Follow us on Facebook Twitter, and Pinterest.
DC Books
  • Salt & Light Devotionals
  • My Books
  • About Donna L Campbell
    • Contact
    • The Latest
    • About
  • Scripture of the Day Memes
  • Campbell Family Recipes
  • Thoughts, Poems and Randomness
  • Photography
  • Untitled

The Aroma of Love

2/28/2018

0 Comments

 
How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! Song of Solomon 4:10
How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! Song of Solomon 4:10
Where I live in Central Florida, there used to be a bread factory that my friends, family, and I often drove by. Every time we came close to it, we opened our windows to take in the aroma of baking bread. What an enjoyable smell it is. Have you ever experienced the scent of bread baking in the oven or just out of the oven? It brings a special feeling, it lifts you up a little and brings a sort of happiness and peace all at once. At least it does for me. I would venture to guess that was the same reason my friends all opened their windows at the bread factory as well.
God gave me a vision this morning of bread, fresh out of the oven, still in the bread pan with steam rising up and carrying that lovely fragrance up to everyone in the home. He loves your fragrance, the perfume of your soul. He wants you to know it.
We all have a smell. No one wants to stink. We shower, we wash. Some of us wear anti-perspirants or deodorants. Some of us put on perfume or cologne or wear essential oils. We want our fragrance to be pleasant and to have a positive impact on the people surrounding us and on ourselves. One reason I put perfume on my wrist is so that when I am in need of a little respite, I can take a whiff of my wrist and the bouquet will relax me.
Well, believer we also have a different sort of fragrance, the scent of our souls. Believer, God enjoys our fragrance. Ezekiel 20:40-41 says,
“For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, declares the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred offerings. 41 As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.
When you obey God and serve Him, He accepts you as a pleasing aroma. Just as when someone bakes a loaf of bread and you breathe in that delicious aroma and are pleased at what the baker did for you, God breathes in the gorgeous scent of your service to Him and is pleased by it. I just picture Him, taking a deep breath and smiling and thinking, “Oh, I can hardly wait to hug her close to me!”
Your service to Him not only brings that beautiful perfume to Him, it goes out to the people around you. It hits them and they may not recognize it, but it awakens their hunger for God and makes them want to satisfy their yen. When you pass by the bakery and you smell that wonderful scent it seems at that moment that nothing else will satisfy your suddenly growling stomach except that warm fresh bread. So your fragrance can make the world desire the Bread of Life. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 says this.
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Your service is not the only thing that brings your sweet scent to the LORD. Your essence is lifted up to Him by your prayers. Our prayers are incense to God Revelation 8:3-4 reads,
And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
It was part of the Law that incense would burn as a representation of prayers (Exodus 30:7-8). Everything in the Temple was symbolic of who God is and what Jesus does. It is a mirror of our relationship with Him. Incense represents our prayers because in Heaven our prayers are delivered to God as incense. Yet, in the mystery of His awesomeness, in that fragrant smoke, God hears our specific prayers.  Psalm 141:1-2 reads,
O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me!
    Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
    and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!

Just as God enjoys the attar of your prayers, they affect the world as well. James 5:13-16 reads,
 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
In addition to the wonderful scent of your good works and your prayers God enjoys the smell of your repentance. Imagine walking into a restaurant or a backyard barbeque. Close your mouth and take a deep breath. What is that glorious smell? It is the roasting meat and the grilling vegetables and you are hungry for what is cooking. When Israel made sacrifices to the LORD, part of that sacrifice was cooking the meat, grains, and bread of the sacrifice. The spilled blood of the animals splashed on the mercy seat represented forgiveness of sins, but the aroma of the sacrifice symbolized repentance. Your repentance and the fruit of your repentance, that is the visible consequences of your remorse and atonement brings that lovely scent to God. This is described in Leviticus 1:3-9.
If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. 4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5 Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 6 Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces,7 and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 9 but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
We do not have practice burnt offerings anymore because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us (Matthew 5:17). Today our sacrifice is how we live, we walk in the fruit of repentance, our lives are sacrificial, choosing righteousness over wickedness. Ephesians 5:1-2 reads,
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
And once again, as you are a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1), so your exquisite fragrance impacts the people around you. Romans 15:16 says,
to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
 
Believer, shower in the blessings and love of your Lord, Jesus Christ and let His perfume be the pleasant aroma that so delights Him and which the world so desperately needs.
 

0 Comments

Be Fully You! You are Beautiful! Walk Fully in the Image of Christ. He is All You are Meant to Be.

2/27/2018

0 Comments

 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14 on Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14
​God doesn’t want you to stop being you. He loves you, He planned you, and He created you to be the beautiful, rare, specific person you are. Many people try to live the verse “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30) as a way to remove their own personality and replace it with an imagined person of Jesus or to conform to the image of Christianity. We are conformed to the image of Christ. We are conformed, that word summorfoj, means jointly formed, who we are merged with Jesus, changed fully and substantially.
Becoming some other than ourselves is not what this John 3:30 is about. John the Baptist was teaching his disciples about Jesus. He was proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah and explaining that his ministry, the end of the Old Covenant of the Law had to decrease so that Jesus’ ministry the beginning of the New Covenant of Grace would increase and spread. Let’s put the verse back into context and see that John was saying his ministry, the old was complete, and Jesus’ the New Covenant was now and forever more. John 3:25-30 reads,
Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Consider what it took to make you exactly you. Your exact parents and theirs and theirs and theirs all the way back to Adam came together to give you the DNA that made you. Even with the same ancestry as your siblings consider that it was one out of 500 million sperm that penetrated the egg that grew into you. Your life experiences were specific to you and only you. It took God tens of thousands of years to come up with exactly who you are. You are His masterpiece formed exactly as He meant you to be. Psalm 139:13-16 reads,
For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

He formed your inward parts, your mind, your spirit, your soul just as much as He formed your body. And He says you are wonderfully made! Why would He ever change His mind about who you are! He planned you and He loved you before you were ever born or even conceived. He planned and loved you before He even created the world! Ephesians 1:3-6 in The Message says,
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
You are a masterpiece, God’s workmanship! And you were created with a purpose. You were created to do good things for God, great works in Jesus’ name! Read what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:4-10.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Since He prepared you before for what you can do now in Christ, why would we want to refute who He made us to be? Do we deny the desires of our fleshly sinful selves? Yes! We are new! But do we reject the person He made us to be? Absolutely not. He made me with a certain way of expressing myself and therefore Him. He made me with particular passions and cares. He put me in a place where I would be able to express Him, care about issues, and love people in the way only I can through Him. When Jesus said, “deny yourself,” He didn’t mean deny who you are. He meant deny the appetites and desires that will make you behave like the person you were before He made you new. That phrase put into context was an answer to Peter saying he didn’t want Jesus to die and leave him. Peter was tempting Jesus to stay with them, forget the cross and live out his life as a man instead of living His life as Savior. Matthew 16:21-28 reads,
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Denying yourself those old desires, that ease and comfort gives God the opportunity to save you, make you more like Him, and live eternally.
Look at very different Paul was from Peter and Peter from John and John from James. Yet, their unique personalities enabled them to bring the Gospel to the world and to different people. Paul was straightforward and sometimes quite harsh even saying words not considered so good and sweet by some. Peter was passionate and confident. John was poetic and visionary. James was logical and deeply aware of how his actions expressed his heart. All these men were deeply in love with Jesus and zealous about spreading God’s message. All of them were equally, profoundly, and intimately loved by God. You, too are loved that way by Him. You too have the purpose of using your individual style to tell the world how much Jesus loves them.
Paul explained it this way in 1 Corinthians 12:12-20.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
God is not disappointed in who you are. He saved you because He is delighted with you! For real! He is delighted with you. Psalm 18:19 says,
He brought me out into a broad place;
    he rescued me, because he delighted in me

Be who you are meant to be, who you were created to be. The best you that you can be is to walk fully in your identity in Christ and fully in who He made you. 100% Jesus 100% you.
0 Comments

