God Speaks His Word
1 Peter 2:2 - 'As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby:'
We need the bible! There is so much hype going around in the body of Christ about this book and that book until people are putting just as much stake into Christian books than they are the bible and that is not wise. Of course there are good Christian books on the market that help us, but nothing can take the place of the Word of God. You need it to grow and it doesn't take a man to always break it down for you. There is truth in the bible that everyone can live by and there are translations of the bible that everyone can understand plainly. The bible is not being pushed because it's not as profitable to sell as a man's book is, so we are starting to hear less about the bible and more about men and their accomplishments. But the fact still remains that if you plan to really grow, you must grow by reading the Word. This is why so many Christians are immature and babes forever. They think they know, but they really don't because they do not read the Word. Or, they read it but it doesn't take root because they follow their own way instead of following what the Lord says. And you can always tell a Christian that doesn't spend anytime in the Word. They begin to tell you how God "told them this" or "said that" to them. Then they start going back on what they said God said and changing their minds about it after if fails or doesn't work out for them. That's because God speaks through his Word and what he says can be referenced in the Word. Even when he speaks to mature believers through his Spirit it will always line up with scripture and never contradict it.
The bible is one of the hardest books in the world to consistently read but not because it can't be understood. It's hard to read because the devil doesn't want you to read it! It's hard sometimes to find time to do it, and it takes perseverance to get disciplined enough to stick to a reading pattern. But the devil is behind it all! The devil knows the power of the word and he knows that you will grow if you read it, so he starts speaking into your mind, saying good things at first, to make you think it's God. He wants you to feel like you are hearing the voice of God in the beginning so you will never have a need for the word! It's a trick! Then he starts using that same voice to lead you astray eventually. Many times by causing you to follow crooked ministries and greedy television evangelists, the enemy will begin to make you dependent upon man to be God's voice for you and at that point, there is no need for the bible at all! But God said, "my sheep know my voice." Well, they know it because it will line up with his Word. The Word of God is your milk to grow. Without it, you will never be mature enough in Christ to hear him speaking and you definitely won't be able to know who's really saying what God said.
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Saturday, 18 February 2012
The battle for the mind
The battle for the mind is not a power encounter – it is a truth encounter.
This is not a battle that we win by binding and loosing. This is a battle we win by exposing lies and receiving truth.
When you expose the lie with the truth, you break the power of that lie. You don’t have to accept every thought that comes into your mind. You have to bring it into obedience.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
This is not a battle that we win by binding and loosing. This is a battle we win by exposing lies and receiving truth.
When you expose the lie with the truth, you break the power of that lie. You don’t have to accept every thought that comes into your mind. You have to bring it into obedience.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Messing With Your Blessing
Messing With Your Blessing
Luke 6:38 - 'If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving-large or small-it will be used to measure what is given back to you.'
Is stinginess from God? Is God stingy towards us? No, not in the least. He gives perpetually to us, grace, love, etc...... So where does stinginess come from? Well if we research the word of God, stinginess caused the first murder in the bible. Cain was stingy to God and did not please God with his sacrifice. Cain gave a fruit sacrifice which was not acceptable to God because God required a living sacrifice.
So, Cain got upset at his brother when he really should have been upset with himself. Abel gave God the best offering he could, and it was not his fault that God was more pleased with him than his brother. He was just obedient and gave what was required of him. What Cain failed to see was that Abel pleased God because Abel stayed open to receive of God by giving what was required. When you give what is required, you open yourself up so that you can receive. Cain wasn't hurting God by holding back, but God was displeased with him because he was cutting off his own ability to receive! We must learn to give cheerfully and not hold on to what really belongs to God.
The living sacrifice was God's and the fruit of the earth was mans. God wanted a sacrifice that would bring him glory and his own living creation could do that. But the fruit of the land gave glory to man because it was of the earth. God always wants what is his and when we try to keep it, we become stingy and cut off our own blessings. Your offerings belong to God and not you, so when you hold on to it, it hurts you and when you give it back to God, it blesses you. God is not upset with you about you keeping your money because he wants it so bad. He just doesn't want you cutting off your own blessing by keeping what is his!
Imagine playing catch with someone. If you throw them a ball, they cannot catch it if they are holding on to something else right? It will bounce right off their tight fists and hit the ground.
Well, when we are holding on to things, our hands are closed. How do we expect to receive the blessings that God is sending us if we don't let go of things we are already holding? When we give we make more room in our hands to receive. Are your blessings hitting your fists and landing on the ground around you? Give your best to God. Give what is required of you. Your offerings are not yours, but God's, so do not keep them. But even more important, give your body, a living sacrifice, holy unto God and don't hold on to your own will.
