon!!

2010-03-12T18:02:00.001-05:00

This song always makes me feel better when I'm going through tough times like I am right now. The main thing that we have to understand, as Christians, is that God has all power in his hands. If you were depending on me for help, then you have something to worry about but we serve the ALL MIGHTY, ALL KNOWING, ALL SEEING GOD!! We serve the same God who parted the red sea and allowed the Israelites to walk across on dry land, we serve the same God who raised Jesus from the dead!! We have some pretty smart people in this world but none of them has figured out a way to raise someone from the dead. So praise the Lord in the midst of what you're going through because HE IS IN CONTROL!!

Isaiah 54:14-17
14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.

16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

Remain blessed

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt10

2010-02-23T15:00:00.002-05:00

When you read each one of these verses one right after the other, it is a real mouthful. God is simply trying to pound home the fact that we seek to obey all of His ways and all of His commandments. If we do, then note some of the incredible blessings that we can receive from the Lord:

We will receive life
We will keep and preserve our soul
We can have a long life here on this earth
Great peace will be given to us and it will be like a river
It will go well with our children
It will keep us from perishing
God will subdue our enemies
Our way will be made prosperous and we will have good success
Our heart will be rejoiced
Our eyes will be enlightened
The law will warn us and keep us out of harm's way

Again, all of God's ways and commandments are all being given to us for our own good and for our own protection. These commandments are not meant to stunt our spiritual growth or steal our joy in the Lord. They are all meant to increase our spiritual growth and increase our peace and joy in the Lord.

As earthly parents, one of the first things we will do with all of our children as they are starting to grow is to tell them what they can and cannot do in this life. We know that if we do not give them fair warning ahead of time as to what they should be staying away from in this life, that we risk them getting seriously hurt, if not possibly killed. We thus give them the basic commandments that they are to abide by in this life so we can keep them safe and out of harm's way.

It is the exact same way with God the Father. Except with God the Father, He has full knowledge on exactly what we should all be staying away from in this life since He has absolute perfect knowledge on all things. As such, we should all listen very carefully to what He is trying to tell us in these basic commandments, as they are all being given to us for our own good and protection. God is not trying to hurt us or harm us with all of these basic commandments, He is trying to help us and protect us.

If you really want to see how important it is that we seek to obey all of God's laws and commandments, just take your time and meditate on some of the above verses. King David especially was able to see how important it was that he try and learn the ways of God so that He could continue to spiritually grow in Him. That is why some of the above verses are telling us that we will find true life in this life if we can learn how to live righteous lives before the Lord.

Conclusion

As I said at the beginning of this blog post, it is just heart-breaking and gut-wrenching to see so many people in this life choose with their own free wills to walk on the dark side of this life instead of the good and righteous side of this life.

Since God has given each man and each woman full free will to make their own choices in this life, He really has no other alternative but to sit back and watch this horror show unfold with the people who will end up rejecting Him, His ways, and His message of eternal salvation through His Son Jesus.

To think that a good percentage of the human race is going to end up in the most horrible place imaginable when they die and cross over, when they could have easily chosen the Lord and His message of eternal salvation for them, is enough to break your heart into a million pieces. I do not believe there is a day or an hour that goes go by where God and Jesus are not crying and weeping for the souls who are descending down into hell with no chance of ever being able to make it back out again.
God created all of these lost souls for Himself and He now has to watch all of them choose with their own free wills to reject Him and His Son Jesus during the course of their earthly lives. And then when they do die and cross over, He has no other alternative but to let them descend down into the pit of hell itself, as they now have to be held fully accountable for the horrible choices they have made in this life.

As Christians, we do not have to worry about this kind of horrible and final fate. We will all be given full entrance into heaven the minute we die and cross over. But until that final and glorious event actually occurs with each one of us, we should all be doing our best to try and live a good and righteous life before the Lord so that He will be well pleased with us when we do meet Him for our own personal judgments at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Remain blessed

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt9

2010-02-22T14:35:00.003-05:00

4. Keeping the Commandments of the Lord

Part of having a true righteous walk with the Lord is to make sure that we simply obey all of His basic laws and commandments as best we can. These next set of verses will really drive this point home.

Many in the world today want to scoff and make fun of the ways, laws and commandments of our Lord. They want to be able to live in their flesh, doing anything they can that will feed their flesh. They do not want to be told that adultery, fornication, homosexuality, abortion, and other alternative forms of spirituality are not acceptable to the one and only living God.