The Insanity of Being Born Again

2/26/2018

0 Comments

 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
​In order to walk in the complete freedom and fullness of who you are meant to be in Christ, in order to live the joyful, purposeful, and powerful life of Kingdom edifying, world impacting person you were made to be, you need to understand who God is, who you are in Christ, and how those facts can impact your life. But to know who you are in Christ, you have to be in Christ. So, today’s devotional is going to look at what it is to be born again. Now most Christians know what that means and know it to the point that they forget it’s profundity and forget that the world has no idea what that freaky, hippie-dippy, weird expression means. The first thing I want to do is explain it. Because you need to know this, not so you can use it in Christianese conversation, but so that you can be born again and live born again.
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, this was one very smart, very good guy. He knew the Scriptures perfectly. He could quote them back to you verbatim. He kept the law as well as any man could. He cared so deeply about the Law that he followed a whole lot of extra laws that were made just to be sure he didn’t break the 613 laws in the Scriptures in addition to the Ten Commandments. He was no dummy! He was not one of those low-down dirty “sinners” either. This guy was a religious leader and he knew his stuff. But he knew there was more, he knew that this Jesus guy that was walking around and teaching had the stuff he was looking for, so Nicodemus approached him. He couldn’t face the embarrassment of letting the other Pharisees see him so he went when it was dark and he wouldn’t be recognized and all his friends would be with their families at home. Most of the Pharisees recognized that Jesus was from God, but only Nicodemus had the gumption to ask Jesus about it.
John 3:1-21 records what happened. Verses 1-4 read,
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”
Jesus knew that Nicodemus wanted to see more, that he wanted to know who He was. But He also knew that Nicodemus needed to understand that all the earthly, scriptural, and religious knowledge in the world was not going to give him the revelation he was looking for. So, Jesus gave Nicodemus this bizarre requirement, you have to be born again to get the answers you want; you have to be born again to see the Kingdom of God. And Nicodemus asked the question everyone wants to ask when they hear this, but most are too prideful to do. See, Nicodemus really wanted the answer and he acknowledged that Jesus was at least from God, so he was humble enough to ask, “What do mean???? I can’t be born again, it already happened. You can’t be born a second time! Even if I could fit, I can’t climb back into the womb.”
Jesus said, “HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME! I’m not just from God, I AM God!”
No, that wasn’t what Jesus said! He wouldn’t ever say that. He had affronted Nicodemus’ intelligence and the man had stayed and asked more questions so Jesus answered the questions. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
That may seem too difficult to understand so let’s read Jesus’ answer from The Message,
“You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
Jesus wasn’t talking about physical birth, He was referring to the spirit of a person being renewed in a dramatic way, the old spirit gone and replaced with a new spirt, His Spirit bringing new life and new identity, totally different from the identity and life the physical world gives.
But Nicodemus still didn’t understand. Jesus had put it in simple earthly terms and Nicodemus wasn’t able to mesh it with his understanding of the Law. He had not really looked at the Law with spiritual eyes, he had followed and loved the law but forgot to follow and love the LORD God. But Nicodemus didn’t walk away forlorn, he stayed and asked more. So, Jesus stayed and answered more. He even referred to the Scriptures that Nicodemus loved to help him make the connections.
He said, “No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.”
And Nicodemus was still listening and Jesus got right into the deep but simple truth. He continued,
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”
God loves you so much, He wants a relationship with you, He wants you to know what real life is, He wants you to live that full eternal life He created you for. That love is so overwhelming that Jesus came down from His awesome home, Heaven and chose to live as a human example of Godly things to give you the chance at that eternal life. Without Jesus, we are under a death sentence, we have to die as punishment for living outside of what God wants for us.
Most people enjoy the ignorance of not knowing that, they are afraid to step out of the world of satisfying their stomach, carnal desires, bank accounts, and pride to find out what real life could be. They choose not to see Jesus and acknowledge what God did for them. But Jesus came to give you that chance, He came to give Nicodemus that chance.
You might ask, How do I get born again then? How do I become the new person Jesus was talking about?
Every person on earth has done things that are not God’s will for them. There is not a single person from Adam to Moses to John to Billy Graham that lived a life and kept the law God gave us to follow and be considered good. That is why Jesus came. God knew we couldn’t do it, it is impossible for us, but it is not impossible for Him. So Jesus came and lived and was tempted and still perfectly fulfilled God’s Law.
The first thing we do to live this new eternal life is we acknowledge that we have not lived in God’s will, we have sinned. Sin is doing anything outside of God’s will, such as lying, stealing, or thinking an angry thought against anyone (even ourselves). It is choosing our desires over God’s.
Once we acknowledge it, we repent. Repent is a fancy word which means be sorry you did it and choose not to do it anymore. It is to declare from now on our will is whatever God wills. As soon as Jesus was baptized, His ministry began and He began preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He was saying, “Heaven is open, I am the Savior you’ve been waiting for, I am here so stop living outside God’s will.”
Here’s what Jesus did. He taught us to live just as God wants us to and He lived exactly as God wants us to. But then, because He is God and was the only one who could satisfy the requirements of God’s Law, He became the sacrifice, He paid the price we owe and He chose to die in our place. He died a terrible death, the worst we can imagine so that we could live the best life imaginable and He could have the joy of being our friend.
Then, He came back to life! Really, He died and three days later God, the Holy Spirit, breathed life back into Him and He was alive again!!!! But this time, it was and is forever. And He has that same gift for us, we choose to put our old self to death by believing Jesus is who He says He is and simply accepting the gift of eternal life from Him. We say, “Jesus, you are God, the Christ, and you are in charge of my life from this moment forward.” We believe that in the depths of our souls and we are reborn! New! And it is from that moment forward that we get to enjoy this amazing eternal life.
It really and truly is that simple! Romans 10:9 puts it this way, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
You are no longer the old person, you are a new creation, born again with a new identity. God doesn’t see any of your old self anymore. All the wrongs you did are gone! He sees you through eyes of complete forgiveness and you are now righteous. That means you are in the right relationship with Him and not a single sin is counted against you. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 in the Living Bible says it this way,
So stop evaluating Christians by what the world thinks about them or by what they seem to be like on the outside. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, merely as a human being like myself. How differently I feel now! 17 When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!
18 All these new things are from God who brought us back to himself through what Christ Jesus did. And God has given us the privilege of urging everyone to come into his favor and be reconciled to him. 19 For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. 20 We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is using us to speak to you: we beg you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, receive the love he offers you—be reconciled to God. 21 For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!
Not one sin, past, present, or future is counted against us. And not only that but you now have the ability to live well, to choose to love God by choosing to not give into your own will and sin but to follow God’s will and love Him, obey Him, and love all people in the same way He does.
Knowing who He is and who you are in Him gives you the trust, the faith to be able to live the way He wants you to live. And I promise you what He has in store for you is bigger and better than you can imagine.
Find out who God is, get to know Him, read the Bible even if you think you can’t understand what it says. Pray even if you think you can’t. Simply talk to God like you would to anyone. He knows the depths of you better than you know yourself, so be completely open and honest with Him. You won’t shock Him or make Him mad at you. He loves you 100%, He will not love you any less for your honesty. Listen to what He has to say. Now you may have trouble at first recognizing Him or realizing that you do hear Him, but the more you sit quietly and choose to listen, the more you look for who God is and what He has to say the more you will hear Him and know Him. 
0 Comments

God is Love, So Are You

2/22/2018

0 Comments

 
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  1 John 4:8
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8
​One of the most important things to understand about God besides His being Almighty is that God is love. 1 John 4:7-12 explains the importance of comprehending this fact about our Lord.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
To know God is to know that He is love, all love is from Him, and exercised by actively loving one another. If we are not vigorously loving people the way God loves people, then we don’t know Him. To know God is to love His people the way He loves.
We can do some amazing things in God’s name and by His power, but compared to love, they are nothing and without love they are meaningless. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 reads,
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Since we are human, we have likely not experienced perfect love from people. We needed an example of what love is; Jesus is that example and we are able to love only because He has given us His Spirit. Perfect love is described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a. This is what we aspire to, this is the image of Christ to which we are being conformed.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.8 Love never ends. 
None of that is easy. To be patient is one of the most difficult things to learn. Kindness takes mercy, self-sacrifice, and humility. It is just not possible without the Holy Spirit. When we love we don’t envy, we know that God’s grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9) that God is more than enough and we rejoice in unity and with one another for the good things and weep with one another for the sorrowful (Romans 12:15). There just can’t be arrogance in real love which not only considers others as better than ourselves (Romans 12:3) but recognizes that God loves other people just as much as He loves us, that He created them and that like us, they are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14. The only competition in real love is the contest to outdo one another in honoring each other (Romans 12:10). We won’t be offensive, we won’t insist on our own way because what we want is God’s way and we know that His purpose will be achieved (Isaiah 55:11). Love never celebrates sin, instead it applauds truth.
Love bears all things and endures all things. We may say we love but when someone does us wrong, love flies out the window, we no longer tolerate that person. What if Jesus had not been willing to bear all things and endure all things? Look at what he suffered for us! Because He loves us He not only endured the cross, He did so with joy! Hebrews 12:1-3 says,
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
 
That is love! Jesus asked us to love each other just He loved us and He defined the highest love this way,
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:12-13).
Love endures all things because it is eternal, it does not go away and does not fade. One day, there will be no more need of prophecy, tongues, or healing. All that will remain is love, faith, and hope. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Look back at the description of love, it is patient, kind, humble, it rejoices, endures, and is not arrogant or rude. To me, it sounds a lot like the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 reads,
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
There is no law against the Spirit-filled life of love because all the law and the prophets are summed up in two commandments.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).
How else is love defined in the Bible? 1 John 5:1-3 is one of several passages that explain that loving God means keeping His commandments.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
God loves us and He loves us in the ultimate and loftiest way possible. He loves us enough to discipline us (Proverbs 3:12). He loves us so much that He thinks of us more than you can fathom. Psalm 139:17-18 reads,
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
    I awake, and I am still with you.

Beloved, God is love and you are being conformed to His image. Because you understand who God is and who you are in Him, love can flow through you like springs of living waters bringing love, healing and life to everyone you come into contact with. 
0 Comments

The Beauty of the Triune God

2/21/2018

0 Comments

 
For to us a child is born,     to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder,     and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,     Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
​To realize the potential of your life, to live as God your Creator meant for you to live, abundantly, freely, joyfully, and victorious you must accept who you are in Christ. But you cannot truly appreciate who you are in Him if you do not know who God is. So much of who we are is dependent on who God is. It means nothing to us if we are a child of God, if we not understand God as our Heavenly Father. It means nothing that we are friends of God if we don’t grasp that He is our Friend. Consider the depth of knowing we are secure and protected in the light of understanding He is our Rock, The Lord of hosts. To get to know who God is means persistently pursuing Him, determinedly spending time with Him, reading His Word, listening to Him, and learning from elders, teachers, and other believers. So, let’s look at some of who our Lord is. One of the most famous of Messianic prophecies gives us some beautiful names for Him and speaks to the Triune God, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being one God. God is not The Father in charge and two lesser gods called the son and holy spirit under him. He is One God in three manifestations of purpose. It is okay if we don’t fully understand that concept. It is beyond human understanding, but it is not beyond the mind of God. His ways are not our ways, his thinking is not our thinking (Isaiah 55:8-9). Isaiah 9:6-7 reads,
For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

