Devotions - Prayer
My only comment is: Does Halloween bring glory to God? No! It glorifies the devil! Nuff said.
Read the verse below and ask yourself what and where are your treasures?
Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Is your heart after–Earthly wealth, flesh, or is your heart after spiritual wealth?
If after spiritual wealth, then your heart and desire will follow.
If isolated from the rest of God’s Word, there are some scriptures that could be interpreted to mean that having money or wealth is wrong.
*However there are other scriptures that speak of riches as a blessing.
**The harmony between these two apparently opposite positions is that money is neither good nor bad.
*It is the love of money that is the root of all evil, and many have committed the sin of loving money who don’t even have a dime.
1 Tim. 6: 10. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
The “Love of Things” (covetousness) is idolatry, and this is what Jesus is addressing.
Because it is so easy to lust after money and the things it can provide, the Lord established a system whereby prosperity is a by-product of putting God first.
As Matthew 6:33 states, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”
We should no more reject the blessing of prosperity than we should covet it, which is idolatry.
The reason for not laying up treasures on this earth is so that we will not have our hearts drawn away from the things of God.
A key to success in the Kingdom of God is singleness of purpose. (Eternal Perspective).
We don’t have the capacity to do our best in two areas at the same time.
If we will simply put God and His Kingdom first in every area of our lives, He will add to us all the wealth that we NEED.
What is more valuable or important than knowing Him? (see John 17:3)
Father, I look to you for direction. You are the only one who has the way that will not fail. Teach me those ways so that your kingdom will grow and you will get the glory. Help me see too that: Every spending decision is a spiritual decision.
YES—KNOWING YOU IS OUR GREATEST TREASURE!!! Amen
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We are God’s fellow workers: God gives us the amazing opportunity to work with Him. We cannot work without Him, and He will not work without us (generally speaking). God wants you as His working partner.
When you consider all the ways God could have done His work, it is even more amazing to know He wants our participation.
I have laid the foundation: When Paul founded the church in Corinth (Acts 18), he set the only foundation that can be laid – the person and work of Jesus Christ. Yet he knew that others would come after him and build on the foundation he set.
Each Christian will one day come before the judgment seat of Christ and will be evaluated for their Christian walk. This is when God will look at our stewardship, at our use of time, talents, and treasures. He will evaluate us not to determine our entrance to heaven—that has already been given through Christ’s finished work on the cross—but to determine our reward in heaven.
As we reconsider the parable of the three stewards in Matthew 25, let us first remember the issue of responsibility in stewardship. The three servants did not own the possessions they took care of; those things belonged to the master. None of the slaves could claim ownership of anything they had. In the same way, everything we have, are, or ever will be belongs to God.
We must also remember the issue of accountability. After time had passed, the master came back to see what the slaves had done with his money. We will all one day answer for the use of our resources. To the servants who invested wisely, the master gave public praise and more treasures (vv. 21, 23), but to the servant who buried his talent in the ground, he gave a tongue-lashing (v. 26). Each one got the reward he was due.
How can we prepare for the day when we will answer for the use of our time, talents, and treasures? Start rewriting our obituaries now! We can’t change the past, but we can change tomorrow.
Begin reorganizing your life to reflect your changed priorities.
Live so that at His judgment seat, God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
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God’s to-do lists in the Bible aren’t about what we are supposed to do; they’re guidelines that show who we are in Him. And who we are is a much bigger picture than a list of priorities.
The Christian’s master list is simple: love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-40). This is our greatest priority in life. How these two things are accomplished looks differently in different situations.
In relation to family, we are to love our wives and respect our husbands (Ephesians 5:33), become one in marriage (Genesis 2:21-24), train our kids to follow God (Deuteronomy 6:7), support our parents (Mark 7:9-13), and live in unity with other believers (John 17:22).
But these relationships are not one time tasks. We are not told to love and respect our spouses until we are done and then we can pay attention to our kids.
Instead, God created the Christian life to encompass every relationship at the same time. Our focus may shift depending on circumstances, but Jesus never said, “Love your neighbors one at a time.”
Our family priorities should fit within the context of our relationship with God and our role in His kingdom.
The purpose of marriage is to become a unit that is internally supportive and works together to serve God. Part of that support and work relates to raising children and taking care of older parents.
- We raise children to love and serve God.
- We take care of our own parents out of appreciation for how God provided us with them and to preserve church resources for the needy.
These relationships continue to build on each other. Keeping our parents close enough that we can care for them gives our kids an example of responsibility as well as a sense of extended family. Loving and disciplining our kids helps create peace in our families today and prepares them for godly work in the future.
Ideally, all these individuals and relationships work together so the family can support God’s kingdom, but sometimes that doesn’t work.