As a result, they will either try and make up their own little gods to worship, or they will try and say that they are a god and an island all unto themselves and that they do not need to answer to any type of Higher Power. This is all done so they can rationalize and explain away all of their sinful behavior before the Lord.

Again, our Lord could not make things any more simpler and any more easier than with the way that He has everything set up. All we have to do is accept the fact and reality that we are all fallen sinners and that we all need the shed blood of Jesus Christ to be able to receive eternal salvation from God the Father. From there we are to walk out the rest of our life serving God in the divine destiny that He already has set up for our lives, along with trying to live a good and righteous before Him.
But so many people still to this day cannot see this simple and obvious truth, or if they can, they are still refusing to be told that they have to serve anyone, even if it is God Almighty Himself. Just as pride and major stupidity took out one third of the angelic race, I am afraid that same kind of pride and stupidity is going to be taking out a much larger percentage of the human race when it is all said and done.

Again, these next set of verses are really going to drive home the point that we fully appreciate the laws and commandments that God has set out for all of us.

These laws and commandments from the Lord will be telling us what is right and what is wrong in this life. They will act as a compass and a guide for us so that we will know how to live and act in this life for the Lord. These laws and commandments are again, all being given to us for our own good and for our own protection, for without them, we would just keep falling into one pit after another.

Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So He said to him ... "But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:16-17)
"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." (John 15:10)
"This is love, that we walk according to His commandments." (2 John 1:6)
"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:2-3)
"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." (1 John 2:3)
"For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life." (Proverbs 6:23)
"He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless of his ways will die." (Proverbs 19:16)
"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; he who keeps his way preserves his soul." (Proverbs 16:17)
"My son, do not forget My law, but let your heart keep My commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you." (Proverbs 3:1)
"Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God." (Deuteronomy 12:28)
"My son, keep My words, and treasure My commands within you. Keep My commands and live, and My law as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart." (Proverbs 7:1-3)
"Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea." (Isaiah 48:18)
"Unless Your law had been my delight, I would then have perished in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life." (Psalm 119:92)
"Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries." (Psalm 81:13-14)
"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:8)
"It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of skekels of gold and silver." (Psalm 119:71-72)
"Open my eyes, that I may see the wondrous things from Your law. I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me. My soul breaks with longing for Your judgments at all times." (Psalm 119:18-20)
"Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble." (Psalm 119:165)
"Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes ... I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statues; I will not forget Your word." (Psalm 119:10-16)
"I will run in the way of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart. Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it." (Psalm 119:32-35)
"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true ad righteous altogether, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward." (Psalm 19:7-11)
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper." (Psalm 1:1-3)

***TO BE CONTINUED***

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt8

2010-02-19T14:30:00.004-05:00

3. God Still Wants All of Us to Practice Righteousness

As you will see in the first verse I will list below, God still wants all of us to continue to practice righteousness in this life, even though we now have the righteousness of His Son Jesus already imputed on us. And again, this verse is coming from the NT, showing once again that we still have to do the best we can in obeying all of God's laws and commandments, which will include some of the basic laws and commandments that were back in the OT.

The rest of the verses will really drive home the point on how important it is that we all seek to walk in the ways of our Lord, and that trying to live a good, holy and righteous life before the Lord will help bring us true "life" in this life.

Here are some very good verses on how powerful of a thing it can be for all of us if we try to live a good and righteous life before the Lord. Being good, holy and righteous for the Lord may not be cool with the rest of the world, but it is definitely cool with the Lord, and that is what we will eventually be rewarded on once we enter into heaven and God then hands out His rewards based upon the good works we have done for Him down here, along with how we have lived our lives for Him.