We know this passage is about Jesus, we say it every Christmas. But how often do we mediate on the awesomeness of what it says about the LORD? God first says that unto us, to the world a son is given. So right away we know that God gave us His Son. Today, that phrase brings to mind another well-known Bible verse, one that most every Christian and many non-believers know by heart, John 3:16.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
That seemingly simple verse is profound in meaning and beautiful in it implications. Let’s continue reading what Jesus had to say to the Pharisee Nicodemus about salvation. In John 3:16-21, Jesus said,
For God so loved the world,[ that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
What does this passage say about you and about God. It says that you are loved and God loves you so much that He was willing to give us His Son to save you. It says that He is the Judge and in Him you are not condemned. It says that Jesus is the Light and that the great works you do, which says you are capable of those deeds are carried out in God. That means He empowers you to do His work.
Now back to the passage from Isaiah and what else it says about our Lord. Isaiah was given four names for the Savior to be known by, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. It is interesting to me that only one of those names is one we commonly associate with the Son of God. When we think Prince of Peace it is Jesus we think of. That name speaks to His royalty, He is the Prince. It speaks to His bringing peace, reconciling the world to God. And it speaks to the peace He gives in knowing we have nothing to fear because we are not condemned to separation from Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 describes it like this.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus reconciles us to God, He reconciles us to Himself so that we too can become princes of peace, reconciling the world to Him. We are His ambassadors of peace, we are the righteousness of God! What a great and mighty job! What a beautiful name He gave us.
Wonderful Counselor is a name we normally associate with The Holy Spirit. The Hebrew word for wonderful means full of miracles, full of marvel, extraordinary and hard to understand, and filled with God's acts of judgment and redemption. Counselor from the Hebrew means to advise reflexively, to deliberate or resolve, make known, inform well, consult, to give and take counsel, determine, devise, guide, and give purpose. He is a teacher, lawyer, mediator, intercessor, and psychologist wrapped up in one divine person.
The Hebrew word for counselor yaats is translated in the Greek as paraklhtoj, it has the same meaning, an intercessor, consoler, advocate, and comforter. This is the word used In John 14:26 when Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. John 14:25-27 reads,
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Romans 11:33-36 describes counsel as making God known to us, realizing Him for us. This is what the Wonderful Counselor does.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen
 
Our Savior is also called Mighty God! El Gibbor! Powerful, Strong, Warrior, Giant, and Champion God! He is fighting for us. We have nothing to fear with Mighty God as our Champion. 1 Corinthians 6:13, 14, 15,19,20[i] says this,
The body is … for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him…  19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
 
The next name is so beautiful, this passage is about the Son given to us, it is listing some of the names of our Savior, the Son of God and here He is called Everlasting Father. Wow! He is Eternal never ceasing, always and forever Father, Ab, intimate originator of the family, the One who gives life and name to His children. The relationship between Jesus and the Father is so personal that He is the Father and the Father is the Son. We get to share in that intimacy because as Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him, so we too are in Christ and Christ in us. In John 10:30 Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” Then in John 10:37-38 He took it to the next level, He said,
... If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.
And in John 17:20-23 Jesus prayed that you and I could experience this same unity with Him.
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me
You see you cannot separate God into three separate beings, He is One God. He is Father, Son, and Spirit always. And the extension of that is that no one and nothing can separate us from God or His love! (John 10:28, Romans 8:38-39).
You cannot serve only one part of God, if you decide that The Spirit is not God, then the god you serve is not the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You serve an idol. If you serve God the Father but leave out the Son, then you too are ignoring what He said about Himself in Isaiah, He gave us a Son, His name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Verse 7 like the verses surrounding these two talks about some of what the Savior does. It shows us more of who God is, He is the promise of the never-ending King of Israel sitting on the throne of David. He is the over every government on the earth. He is Just, Judge, and Righteous. He is the Lord of hosts, and He is Zealous.
Cherished, I encourage you to mediate on these names of God and understand the truth of who He is and what that means for you and the world around you. We will over the next several days study passages that will help us to understand more of who God is.


[i] Click the link to read the passage 1 Corinthians 6:13-19 in its entirety.
0 Comments

Spending Time with God Together and Alone

2/20/2018

0 Comments

 
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you James 4:8a
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you James 4:8a
​Not only do we adopt postures and attitudes when we spend time with God, but we can enjoy Him with others and alone. Practicing only one of these types of fellowship is robbing you of growth, joy, blessings, and strength.
There are many Christians who walk the path thinking that it can be just them and God. Some of have been hurt by people or a church or religious group and in fear or anger will not open themselves up to sharing their lives with others. Some have specific ideas about who their god is and becoming part of a fellowship of Christ Followers and allowing the Spirit to work and speak through others means they will have to give up some doctrines that do not align with the Truth of the Word.
There are just as many who do not enjoy time with God, just the two of them. Perhaps they are afraid to open themselves to Him. They may be ashamed of their pasts and do not want God to see how very broken they are. Some do not know how to hear God’s voice and the few quiet times they have had have not had fruit. Some think they will not be able to understand the Bible on their own and rather than finding help or trying, simply excuse themselves from a personal pursuit of friendship with the Lord. Still others say they have no time to spare for God.
Some Christians rarely spend time with a small group of just a few, engaging in conversations, sharing themselves, praying for each other, or enjoying time with one another on a personal level. They use the busyness of life as an excuse. Maybe they would like to but are afraid of that kind of intimacy. It might be that the declare they are introverts or prefer to enjoy spare time alone. Maybe they are waiting for the invitation from someone else to get a cup of coffee, go for a walk or have game night.
It takes courage to engage, open up, and enjoy the benefits of these connections. The Christian life was never meant to be one of solitude. It requires unity with God and His church.  We will look briefly at each one of these situations and see a little of what the Bible says about it.
Since we follow Jesus, He is our example of the will of God. He lived perfectly within God’s will. Did Jesus go to church? You betcha! Even as a child He understood the importance of going to the temple. In Luke 2:41-51 we read about the twelve-year-old boy staying in Jerusalem after His family had left to return home. When His parents realized He was not with them they searched everywhere for Him. Verses 46-49 read,
After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.48 And when his parents[ saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?
This is not the only reference to Jesus going to the temple. Here are a few others.
And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. 38 And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. Luke 21:37-38
Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But let the Scriptures be fulfilled. Mark 14:49
And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him Mark 11:27
Hebrews 10:21-26 says,
and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins
We are to draw near to God and remember what happens when we draw close to God, He completes it, He draws near to us! (James 4:8). When we choose to meet together, we are choosing to meet with God, drawing ourselves to Him as He draws us close to Him. We enter together in faith of our salvation, knowing our hearts have been cleansed and we can go to Him and one another, because we know the gathering together with God and the saints (our brothers and sisters in Christ) is not about condemnation for the sins we have already been forgiven of but the reinforcement of righteousness. When we come together to worship God, to learn, and to encourage one another we stir one another up, we strengthen one another to live a life worthy of the calling and the price paid for it.
Why was the early church so powerful? How did just a handful of believers spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the known world at a time when there was no television, no worldwide news, and no cars, trains, or planes? Acts 2:42-47 describes the way they lived.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
They devoted themselves to the teaching they received from the apostles. They devoted themselves to the fellowship, that is the community of believers. They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread, that is the enjoyment of one another’s company as well as the command to remember Christ through the Lord’s supper. And they devoted themselves to prayer. What was the result of that devotion? Awe came upon every soul and miracles were being done through the apostles. They were living in unity, they had all things in common. They cared more for each other than they cared about bank accounts and possessions. This lifestyle created joy, increased generosity, and gave them ever-increasing reasons to praise God. This lifestyle gave them favor with all people! People around had to see them in a favorable light because they genuinely doing good even under persecution. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved!
The Bible is full of commandments for how to treat one another. You can not obey a “one another” commandment when you are not among your brothers and sisters. Just a few that come to mind immediately are:
  • Love one another as I (Jesus) have loved you. – John 13:34, John 15:12
  • Forgive one another – Ephesians 4:32
  • Encourage one another – 1 Thessalonians 5:11
  • Submit to one another – Ephesians 5:21
  • Bear one another burden’s – Galatians 6:2
The Greek word allelon which means one another is used 100 times in the New Testament. The reciprocal pronoun’s prolific use tells us we were never meant to walk alone. Sixteen of those times is the command to love one another! At least thirteen of those commands tell us how to be in unity with one another. Several of them deal with being humble. All of them are important. Tell me how can you obey the commandment to greet one another with a holy kiss (Romans 16:16) if you do not gather with other believers enough to know and love them? It is just not practical nor possible to live the life Jesus intends for you if you are not meeting at least a couple of times each week with the community of believers.
You may gather regularly, perhaps once or twice a week with the church as a whole and in your small group, life group, Sunday school class or whatever you call it, but maybe you do not have the joy of spending time with two or three people on a personal level. Many of the one anothers listed are really meant for a few people together. Confessing your sins to one another, encouraging one another, praying with one another all are possible and should be practiced in the larger community but they are perfected and augmented in the closeness of the few.
Even the Son of God had a tight knit group he spent time with. He often took Peter, James, and John and the four of them would be alone together leaving the other nine, who I would guess, knowing how humans are, also formed their little groups (Mark 5:37, Mark 9:2, Mark 13:3, Mark 14:33, . Read the passages about Jesus’ time with just the few and you will see that they were able to ask the Lord deep questions, they witnessed and took part in miracles, and they were let into Jesus’ confidence to witness a part of Him that others would not get to see yet. These groups are not exclusive cliques, but circles which promote growth, encourage transparency, and strengthen each participant. We need these close friendships. Jesus didn’t exclude others from this circle, In Mark 13, Andrew was with them privately asking Jesus questions.
Proverbs 27:17 reads,
Iron sharpens iron,
    and one man sharpens another