Don't mess with your blessing but rather give willfully and you will be blessed bountifully.
Suggested Reading: Gen. 4:7, Gen. 14:20, Mal. 3:8, 2Cor. 9:6,
Luke 6:38 - 'If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving-large or small-it will be used to measure what is given back to you.'
Is stinginess from God? Is God stingy towards us? No, not in the least. He gives perpetually to us, grace, love, etc...... So where does stinginess come from? Well if we research the word of God, stinginess caused the first murder in the bible. Cain was stingy to God and did not please God with his sacrifice. Cain gave a fruit sacrifice which was not acceptable to God because God required a living sacrifice.
So, Cain got upset at his brother when he really should have been upset with himself. Abel gave God the best offering he could, and it was not his fault that God was more pleased with him than his brother. He was just obedient and gave what was required of him. What Cain failed to see was that Abel pleased God because Abel stayed open to receive of God by giving what was required. When you give what is required, you open yourself up so that you can receive. Cain wasn't hurting God by holding back, but God was displeased with him because he was cutting off his own ability to receive! We must learn to give cheerfully and not hold on to what really belongs to God.
The living sacrifice was God's and the fruit of the earth was mans. God wanted a sacrifice that would bring him glory and his own living creation could do that. But the fruit of the land gave glory to man because it was of the earth. God always wants what is his and when we try to keep it, we become stingy and cut off our own blessings. Your offerings belong to God and not you, so when you hold on to it, it hurts you and when you give it back to God, it blesses you. God is not upset with you about you keeping your money because he wants it so bad. He just doesn't want you cutting off your own blessing by keeping what is his!
Imagine playing catch with someone. If you throw them a ball, they cannot catch it if they are holding on to something else right? It will bounce right off their tight fists and hit the ground.
Well, when we are holding on to things, our hands are closed. How do we expect to receive the blessings that God is sending us if we don't let go of things we are already holding? When we give we make more room in our hands to receive. Are your blessings hitting your fists and landing on the ground around you? Give your best to God. Give what is required of you. Your offerings are not yours, but God's, so do not keep them. But even more important, give your body, a living sacrifice, holy unto God and don't hold on to your own will.
Don't mess with your blessing but rather give willfully and you will be blessed bountifully.
Suggested Reading: Gen. 4:7, Gen. 14:20, Mal. 3:8, 2Cor. 9:6,
Saturday, 4 February 2012
The Gethsemane Times in our Life
The Gethsemane Times in our Life
'Jesus went...to a place called Gethsemane...' Matthew 26:36
The word Gethsemane means 'crushed olives.' And from crushed olives comes oil that heals, illuminates, and nourishes. We all have our Gethsemane. To understand and embrace yours, look at the night Christ spent there before going to the cross: 'Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them..."My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch [pray] with me." Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will' ' (vv.36-39 NIV).
Notice:
1) Gethsemane is where your prayers are not answered as you'd like them to be. God understands how you feel, and He has a better plan in mind.
2) Gethsemane is where those closest to you cannot help. Like Christ's disciples, they will pray with you for a while but then grow tired and give up. At this point, you pray alone. You go on alone.
3) Gethsemane is where you feel the full weight of God's will. The Old Testament prophets spoke of 'the burden of the Word of the Lord.' Luke tells us that in Gethsemane Jesus was ' in anguish' and that 'his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground' (Luke 22:44).
We used to sing in church, 'All that I have, all that I am, all I shall ever be; cannot repay the love debt I owe; I surrender to Thee!' If you're finding it easier to sing than to surrender, you're in Gethsemane!
'Jesus went...to a place called Gethsemane...' Matthew 26:36
The word Gethsemane means 'crushed olives.' And from crushed olives comes oil that heals, illuminates, and nourishes. We all have our Gethsemane. To understand and embrace yours, look at the night Christ spent there before going to the cross: 'Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them..."My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch [pray] with me." Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will' ' (vv.36-39 NIV).
Notice:
1) Gethsemane is where your prayers are not answered as you'd like them to be. God understands how you feel, and He has a better plan in mind.
2) Gethsemane is where those closest to you cannot help. Like Christ's disciples, they will pray with you for a while but then grow tired and give up. At this point, you pray alone. You go on alone.
3) Gethsemane is where you feel the full weight of God's will. The Old Testament prophets spoke of 'the burden of the Word of the Lord.' Luke tells us that in Gethsemane Jesus was ' in anguish' and that 'his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground' (Luke 22:44).
We used to sing in church, 'All that I have, all that I am, all I shall ever be; cannot repay the love debt I owe; I surrender to Thee!' If you're finding it easier to sing than to surrender, you're in Gethsemane!
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