"In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother." (1 John 3:10)
"In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death." (Proverbs 12:28)
"But to him who sows righteousness will be a sure reward. As righteousness leads to life, so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death." (Proverbs 11:18-19)
Thus says the Lord: "Keep justice, and do righteousness ... blessed is the man who does this ... and keeps his hand from doing any evil." (Isaiah 56:1-2)
"The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but He loves him who follows righteousness." (Proverbs 15:9)
"The labor of the righteous leads to life, the wages of the wicked to sin. He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, but he who refuses reproof goes astray." (Proverbs 10:16-17)
"To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:3)
"The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him." (Proverbs 20:7)
"When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better is a little with righteousness, than vast revenues without justice." (Proverbs 16:7-8)
"Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits." Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God." (1 Corinthians 15:33-34)
"All unrighteousness is sin ..." (1 John 5:17)
"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:16-17)
"Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on ... But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble." (Proverbs 4:14-19)
"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for a throne is established by righteousness." (Proverbs 16:12)
"Mercy and truth preserve the king, and by lovingkindness he upholds his throne." (Proverbs 20:28)

Notice how many times the Bible says that righteousness will lead to "life"and that any kind of unrighteousness is actually considered sin in the eyes of God. This means that real righteousness is pretty well all black and white. There is only God and the devil, heaven or hell, and good and evil when you really sum everything up.

It now becomes up to each person as to which side of the fence they are going to walk on in this life. Again, Joshua could not have said it any better when he said that you must choose this day who you will serve. You will either decide to serve God and follow His ways and live, or you will choose to follow yourself, other people or the devil and eventually die.

There are no middle or neutral grounds as far as God is concerned. God has made it as easy as He possibly could. But we only have one lifetime, and a very short lifetime at best, to make that one final and fateful decision which will then determine what the rest of our eternal life will be like once we die and cross over to the other side, which will either be heaven for the saved or hell for the unsaved.

All of these verses are short, quick to the point, and very easy to understand. God simply wants all of us to walk in His righteous ways and again, when we start to run into trouble with certain types of sins, we have both Him and His Holy Spirit to help pull us out of any sins that He will not want us to be getting caught up in.

***TO BE CONTINUED***

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt7

2010-02-18T14:00:00.001-05:00

3. God Still Wants All of Us to Practice Righteousness

"In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother." (1 John 3:10)
"In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death." (Proverbs 12:28)
"But to him who sows righteousness will be a sure reward. As righteousness leads to life, so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death." (Proverbs 11:18-19)
Thus says the Lord: "Keep justice, and do righteousness ... blessed is the man who does this ... and keeps his hand from doing any evil." (Isaiah 56:1-2)
"The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but He loves him who follows righteousness." (Proverbs 15:9)
"The labor of the righteous leads to life, the wages of the wicked to sin. He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, but he who refuses reproof goes astray." (Proverbs 10:16-17)
"To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." (Proverbs 21:3)
"The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him." (Proverbs 20:7)
"When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better is a little with righteousness, than vast revenues without justice." (Proverbs 16:7-8)
"Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits." Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God." (1 Corinthians 15:33-34)
"All unrighteousness is sin ..." (1 John 5:17)
"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:16-17)
"Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on ... But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble." (Proverbs 4:14-19)
"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for a throne is established by righteousness." (Proverbs 16:12)
"Mercy and truth preserve the king, and by lovingkindness he upholds his throne." (Proverbs 20:28)

***TO BE CONTINUED***

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt6

2010-02-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

2. God Now Has His Laws Written Into Man's Hearts

Not only did God the Father lay out the basic laws and commandments that He wants all of us to live by, but He has even gone one step further. He now has His laws actually written into the hearts of men, along with causing their conscience to actually bear witness to all of it.

In other words, we all have God's laws written into our hearts and we all know basic right from basic wrong when we are old enough to fully understand what it is all about. That is why the unsaved sinner will have no excuse on his day of judgment with the Lord. He will know, without any shadow of a doubt, that all of his sins were wrong and that they were going against the will and ways of God. As a result, he will not be able to plead any type of ignorance on his day of judgment with the Lord.

Here are 6 very serious verses about God's laws and why we are to take all of them very, very seriously in this life. The first verse is the one that will tell you that God the Father has His basic laws written into the hearts of men.

"... who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness ..." (Romans 2:15)
"... I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." (Romans 7:7)
"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17)
"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin." (John 15:22)
"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live ..." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

First notice that God has to give us His laws. If He does not tell us what He will be expecting from us, then we will not know for certain what real sin is. But once we do have these laws from God, then we will know for certain what sin is and then He will expect all of us to stay away from it and abide by His commandments. That is why no one will have any type of excuse on their day of judgment with the Lord, as we will all know for certain what is wrong and sinful before the eyes of God.

The second last verse from Deuteronomy is another in-your-face type of verse. In this verse God is telling all of us how it is going to be in this life whether we like it or not. He has laid out for us all the ways in which He will want us to live in this life and what we are to stay away from in this life.