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 gives this poignant picture,
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
And Jesus said this in Matthew 18:19-20
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
It is imperative to the Christian walk that we walk with others, but just as vital, is spending time with God alone. Jesus, the Son of God is God (John 1:1), yet even He sought out time to spend alone with His Father. In fact the more famous He grew, the more crucial this solitary time was. Luke 5:16 reads,
But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray
Some other instances of this are recorded in Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:23, Luke 3:21, and Luke 6:12. If Jesus’ needed to go to a isolated place, close to God, don’t we need it so much more?
Prayer opens heaven for us (Luke 3:21). That time alone with God praying in the Spirit edifies us (1 Corinthians 14:4). When you are alone with God, what you do, the seeking, the prayer, the worship, and the stillness all bring you closer to Him, it strengthens that relationship between you and your Father, Husband, Maker, and Friend. What you do is for you and God, not to look like a good Christian, not to impress the members of your congregation, and it is not formulaic. In Hosea 6:6 God said,
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Two different occasions of Jesus’ quoting this scripture are recorded in the Gospel of Matthew; both times He was speaking to religious men who flaunted the traditions, rituals, offerings, and sacrifices of religion rather than know God and pursue a relationship with Him (Matthew 9:13, Matthew 12:7).
When describing the relationship God desires and comparing to the ceremonial false relationship of religion, Jesus gave us a direct command to spend time alone with Him. Matthew 6:5-6.
And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
What is your priority? Time alone with God reflects the precedence of your relationship, your desire for God’s will, and your faith in who He is. It is a lie that you do not have the time to spend with the LORD. If getting up an hour earlier or even going to bed one hour later is not possible, if your job or family take all your time, I will boldly say that maybe your faith is not as strong as you think. Maybe your faith is in yourself as provider or your family as the object of worship.  Matthew 6:31-34 encourages us to make God our priority.
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Whatever it is that takes your time and energy is where your heart is; Jesus said,
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21).
Believer, if you do not enjoy each of these ways of spending time with God, I encourage you to step out in faith, be part of The Church, a local faith community, a circle of close Christian friends, and dedicated time for you and the Lord apart from others.
0 Comments

Being Still Takes Strength, Brings Strength, and Uses God’s Strength

2/19/2018

0 Comments

 
Be still, and know that I am God.     I will be exalted among the nations,     I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10
​For many of us, the most difficult part of trusting God is of just being still, of allowing Him to be the LORD and waiting. Sometimes this can feel as if we are doing nothing, it can feel as if we should be working hard to overcome some circumstance or situation, but what can we do that the Lord God of Hosts cannot do?
Being still takes a deliberate effort and it demonstrates faith. It allows God to strengthen us and it glorifies God as His power is displayed instead of ours. Waiting on God is a magnificent expression and revelation of our faith. It is not doing nothing; it is an intentional seeking of God’s face, His will, and His voice. Let’s look at what being still does and why sometimes in the midst of turmoil and chaos, we need to be still and luxuriate in His peace.
Psalm 46 reads,
God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
    God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
    he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
    how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
    he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

This Psalm not only tells us that being still exalts the name of God, that it makes Him famous throughout the earth, but it gives us reasons we can be still. Being still proclaims to God, to the nations, and to the whole earth that we know He is God. What does this short Psalm say about who God is and why we can trust Him enough to be still as the earth gives way, mountains fall, and oceans roar?
It says that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Words can be just something we use and we can gloss over their meanings or forget the depth of them because we use them so often or read them. What is refuge? God is our haven, retreat, harbor, and protection. Refuge is the state of being safe and sheltered, it is the sanctuary and the shelter from danger. One of the definitions for the word is a place of hope and trust. God is our Refuge. He is our Strength. In Strong’s that word is defined in a way that hits me. Strength is applied force, applied security, applied majesty, applied praise; it is boldness, loud, might, power, strength, strong. I find it incredible that majesty and praise are considered synonyms for strength in this verse. When we praise the Lord, we are exercising His strength. He is our strength, He is our force, our security, our majesty, and our praise.
Furthermore, He is present, He is very present. He is with us! He is in us and He flows out of us. His indwelling and current and surge through us has substantial and quantifiable effects on you and those around you. Verses 4 and 5 of the Psalm tell us,
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
    God will help her when morning dawns.

That river in the City of God is described in Revelation 22:1-4
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Revelation 21:6 says,
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
But get this! You, Believer, you have the river of life in you and He flows out of you, giving life, healing, bringing people to Him, and revealing the face of God to the nations. The River of Life is the Holy Spirit (John 7:40). In John 7:38-39 Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Verse 7 reminds us He is the Lord of hosts, that is He has all the angels, those mighty celestial warriors at His beck and call, ready to move at a moment’s notice, fighting for you. It also says He is the God of Jacob. That brings us to recall the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It reminds us that we have been promised New Jerusalem and we have a Savior in Jesus Christ. Verse 7 also reminds us He is our fortress. These names of God tell us to remember His great works, to consider all He has done. Verse 8 reiterates that. Sometimes while we are being still we can go over all the awesome works God has done for us to bring us through before and that will remind us that He will bring us through this time too. We can be still because He is God, He is who He says He is, I Am.
When we are still, we give God permission to fight for us. Picture you, I don’t know how tall, big, or strong you are but let’s pretend you are Shaquille O’Neal. He is 7’1” and in his debut season He weighed 230 pounds. Wow! You’re big and strong! Now let’s pretend you only have to fight one man, Goliath. Modest estimates of his height are 9’6” and since the Israelite army was afraid of him (1 Samuel 17:11) I would guess he was not a skinny man but massively strong. Now, would you even at 7’1” have a real chance at beating him in a fight? Would you want to try hitting him, swinging a sword at him, or trying to wrestle him down? Or perhaps, you could be still and let God fight for you. Exodus 14:14 says,
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent
If you are fighting the battle, God will let you. If you step aside and let Him, He will fight for you and He will win because 9 feet tall or 90 feet tall is nothing compared to Almighty God, the Lord of hosts. Being still shows us who God is and how great He is as it gives Him the opportunity to be God for you. 1 Samuel 12:16 reads,
Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.
Being still also allows you to enjoy God, to be in communion with Him and savor Him. He renews your strength. Isaiah 40:28-31 says it this way,
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Follower of Jesus, I know there is turmoil all around you. I know the storm is terrible and terrifying. Have faith, even the storm obeys God! (Mark 4:39-41).
0 Comments

Why Do We Lift Our Hands to the Lord?

2/18/2018

0 Comments

 
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands 1 Timothy 2:8
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands 1 Timothy 2:8
​One of the most beautiful of the postures before God is that of lifting up the hands. For me, this stance speaks volumes without uttering a word. It opens me up as I mentally and spiritually give myself to the LORD. I want to look at the Word and find out what messages and mindset it expresses in the Bible.
Paul had this to say in 1 Timothy 2:1-10,
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.
Paul wanted men everywhere to pray this way. That means that above all this pose is prayerful. It is one that speaks to God with and without our words. In addition, this position is often a public one which communicates a oneness with people sharing in that time of supplication, prayer, intercession, and thanksgiving. Finally, according this passage just as it conveys unity, it suggests respect, unpretentiousness, and self-control. It is an external display of our mind toward God.
In Psalm 28:2 the psalmist says,
Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
    when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
    toward your most holy sanctuary.
Here, lifting up our hands is an entreaty to God and a recognition that He is our Holy Sanctuary. Mercy and help come from the LORD. He is our Salvation. When we lift our hands toward Him, we are ready to receive all He gives. We implore Him with the confidence that He gives, and in that assurance we thank Him before we receive.
Lifting our hands in public prayer is also a way of bestowing the Lord’s blessings on the hearers and attendees. It is how we multiply and extend our personal worship and prayer to spread to others who are seeking to know God and walk in His awesome love. When it was time for Jesus to return home, He lifted His hands in prayer. It is recorded in Luke:24-50-53.
And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.
I personally want to praise the Lord with my whole being, I want to bless Him, that is to please Him and cause Him to smile. Lifting up our hands does that. God likes it when we lift up our hands to Him. Lifting up our hands portrays desire for Him, more of Him. Psalm 63:1-4 reads,
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
    my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
    beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
    in your name I will lift up my hands.

When we yearn for God so urgently, we know we find Him. Didn’t He say, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). We look, we study, we see His power and glory, we experience His constant and resolute unswerving love and we just must praise Him with everything we have, our words, our hearts, our minds, our souls, and our body. And it makes God happy to see us lift our hands to Him. Psalm 134 says it this way,
Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
    who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
2 Lift up your hands to the holy place
    and bless the Lord!

3 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
    he who made heaven and earth!

God does not have to bless us. He does not have to respond to our worship by giving us anything, yet so often He does because He is that kind. While I do my utmost to bless God, He pours His joy over me, He washes me in His delight. Lifting up my hands makes Him happy and shows Him I am receptive to the blessings He is giving me. It shows Him I am ready for joyfulness and the power of His glory. His glory is His revelation, His exposure to all around. Lifting up our hands says, “Lord, do your thing, show your power, I have faith that you are about to reveal yourself in greatness.” That is the example Moses gave when he lifted his hands in Exodus 9:27-29
Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's.
This posture points to God’s sovereignty, that His power and the absolute right to wield His power and authority as He chooses. Moses gave us this example in Exodus 17:8-11.
Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
I know not everyone is comfortable lifting their hands, some see it as too demonstrative. In a few churches, this position might be considered distracting and overly emotional, extravagant or vociferous. But shouldn’t our worship and prayer be for God and not for the policy makers of an organization? Shouldn’t our worship be based on what the Bible says and not on what the pastor says? Shouldn’t our prayer, worship and life reveal our heart for the Lord? And isn’t that meant to be a passionate pursuit of all He is?
So if you have not lifted your hands to God, or if you rarely do, I encourage you Beloved Child of the Living God to choose to worship Him in this way. If you do practice lifting hands, I encourage you to do so mindfully, understanding the reasons behind it and intentionally using your strength to bless the Lord.
0 Comments

Looking up to Heaven

2/17/2018

1 Comment

 
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14
​Someone said that non-verbal communication, your facial expression, body posture, and the manner of movement is up to 90% of communication. There are times when you can convey your entire message with a look of the eye, a flip of the hair, or a quick gesture. Our postures with God also helps us express something; show God, us, and whoever is looking the attitude of our hearts.
The next posture I want to look at is one Jesus used when He spoke to the Father.
And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.
Mark 6:41
So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
John 11:41-43
And even Jesus’ most remembered prayer was prayed in this fashion, what we call the “High Priestly Prayer in John 17 begins this way in verse 1,
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
What is the attitude being expressed in looking up to Heaven? The first thing it conveys is an intimate relationship with God, appreciating that He is The Father, Good and Loving and in love with us. Jesus prayed looking up to His Dad, He knew God perfectly because from the beginning He was with God and was God (John 1:1). He looked to His Father and spoke to Him directly.
Jesus told us we too have the authority and the right to speak to God directly because God loves us. In John 16:26-28 Jesus said,
In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
Looking at the one you are speaking to means you know with whom you are talking. Lifting your eyes up to Heaven says you know you are having a conversation with God and acknowledge His position as Lord. It is a posture of beseeching. Psalm 123:1-2 says,
To you I lift up my eyes,
    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
    look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
    to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he has mercy upon us.

This posture communicates faith and assurance in understanding who God is. It is a posture of praise. Psalm 121 reads,
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

Looking up to Heaven, looking up to the mountains as you spend time with the Lord gives you the opportunity to reflect on who He is, how mighty He is, and the majesty of Creation; it gives you even more to praise Him for. Isaiah 40:25-26 reads,
To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
    and because he is strong in power,
    not one is missing.

Looking up says, I am not ashamed. Most of us quote Romans 8:1 without a problem.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
But so many Christians trudge in shame and guilt rather than walk in the freedom of our forgiveness and righteousness. Looking up declares your release from the chains of sin, slavery, and fear. How glorifying to God, how beautifully that position exalts and extols Jesus! Psalm 34:4-5 says,
I sought the Lord, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant,
    and their faces shall never be ashamed.

Lifting up your head does something for you too. This act, at a time when you might want to close your eyes and lower your head, gives you confidence and opens your eyes to the Lord, His glory, and even purpose. So often, when I have faced my worst trials, God has told me to open my eyes and look around me. He focuses my attention on others. Looking up focuses our attention on Christ. Stephen was a perfect example of this. Imagine what he was going through, he was being pelted with stones, being murdered in an incredibly painful, slow, and cruel death. But he kept preaching God’s Word through that ordeal. How could he manage that? He was filled with the Holy Spirit who kept His eyes open and looking up. Acts 7:55-60 records Stephen’s death after he had preached a bold sermon.
Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Stephen glorified Jesus even as he died. You and I can glorify Him as we live if we, like Stephen keep our eyes on Him. We can reveal the closeness and affection of our relationship with God just as Jesus did, by looking up to Him. Believer, you can have the intimacy with the Father as Jesus does. You can speak to Him looking up into heaven showing your confidence in Him, not bearing the shame of your past, and knowing your God loves you and knows you. I pray that you will know this and I pray that this is another posture you can take as you enjoy time with your God.
1 Comment

Kneeling Before the LORD

2/16/2018

0 Comments

 
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! Psalm 95:6
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! Psalm 95:6
​The posture I want to look at today as that of kneeling, of bending our knees or getting on our knees. It is the posture we most associate with prayer, although not the only posture of prayer. This is a position that shows our attitude is one of submission and petition; it expresses that the One we kneel before is above us, King, and Master.
The first mention of bowing the knee in the Bible is not about prayer, it is about acknowledging the authority of the one being bowed to. This is Genesis 41:43, when Joseph had been elevated to the second only under the Pharaoh of Egypt.
And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.
Kneeling shows that the person on her knees is entreating or begging the one to whom she is kneeling. This concept is shown in 2 Kings 1:13
Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him, “O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight.
The first example of prayer on one’s knees is Ezra, who just heard about the people pf Israel intermarrying, disobeying the LORD’s commandment, and so adopting idolatry and other traditions into their lives. Ezra 9:3-6 reads,
As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. 4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. 5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, 6 saying:
“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens
The position acknowledged God as King and showed Ezra’s penitence and remorse. The physical position expresses your heart’s attitude. It may also help you to concede that attitude to yourself. Does that make sense? Maybe, when you  begin praying humility, submission, and contrition are not the way you feel, but being on your knees allows you to remember that you are submitting and repenting in your prayer.
Kneeling is an expression of worship. When you kneel before someone or something, you announce to the world that you worship the one you kneel to. 1 Kings 19:18 describes the worshippers of Baal as those who have kneeled to it.
Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.
Kneeling says, “I worship you, you are great! I choose to follow and obey you! You have my allegiance!”
Psalm 95:1-8 reads,
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8     do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

Another beautiful example of kneeling in prayer is Solomon’s prayer to dedicate the Temple in 2 Chronicles 6. Verses 12-14 read,
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. 13 Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, 14 and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart,
In Isaiah 45:22-25 The LORD said,
“Turn to me and be saved,
    all the ends of the earth!
    For I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn;
    from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
    a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
    every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

24 “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
    are righteousness and strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
    all who were incensed against him.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
    shall be justified and shall glory.”

This is what bending our knees to God proclaims! It says God is the LORD! It says we are committed and loyal to Him. It says we believe what He says. In Philippians Paul repeated this prophecy in the light of Jesus as the Messiah, Our Righteousness and Justifier. Philippians 2:8-11 says,
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Bending our knees in prayer doesn’t mean our prayer has any more worth or value, but it does intensify the meaning of the prayer for us as it expresses without words so much of what we want our words to convey. I know personally, when I pray, I wish I could think of words that could describe my awe at His greatness and glory. I wish I could praise Him the way David did and describe His attributes like John did. I wish I could say all the things He deserves me to say, but my words are limited and don’t always know how to articulate my love, amazement, and reverence. But kneeling, bending my knees to the LORD, it says what words do not, it communicates my attitude and my position to Him without the verbiage.
James, the brother of Jesus and writer of the Book of James in the Bible was a man of profound faith, a man who described so beautifully what salvation is and what faith can do. Hegesippus, a man who lived just after the apostles wrote in his memoirs,
... [James] alone was permitted to enter into the holy place; for he wore not woolen but linen garments. And he was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel, in consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God, and asking forgiveness for the people (Eusibius, 325).[i]
 
Believer, I encourage you to enjoy the Lord in the position of bending your knees to Him. I encourage you to develop calluses on your knees instead of your heart and experience God as your King, your Authority, you Justifier, and your Righteousness.
 


[i] Eusibius. (325). Church History.
 
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Give to Salt & Light

    Donna Campbell

    As I read the Bible every day, I take what God teaches me, what He says, and write it out. I then share that with you. It gives me a deeper understanding of the Word and I hope that it will encourage you as it does me, to put your love and faith into action.