All in all, God is setting before each one of us a choice to make in this life - either we choose God and follow His ways and commandments, or we choose to disobey Him, go our own way and then end up reaping eventual death when it is all said and done. In other words, it is either God's way or the highway for each one of our lives. There are no middle or neutral grounds with the way this specific verse is being worded by the Lord.

The very last verse will then put the icing on this entire cake. This last verse seems to be talking about our salvation in the Lord. If it is, then the majority of people who have lived on this earth are not going to be making it into heaven. We obviously will not know for sure what percentage of the human race is going to end up making it into heaven until we get there, but with the words in the last verse stating that "there are few who find it," this leads me to believe that the majority of the human race is not going to end up making it into heaven when it is all said and done.

This last verse in particular has been one of the most bothersome and troubling in all of Scripture for me, as I cannot see how to interpret this verse in any other way other than God is referring to our salvation in Him and what is awaiting all of us at the end of our lives. He is flat out telling us that many people will be choosing the wide and broad way in this life, which is obviously a life of sin and going against the will and ways of God. The straight and narrow road represents the road that God wants all of us to travel on, which is a road of His will and His ways for our lives.

As we look out upon this world and all of the people we can see, we can easily see who is trying to travel on the straight and narrow road that God wants all of us to travel on and those who are out there traveling on their own wide and broad roads. The people who are traveling on their own wide and broad roads are out there doing anything and everything they want in the flesh and they do not care who they end up hurting or running over in the process. But sooner or later all of their wide and broad roads will eventually end and they will then have to face God Almighty Himself for their own final judgments and final fate.

Again, this last verse could not be more scary, more alarming and more in our face with how God wants us to live in this life. That is why I had the title of this article to read, "Living a Good and Righteous Life Before the Lord," so you will know exactly how God wants all of us to live in this life and what He will be expecting from all of us as we journey through this life.

***TO BE CONTINUED***

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt5

2010-02-16T14:00:00.000-05:00

The Scripture Verses

I will break these Scripture verses down under 4 separate captions so you can fully grasp what the Lord is trying to tell us on this topic. All of these verses mean exactly what they are saying and they do not need any kind of fancy interpretation.

1. Jesus Did Not Come to Destroy the Law - But to Fulfill It

This first verse I will now list will completely set the stage as far as the law is concerned and what God is expecting from all of us. Though the Bible says that we are no longer under the law, but under grace - this does not mean that we are to fully do away with all of God's laws, which are His commandments to us on how we are to live in this life.

Granted, there are some laws back in the OT that would not apply in the kind of environment we are now living in. But many of what I call the basic laws are still in full play today such as all of the 10 commandments, God's laws on not engaging with anything having to do with the occult, along with staying out of such sins as homosexuality and fornication.

In the OT, they did not have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them. They thus did not have His power available to them in which to help them overcome some of the sins they were engaging in. Now all NT believers have the Holy Spirit on the inside of them and they thus now have His power available to them in which to help them overcome the temptation to sin, or if by chance they have fallen into any type of bad sin, the power of the Holy Spirit to actually pull them out of it and set them free.

Here is this first very powerful verse direct from Jesus Christ Himself:

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom ofheaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-20)

Notice that this is Jesus talking in the New Testament, not God the Father talking in the OT. Jesus is flat out telling us that He still wants all of us to still abide by His Father's basic laws and commandments and that He will expect all of us to do so until "all is fulfilled" - which is when we will get the New Heaven and the New Earth after Jesus' millennial rule has ended.

As you will see in the verses that I will list below, all of these basic laws and commandments from God the Father are all being given to us for our own good and for our own protection, as the Bible tells us that the wages of sin will be death.

As such, we should all do our best to try and abide by them and keep them as best we can, and when we do run into any problems with any specific sin areas, we have the Holy Spirit Himself to help us get victory over any specific sins that are starting to drag us down.

***TO BE CONTINUED***

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Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt10

Conclusion

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt9

4. Keeping the Commandments of the Lord

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt8

3. God Still Wants All of Us to Practice Righteousness

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt7

3. God Still Wants All of Us to Practice Righteousness

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt6

2. God Now Has His Laws Written Into Man's Hearts

Living a good and righteous life before the Lord- pt5

The Scripture Verses

1. Jesus Did Not Come to Destroy the Law - But to Fulfill It

¹IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.