      Subscribe to Salt & Light Daily

    Submit

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    Categories

    All
    1
    12000 Stadia
    1400 Miles Cubed
    1 Kings
    1 Peter
    1 Samuel
    1 Thessaloians
    1 Timothy
    260 Days
    2 Chronicles
    2 Kings
    2 Peter
    2 Samuel
    2 Thessalonians
    2 Timothy
    450 Prophets
    5 Senses
    666
    Aaron
    Abba
    Abel
    Abide
    Abigail
    Abimelech
    Abishai
    Abner
    Abomination
    Abraham
    Abram
    Absalom
    Abundant Life
    Accountability
    Accuser
    Action
    Adam
    Admonish
    Adonai
    Adonijah
    Adoption
    Adultery
    Advocate
    After God's Own Heart
    Age Of Accountability
    Agnostics
    Ahab
    Ahasurerus
    Ahaz
    Ahaziah
    Ahimelech
    A Little Lower Than The Angels
    All Have Sinned
    All Things Created
    All Things Work Together For Good
    Almighty
    Altar
    Amaziah
    Amen
    Ammonites
    Ammonites.
    Amnon
    Amon
    And Moses?
    Andrea Barringer
    Andrew
    And The Life
    And The Life.
    And The Truth
    Angels
    Anger
    Angie Majewski
    Anna Bonet
    Annoint
    Annointed
    Anoint
    Anointed
    Anointing
    Antichrist
    Antichrists
    Anti-Semitism
    Anxiety
    Apocalypse
    Apostle
    Apostle Of Love
    Apple
    Apple Of My Eye
    Approval
    Arguments
    Ark
    Ark Of The Covenant
    Armor
    Armor Of God
    Army
    Aroma
    Arrest
    Arrogance
    Artaxerxes
    Asaph
    Asceticism
    As God Is My Witness
    Asher
    Asherah
    Ask
    Ask And You Will Receive
    Ask Anything
    Assyria
    As The Deer
    Astrology
    Athaliah
    Atheists
    Athlete
    Attack
    Audio
    Audio Devotional
    Authority
    Avenge
    Avenger
    Awake
    Awesome
    Axe Head
    Azariah
    Baal
    Baal-zebub
    Babel
    Baby Food
    Babylon
    Babylon The Great
    Bad Boss
    Balaam
    Bald
    Banner
    Baptism
    Baptize
    Bathsheba
    Beacon
    Bear Iniquity
    Bear One Another's Burdens
    Beast
    Beatitudes
    Beauty
    Beauty For Ashes
    Become Like Children
    Be Doers
    Be Fruitful And Multiply
    Began A Good Work In You
    Behavior
    Be Holy As I Am Holy
    Beleive
    Belief
    Believe
    Beloved
    Ben-hadad
    Benjamin
    Be Silent And Be Thought A Fool
    Be Still And Know I Am God
    Bethel
    Betrayal
    Better Is One Day
    Bias
    Bible
    Bible Devotional
    Bible Study
    Black Lives Matter
    Blame
    Blameless
    Blasphemy
    Blasphemy Against The Holy Spirit
    Bless
    Blessed
    Blessing
    Blessings
    Bless Those Who Curse You
    Blind
    BLM
    Blood
    Blood Moon
    Boast In Christ
    Boast In Weakness
    Body Of Christ
    Bondservant
    Bones
    Borders
    Born Again
    Boss
    Boston Dad
    Bowls
    Branch
    Branches
    Bread
    Bread Of Life
    Breath
    Breathe
    Breathe Of Life
    Breath Of God
    Breath Of Life
    Breath Prayer
    Bride
    Bridegroom
    Bride Of Christ
    Bridle The Tongue
    Broken
    Broken Heart
    Brotherhood
    Brotherhood Of Man
    Brothers Of Jesus
    Burial
    Burnt Offering
    Burn Weapons
    Busy
    Busyness
    Bystanders
    By This They Will Know
    Caiaphas
    Cain
    Call On Jesus
    Call On Jesus Name
    Call On The Name Of The Lord
    Canaan
    Can't Be Good Enough
    Can't Earn Salvaiton
    Can't Serve Two Masters
    Captivity
    Cast Lots
    Cave
    Censer
    Chaff
    Chariots Of Fire
    Charity
    Cheerful Giver
    Cherished
    Cherub
    Cherubim
    Childbirth
    Child Of God
    Children
    Children Of God
    Child Sacrifice
    Choose
    Choose Life
    Chosen
    Christ
    Christian Gould
    Christianity
    Church
    Circumcision
    Circumcision Of The Heart
    Cities Of Refuge
    Citizens
    Citizens Of Heaven
    City Of David
    City Of God
    City On A Hill
    Clap
    Clean
    Clean Heart
    Cleansed
    Clothes
    Cloven
    Coexist
    Colossians
    Come
    Comfort
    Comforter
    Commandments
    Commentary
    Communion
    Community
    Compassion
    Complete
    Condemnation
    Confess
    Confession
    Confess Your Sins To One Another
    Confident
    Conform
    Conformed
    Conqueror
    Conquest
    Consciousness
    Constantly
    Contend For The Faith
    Content
    Contentment
    Continuously
    Copper
    Copper Toxicity
    Cord
    Cornerstone
    Courage
    Courts
    Covenant
    Cover
    Covet
    Covid
    Created
    Create In Me A Clean Heart
    Creation
    Creation Declares The Glory Of God
    Creator
    Crocodile
    Crop
    Crown Of Life
    Crowns
    Crucifixion
    Cry Out To God
    Culture
    Cup
    Cup Of Blood
    Cup Of Wrath
    Curse
    Curses
    Curses To Blessings
    Cutting A Covenant
    Cyrus
    Daniel
    Dark
    Darkness
    David
    Davidic Covenant
    Davidic Line
    Day Of Atonement
    Day Of Fire
    Day Of Judgment
    Day Of Wrath
    Deacon
    Dead
    Dead To The Law
    Death
    Deborah
    Decapolis
    Deceiver
    Decieved
    Deciever
    Deed
    Defend The Gospel
    Defile
    Defined
    Definition
    Delight
    Deliverer
    Demetrius
    Demon
    Demons
    Denial
    Denied
    Denise Hogan
    Deny
    Dependance
    Desires Of The Flesh
    Desires Of Your Heart
    Desperate
    Deuteronomy
    Devil
    Devotional
    Devour
    Didymus
    Die For Christ
    Diet
    Dioko
    Dioko Agape
    Diotrephes
    Disagreements
    Disappointment
    Discernment
    Disciple
    Disciples
    Disciple Whom Jesus Loved
    Discipline
    Divergent
    Divorce
    Doeg
    Doers Of The Law
    Does God Punish Evil
    Do Good
    Dominion
    Do Not Be Afraid
    Do Not Be Afraid Of Bad News
    Do Not Despise Prophecies
    Do Not Eat Blood
    Do Not Fear
    Do Not Judge
    Do Not Slander
    Do Not Speak Evil
    Do Not Worry
    Don't Reciprocate The Hate
    Door
    Doubt
    Doubting
    Dove
    Do What Jesus Did
    Dragon
    Draw Near To God
    Drink
    Drink From The Cup
    Drought
    Dung
    Dust
    Dwell
    Dwelling Place
    Eagle
    Eagles Wings
    Earth
    Earthquake
    Easter
    Eat
    Ed
    Edify
    Edom
    Eggs
    Egypt
    Elders
    Elect
    Election
    Eliakam
    Eliakim
    Elijah
    Elisha
    Elohim
    El Roi
    Elsiha
    Emery
    Emmanuel
    Empty Tomb
    Encouragement
    End Times
    Endure
    Enemies
    Enemy
    Enlarge
    Enoch
    Envy
    Eostre
    Ephesians
    Ephesians 3:20
    Ephesus
    Ephod
    Equality
    Equipped
    Equity
    Eric Vaughn Floyd
    Esau
    Eschatology
    Esther
    Eternal Gospel
    Eternal Life
    Eternity
    Ethos
    Eunuchs
    Euphrates
    Evangelism
    Eve
    Every Good And Perfect Thing
    Every Knee Shall Bow Every Tongue Confess
    Evidence
    Evil
    Evil For Good
    Evil-merodach
    Evil One
    Evil Triumphs When Good Men Do Nothing
    Exalt
    Example
    Exercise
    Exhort
    Exiles
    Exodus
    Expanded Consciousness
    Extraordinary Life
    Eye For An Eye
    Ezekiel
    Face Of God
    Faith
    Faithful
    Faith Like A Child
    Faith Not Sight
    Faith Not Works
    Faith Of A Mustard Seed
    Faith Without Works
    Fall
    False
    False Altar
    False Doctrine
    False Prophet
    False Prophets
    False Religion
    False Teachers
    Famine
    Fan Into Flame
    Farmer
    Fasting
    Fat
    Father
    Father God
    Father Of Lies
    Father's Business
    Favor
    Fear
    Feast
    Feast Of Booths
    Feast Of Tabernacles
    Feed
    Feed My Sheep
    Feeling Alone
    Feet
    Fellowship
    Fellow Worker
    Fight The Good Fight
    Filled
    Filthy Rags
    Fire
    First Beast
    Firstborn
    Firstborn Of All Creation
    Firstfruits
    First Sacrifice
    Fish
    Fishing
    Flaming Torch
    Flash Mob
    Flesh
    Flint
    Flood
    Flour And Oil
    Follow
    Follow Christ
    Follow Me
    Food
    Foolish
    Fools
    Forehead
    Foreign
    Forgive
    Forgiven
    Forgiveness
    Forgive One Another
    Forgive Them They Know Not What They Do
    Forgivness
    Forgotten
    Forhead
    Formed
    Forsaken
    For The Joy Of The Lord Is Your Strength
    Fortress
    Fortune Teller
    Forty Days
    Foundation
    Four Blood Moons
    Four Horsemen
    Four Living Creatures
    Fourteen Years
    Fragrance
    Frank Miller
    Freedom
    Freedom In Christ
    Friend
    Friend Of God
    Friendship
    Fringe
    Frogs
    From The Sea
    Fruit
    Fruit Of The Spirit
    Fruit Of The Sprit
    Fulfilled
    Full
    Future
    Gad
    Gaius
    Galatians
    Garden
    Garment
    Gehazi
    Generational Curse
    Generations
    Generous
    Genesis
    Genesis 50:20
    Genuine
    George Floyd
    Gethsemane
    Ghost
    Giant
    Giants
    Gift
    Gifts
    Gifts Of The Spirit
    G.I. Joe
    Gilgal
    Give
    Giving
    Glad
    Glorify
    Glory
    Glory Of God
    Glory Of The Lord
    Glory To Glory
    Glynda Gordon
    God
    God Almighty
    God Cares
    God Comes To Us
    God Disciplines Those He Loves
    God Doesn't Need
    God Doesn't Want Any To Perish
    God Hears
    God Hears Prayer
    God Hides His Face
    God Is Good
    God Is Light
    God Is Love
    God Is One
    God Is Peace
    God Is With Us
    God Is With You
    God Knows You
    God Loves You
    God Of Angel Armies
    God Of Hosts
    God Of Truth
    Gods
    God's Glory
    God's Image
    God's Law
    God's Nature
    God's Rest
    God's Ways Are Higher
    God's Will
    God Wants Everyone To Be Saved
    God Wants Good For You
    God Will Never Forsake You
    God With Us
    God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle
    God Works All Things
    Gog
    Golden Calf
    Goliath
    Gomorrah
    Gone With The Wind
    Good
    Good Shepherd
    Good Works
    Gospel
    Gospel According To Shopping
    Government
    Grace
    Grace Is Sufficient
    Gracious
    Grain Offering
    Great Commission
    Greater Works
    Greatest Commandment
    Great Tribulation
    Grief
    Guard
    Guilt
    Guilt Offering
    Hades
    Hagar
    Ham
    Haman
    Hand Him Over To Satan
    Hanged On A Tree
    Hanukkah
    Hanun
    Happiness
    Happy
    Harry Rubi
    Harvest
    Hate
    Haters
    Hazael
    Head Of The Body
    Healer
    Healing
    Heart
    Heart Of Flesh
    Heart Of Spirit
    Heart Of Stone
    Heaven
    Heavens Declare The Glory Of God
    Hebrews
    Hebrews 13:5
    Hebrews 4:12
    He First Loved Us
    Heirs
    Hell
    Help
    Helper
    Heman The Ezrahite
    Hero
    Herod
    Heroes
    He Who Began A Good Work
    Hezekiah
    Hidden In The Shadow Of Your Wing
    Hidden Manna
    Hide My Face
    Hides His Face
    High Priest
    High Priestly Prayer
    Hold Your Peace
    Holiness
    Holy
    Holy City
    Holy Hill
    Holy One
    Holy Spirit
    Home
    Homosexual
    Honey
    Honor
    Honor Your Mother And Father
    Hope
    Hope Deferred
    Hopeless
    Horn
    Horn Of Salvation
    Horns Of The Altar
    Hosea 6:6
    House
    House Of David
    House Of God
    How Deep Were The Waters Of The Flood?
    How Do I Please God
    How Majestic Is Your Name
    How To Pray
    Humble
    Humilation
    Humility
    Humilty
    Hunger
    Husbands
    I AM
    I Am Statements Of Jesus
    I Am The Way
    I Can Do All Things
    Identity In Christ
    Idle
    Idleness
    Idolatry
    Idols
    If God Is For Us
    If You Were Arrested For Being A Christian Would There Be Enough Evidence To Convict You?”
    Ignorance
    Image Of Christ
    Image Of God
    Image Of Invisible God
    Image Of The Beast
    Imitate God
    Imitate Jesus
    Imitate Me
    Impartiality
    Imperishable
    Incense
    Indwell
    Inheritance
    In Jesus Name
    Injustice
    In My Name
    Inner
    Insomnia
    In Spirit And In Truth
    Intercessor
    In The World
    In The World Not Of It
    In The World Not Of The World
    Intimacy
    Invisible
    Invitation
    Isaac
    Isaiah
    Isaiah 55:11
    Isaiah 61:1 3
    Isaiah 61:1-3
    Ish-bosheth
    Ishmael
    Israel
    Issachar
    Is The LORD The Only God
    I-theism
    It Is Finsihed
    It's Not Fair
    Jabez
    Jael
    James
    James 3:1
    James 4:8
    Japheth
    Jars Of Clay
    Jealous
    Jean Piaget
    Jehoachin
    Jehoahaz
    Jehoash
    Jehoiada
    Jehoiakim
    Jehoram
    Jehoshaphat
    Jehosheba
    Jehovah
    Jehu
    Jeoahaz
    Jeremiah 29:11
    Jericho
    Jeroboam
    Jerusalem
    Jesus
    Jesus Calls You Friend
    Jesus Christ
    Jesus Is God
    Jesus Is Lord
    Jesus Is The Armor Of God
    Jesus Is The Life
    Jesus Is The Same Yesterday Today And Forever
    Jesus Is The Truth
    Jesus Is The Way
    Jesus Is The Word Of God
    Jesus Loves You
    Jesus Name
    Jesus' Name
    Jesus' Sake
    Jesus Slept
    Jewish Baptism
    Jezebel
    Jim Barringer
    Joab
    Joah
    Joash
    Job
    Joel
    John
    John 14:12
    John 15:12
    John 16:33
    John 3:16
    John 8:12
    John Hagee
    John Reeve
    John The Baptist
    Jonah
    Jonathan
    Joram
    Jordan
    Joseph
    Joseph Of Arimethea
    Joshua
    Josiah
    Joy
    Jubilee
    Judah
    Judas
    Jude
    Judge
    Judgement
    Judges
    Judge With Right Judgment
    Judgment
    Judgment Day
    Just
    Justice
    Kab
    Key
    Kill
    Kindness
    King
    Kingdom
    Kingdom Of God
    Kingdom Of Heaven
    King Of Kings
    Kings
    Kings And Queens
    Knock
    Knock And The Door Will Be Opened
    Know God
    Knowing Is Half The Battle
    Knowledge
    Kosher
    Lake Of Fire
    Lamb
    Lamb Of God
    Lamech
    Lamp
    Lampstand
    Land
    Language
    Lani Campbell
    Laodicea
    Last Day
    Last Hour
    Last Woe
    Law
    Law Brings Sin
    Law Of Christ
    Lazarus
    Laziness
    Leader
    Leaven
    Legalism
    Legion
    Legs
    Leprosy
    Let It Go
    Let My Mouth Speak The Glory Of God
    Levi
    Leviticus
    Liar
    Libertarian
    Liberty
    Lie
    Lies
    Life
    Life Abundantly
    Life After Death
    Life Of Worship
    Light
    Lighthouse
    Light Of The World
    Lion
    Lioness
    Lion Of Judah
    Listen
    Live And Let Die
    Live And Let Live
    Live For Christ
    Live Out Loud
    Living Sacrifice
    Living Water
    Locust
    Lodowick Muggleton
    Logos
    Lois And Eunice
    Loosed In Heaven
    Lord
    Lord Of Hosts
    Lord Of Lords
    Lord's Name
    Lord's Name In Vain
    Lord's Prayer
    Lord's Supper
    Lost
    Lot
    Love
    Love Abound
    Love Covers A Multitude Of Sins
    Love Feast
    Love In Action
    Love In Truth
    Love One Another
    Love One Another As Jesus Loved
    Love Others As Jesus Loves You
    Love Out Loud
    Love The Lord With All Your Heart Soul Mind And Strength
    Love Those Who Persecute
    Love Your Brother
    Love Your Enemies
    Love Your Neighbor
    Luke
    Lukewarm
    Magog
    Majestic
    Makarios
    Make
    Malachi
    Malachi 3:10
    Male Child
    Man
    Manasseh
    Manifest
    Manna
    Manslaughter
    Manure
    Mark
    Mark Of The Beast
    Marks Of A Christian
    Marriage
    Martha
    Martyrs
    Mary
    Mary And Martha
    Mary Magdalene
    Mask
    Maskil
    Mattaniah
    Matthew
    Matthew 18 Church Politics
    Matthew 5:1 12
    Matthew 5:1-12
    Matthew 6:33
    Mature
    Maturity
    May His Face Shine Upon Us
    Meal
    Meat
    Mediator
    Meditate
    Meditation
    Medium
    Meek
    Melchizedek
    Members Of One Another
    Memorial
    Memorial Offering
    Menorah
    Menses
    Mephibosheth
    Merciful
    Mercy
    Mercy Seat
    Merri Trifiro
    Messiah
    Messianic Prophecy
    Mezuzzah
    Micaiah
    Michal
    Might
    Mighty Angel
    Miktam
    Mind
    Mindfulness
    Mind Of Christ
    Ministry
    Miracles
    Miriam
    Mishael And Elzaphan
    Mission
    Missionaries
    Moab
    Moabites
    Moabites And The Ammonites.
    Money
    Mordecai
    More And More
    More Than Conquerors
    Mormon
    Morning
    Morning Star
    Moses
    Mother Ann Lee
    Mother Of Prostitutes And Of Earth's Abominations
    Mount Horeb
    Mount Seir
    Mount Zion
    Mourn
    Mourning
    Muggletonians
    Murder
    Mute
    My Father's House
    Mystery
    Mystery Of Christ
    Mystery Of God
    Mystery Of Godliness
    Mystery Of The Gospel
    Mysticism
    Naaman
    Nabal
    Naboth
    Nadab And Abihu
    Name
    Names Of God
    Naphtali
    Nathan
    Nathaniel
    Nation
    Nations
    Natural Disasters
    Nature
    Nature Of Christ
    Nebuchadnezzar
    Necromancer
    Negative
    Neighbor
    Never Go Hungry
    New Creation
    New Earth
    New Heart
    New Heaven
    New Identity
    New Jerusalem
    New Life
    New Name
    New Self
    New Song
    New-spirit
    Nicodemus
    No
    Noah
    Nob
    No Broken Bones
    No Condemnation
    No Sin In Christ
    No Tears In Heaven
    Nothing Can Separate You From The Love Of God
    Nothing Is Impossible For God
    Nothing Is Sin
    Not Iscariot
    Not Just My Mout
    Now You Know
    Number Of His Name
    Oath
    Obadiah
    Obama
    Obedience
    Obey
    Obey In Marriage
    October 21st 2015
    Offend
    Offering
    Offerings
    O God
    Oholah
    Oholibah
    Oil
    Oil Of Gladness
    Older
    Olive Trees
    Omnipresent
    On Account Of My Name
    One Another
    One Body
    One Faith
    One God
    One God Three Persons
    One Gospel
    One Lord
    Oneness
    One Spirit
    One Truth
    One With God
    Outdo One Another In Showing Honor
    Overcome
    Overcomer
    Pads
    Paganism
    Pain
    Palm
    Palm Sunday
    Parable
    Parable Of The Talents
    Parapet
    Partiality
    Partners
    Passion
    Passion Week
    Passover
    Past
    Pastor
    Patience
    Paul
    Peace
    Peacemakers
    Peace Offering
    Peace Of God
    Peace Which Surpasses Understanding
    Peace With God
    Pearls Before Swine
    Peculiar
    Peculiar People
    Peirced
    Penn Jillette
    Pentecost
    Perfect
    Perfected
    Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
    Perfume
    Persecuted
    Persecution
    Perseverence
    Perspective
    Pestilence
    Peter
    Pharaoh
    Pharisees
    Philemon
    Philippians
    Philippians 3:20
    Philippians 4:13
    Philippians 4:7
    Phillip
    Philosophy
    Pierced
    Pigs
    Pilate
    Pillar
    Plan
    Plans
    Poison
    Polycarp
    Poop
    Poor
    Poor In Spirit
    Portent
    Positive
    Possible
    Pour Out His Spirit
    Power
    Power In Their Mouths
    Power In Their Tails
    Praise
    Pray
    Pray Continuously
    Prayer
    Prayer Of A Righteous Man
    Prayer Of A Righteous Person
    Pray For Kings Presidents Rulers
    Pray For Those
    Pray Watchfully
    Pray Without Ceasing
    Preach
    Preach The Gospel
    Predestined
    Prejudice
    Prepared
    Presence
    Pride
    Priest
    Priesthood
    Priests
    Priests At Nob
    Prince
    Prince Of The Power Of The Air
    Prison
    Prisoner
    Prisoners Of War
    Private
    Problems
    Prohibition
    Promise
    Promised Land
    Promises
    Proof
    Prophecy
    Prophesy
    Prophet
    Propitiation
    Propser
    Prosperity
    Prostitute
    Protect
    Protector
    Proverbs
    Provision
    Prowling Lion
    Prune
    Pruning
    Psalm
    Psalm 119
    Psalm 23
    Psalm 34:8
    Psalm 37:4
    Psalm 91
    Psalms
    Psychic
    Punish
    Pure
    Pure In Heart
    Pure Of Heart
    Purity
    Purple
    Purpose
    Pursue
    Pursue Love
    Put Off Your Old Self
    Put On Christ
    Quarrels
    Queen
    Queen Of Sheba
    Quiet
    Rabbit
    Racism
    Radical
    Rain
    Raise From The Dead
    Rape
    Read
    Reap
    Receive
    Receiving
    Reconcile
    Redeemer
    Redemption
    Reflect
    Reflection
    Refuge
    Rehoboam
    Rejoice
    Rejoice In Suffering
    Relationship
    Religion
    Remain Silent And Be Thought A Fool
    Remember
    Render Unto Caesar
    Renewed
    Repent
    Resist
    Resist The Devil
    Ressurected
    Ressurection
    Rest
    Restoration
    Resurrected
    Resurrection
    Revelation
    Revenge
    Rich
    Richard Ruiz
    Riches
    Rich Young Ruler
    Rider On A Black Horse
    Rider On A Pale Horse
    Rider On A Red Horse
    Righteous
    Righteous Deeds
    Righteousness
    River Of Life
    Rivers Of Living Water
    Roaring Lion
    Rob
    Robbery
    Robe
    Robert Gordon
    Rock
    Rod And Staff
    Roman Road To Salvation
    Romans
    Romans 8:1
    Romans 8:28 29
    Romans 8:28-29
    Royal
    Royal Priesthood
    Ruth
    Sabaoth
    Sabbath
    Sabbatical Year
    Sacrifice
    Salt
    Salt And Light
    Salt Of The Earth
    Salvation
    Samaria
    Samaritan
    Samuel
    Sanctification
    Sanctified
    Sanhedrin
    Santa Claus
    Sarah
    Sarai
    Sardis
    Satan
    Saul
    Saved
    Saved By Christ
    Saved By Grace
    Saved By Jesus' Work Not Yours
    Savior
    Sayings
    Say No
    Scarlet
    Scoffers
    Scorching Sun
    Scripture
    Scroll
    Seal
    Sealed
    Sea Of Cast Metal
    Search Me
    Seasoned With Grace
    Second Beast
    Second Coming
    Security
    Seed
    See God
    Seek
    Seek And You Will Find
    Seek First The Kingdom Of God
    Seek God
    Self Control
    Self-control
    Self-discipline
    Self Righteous
    Self-sufficient
    Semen
    Separate
    Separated From God
    Seperate
    September 27th 2015
    Sermon On The Mount
    Serpent
    Serpent's Stone
    Servant
    Serve
    Seth
    Seven
    Seven Bowls
    Seven Plagues
    Seven Spirits
    Seven Stars
    Seventh Seal
    Seventh Trumpet
    Seven Thunders
    Seven Years
    Sex
    Sexual Immorality
    Shadow Of Your Wings
    Shakers
    Shame
    Shammah
    Share Your Faith
    She Bear
    Shebna
    Sheep
    Shem
    Sheol
    Shepherd
    Shield
    Shield Of Faith
    Shofar
    Shout
    Showbread
    Shulammite
    Shunammite
    Signs
    Silence
    Silent
    Simon
    Simon The Magician
    Simple Truth
    Sin
    Sinless
    Sin Nature
    Sin No More
    Sin Offering
    Sins
    Sin That Leads To Death
    Sister
    Sixth Trumpet
    Slave
    Slavery
    Smoking Pot
    Smyrna
    Snatch From Hell
    Sodom
    Soldier
    Soldiers
    Solid Food
    Solomon
    Son
    Song Of Moses
    Son Of God
    Sons
    Sons Andd Daughters
    Sons Of God
    Sons Of Korah
    Sons Of The Prophets
    Sons Of Thunder
    Sons Pay For Father's Sin
    Soon
    Sores
    Sorrow
    Sound Doctrine
    Sound Mind
    Soup
    Sour Grapes
    Sovereign
    Sow
    Speak And Remove All Doubt
    Speak Evil
    Spirit
    Spirit Filled
    Spirit Of Courage
    Spirit Of Fear
    Spirit Of God
    Spirit Of Life
    Spirit Of Power
    Spirit Of Truth
    Spiritual Gifts
    Spirituality
    Spiritual Milk
    Spiritual Warfare
    Stand
    Stand Fast
    Stands At The Door And Knocks
    Starvation
    Stay Awake
    Steadfast
    Steadfastness
    Stealing
    Stew
    Stewardship
    Storm
    Straight And Narrow
    Strait And Narrow
    Strength
    Strong
    Stronghold
    Struggles
    Stumbling Block
    Submission
    Submit
    Submit To One Another
    Such A Time As This
    Suffer
    Suffering
    Suffering Produces Character
    Suicide
    Sunday
    Supernatural
    Support
    Sustainer
    Swear
    Sword
    Sword Of The Spirit
    Syria
    Tabernacle
    Tamar
    Tampons
    Tarot
    Tassels
    Taste And See That The Lord Is Good
    Teacher
    Teachers
    Teaching
    Tears In Heaven
    Tempation
    Temple Of God
    Temptation
    Ten Commandments
    Ten Nations
    Tent
    Ten Tribes
    Ten Virgins
    Test
    Testimony
    Testing
    Thanksgiving
    Thanksgivng
    The Day Of The Lord
    The Devil Prowls Like A Roaring Lion
    The Devil Wears Prada
    The End
    The Enemy
    The Eye Is The Lamp Of The Body
    The Fool Says
    The God Who Sees Me
    The Joy Of The Lord
    The Lamb Is The Lamp
    The Lord Is Our Righteousness
    The Lord Is There
    The Love Of Money
    The Love Of Money Is A Root Of All Kinds Of Evils
    The Love Of Money Is The Root Of All Kinds Of Evil
    There Is A Time
    "There Is No God."
    The Rider On A White Horse
    The Testimony Of Jesus Is The Spirit Of Prophecy
    The Truth
    The Truth Will Set You Free
    The Way
    The World Will Hate You
    Thief In The Night
    Thirst
    Thomas
    Thoughts
    Thousand Generations
    Thousand Years
    Thou Shalt Not Covet
    Three
    Three Fold
    Three-Fold
    Throne Of God
    Through Him Who Strengthens Me
    Time
    Time Alone
    Timothy
    Tithe
    Titus
    Tolerance
    Tomb
    Tongue
    Tongues
    To The Third And Fourth Generaton
    Traits Of God
    Trample The Enemy
    Transform
    Transformation
    Transparent
    Treason
    Treasure
    Treasure In Heaven
    Tree
    Tree Of Knowledge Of Good And Evil
    Tree Of Life
    Trial
    Trials
    Tribulation
    Tribulations
    Trinity
    Trip
    Triumphant
    Triumphant Entry
    Troubles
    True
    True Beauty
    True Vine
    Trumpet
    Trust
    Truth
    Tsid-Kenu
    Turn The Other Cheek
    TV
    Twin
    Two Edged Sword
    Two Horns Like A Lamb
    Two Or Three Witnesses
    Two Witnesses
    Type Of Christ
    Tyrant
    Unclean
    Undefiled
    Unequally Yoked
    Unfading
    Unfair
    Union
    United
    Unity
    Universe
    Unleavened
    Unrepentant
    Unseen
    Uriah
    Uzza
    Uzzah
    Uzziah
    Valley Of Bones
    Vanessa Giorgi
    Vashti
    Veil
    Vengeance
    Vengeance Is Mine
    Veruca Salt
    Very Present Help
    Vessels
    Victory
    Video
    Vindicate
    Vindication
    Vine
    Vinedresser
    Vineyard
    Vipers
    Vow
    Vows
    Wages Of Sin Is Death
    Wait
    Walk
    Walk According To The Spirit
    Walk In The Light
    Walk In Truth
    Walk On Water
    War
    Warrior King
    Wash
    Washed By The Blood
    Watchful
    Water
    Water Of Life
    Way
    Weak
    Weaker Vessel
    Wealth
    Weary
    Weather
    Wedding
    Wedding Feast
    Wedding Garment
    Weeping
    Well With You
    Were There Blood Sacrifices Before Abraham
    What Does God Want
    What Does Seven Mean In The Bible
    What Does Three Mean In The Bible
    What Is God's Will?
    What Is The Will Of God?
    What's Down In The Well
    Wheat And Chaff
    Wheat And Tares
    Wheat And Weeds
    When God Says No
    Where Grace Abounds
    Where Two Or Three Are Gathered
    While We Were Still Sinners
    Whisper
    White
    Whitewash
    White Wash
    Who Can Be Against Us
    Whoever Believes In Me
    Who Is God
    Who Opens And No One Will Shut
    Whore
    Why
    Why Did Noah Take 7 Pairs Of Clean Animals On The Ark?
    Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen
    Why Do Evil Men Prosper
    Widow
    Widows
    Widows And Orphans
    Wife
    Wilderness
    Will
    Wind
    Windex
    Wine
    Winepress
    Wisdom
    Witch Of En-dor
    Withdraw
    Witness
    Wives
    Wives Submit To Your Husbands
    Woe
    Woman
    Wood
    Word
    Word Is A Lamp
    Word Of God
    Words
    Workmanship
    Works
    Works Of The Flesh
    World
    Worries
    Worship
    Worship In Spirit And In Truth
    Worthy
    Wounds
    Wrarfare
    Wrath
    Wrath Of The Lamb
    Xerxes
    Year Of Jubilee
    Year Of The Sabbath
    Yeast
    Yes
    Yoke
    YOLO
    Young
    Zeal
    Zebulun
    Zedekiah
    Zephaniah
    Ziba
    Zion
    Zoltar

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.