First Timothy 3:4-5 says that if our children are in a place where they need more time and attention, it is absolutely biblical to take a hiatus from church ministry to see to their needs. Similarly, Mark 7:9-13says that older parents have a priority on our resources over ministry. A healthy family life is important to our work in the church body.
Seen from this perspective, “priorities in the family” becomes less about a list that drains our energy and more about our place in God’s kingdom.
Ultimately, everything in the Christian life comes down to how our actions demonstrate our commitment to Christ. If we accept the community of family and church that He’s provided for us, we need to value it as much as He does.
Priorities simply become those things we need to do now to best glorify God.
Lord, please give me the wisdom, discernment and knowledge to have my actions give You more and more glory in the advancement of Your Kingdom. Please help my parents through this aging process and help each one of our children Know You More! Amen
Read MoreThe mature Christian is simply one who recognizes his “self-centeredness” and makes the choice to focus on God’s will rather than his own.
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.” Proverbs 19:21
“Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.” Acts 7:22
Have you ever tried to hide from God’s call on your life?
Moses did. He fled to the wilderness to get away. The hillside was a comfortable place; one that allowed him to live in obscurity. But God approached Moses as he tended sheep.
When God asked Moses to speak to Pharaoh on His behalf, Moses balked. He felt inadequate. He lifted up his weakness to God and submitted it as an excuse not to do as God asked.
3 Considerations:
1) Failure is not Final
2) Age is irrelevant- life was about to begin at 80 for Moses
3) God speaks to ordinary people on ordinary days
“My words get tangled,” he said. (Exodus 4:10b)
Yet years later in Acts 7:22, we find that Stephen described Moses as powerful in both speech and action.
How could this be? Did Moses truly struggle with his words, or was it an excuse?
As an Egyptian citizen and adopted member of the royal family, Moses had access to the finest education. As a young man he rose to the rank of prime minister, a task that required him to communicate with others. But Moses is believed to have had a true speech impediment.
He struggled to get the words out.
So when God approached Moses to join in an adventure to free His people from slavery, all Moses could think about was his weakness.
When Stephen described Moses, hundreds of years later, he had the advantage of seeing Moses’ life span. He had heard of every act of courage and victory. Even in death, the name of Moses was revered among the nation of Israel.
Stephen knew when Moses spoke, though he may have stammered, his words carried weight.
The words Moses spoke were described as “life giving.” (Acts 7:38 NLT) Moses’ words mended arguments, offered justice, negotiated freedom and dispensed wisdom.
Only in hindsight do we see what Moses could not see in the beginning. God wasn’t worried about Moses’ lack of eloquence, vocabulary or skill, but whether or not Moses trusted God enough to obey.
**Where Moses was deficient, God would be sufficient.
**Where Moses struggled, God would succeed.
**Where Moses was weak, God would be strong.
How many times does God invite us to follow Him into an adventure?
Dear Lord, You know my very real weakness. But I am excited to respond to Your voice today. With You all things are possible, so I step out again in faith beginning today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Read More“So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, ‘Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!'” (Job 2:7-9).
One message I get from the book of Job is: Do not give up on God because of suffering or bad experiences.”
Our age of “INSTANT” everything has caused us to lose the ability to wait. We expect to learn patience instantly, and in our hurry, we miss out on the real blessing of it. What do we want now?- relief from pain is at the top of our list. We want an instant cure for everything from toothaches to heartbreaks.
When God finally spoke to Job, he didn’t offer Job an answer. Instead, he drove home the point that it is better to KNOW GOD than to know answers(see also John 17:3).
Sometimes suffering is an attack by Satan on our lives. Sometimes we do not know why the suffering but need to know, that the suffering may be shaping us for special service to others.
When hope is deferred, the psalmist says, the heart becomes sick. During these seasons, we can only do one thing. We must hang onto whatever faith we have to get through each day and entrust our lives to Him. (Hab 3:17-18).
When faith doesn’t see results it challenges what we believe. We must pray as Job prayed: “Teach me what I cannot see” (Job 34:32). God says there is a purpose in everything we go through(Ro. 8:28). God is always bigger than Satan’s afflictions. See 1 John 4:4-We fight FROM Victory if we have Jesus!
Our greatest tests come when we cannot see positive results from our faith and obedience. In such cases we must die to our expectations and entrust them to our Lord.
But Job is an example for us of how we must break through our natural view of life so that we begin to see things in a different light. This book is here to teach us that God sometimes has to translate theology into painful experience before we really begin to grasp what He is trying to say to us.
Father, thank You that You have sent Your Son, who has endured more suffering than I. Grant me the strength to endure whatever You allow into my life, that I may bring Glory to You. Amen
Better Than Everest
By John Piper
We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
If you live inside this massive promise, your life is more solid and stable than Mount Everest.
Nothing can blow you over when you are inside the walls of Romans 8:28.
Outside Romans 8:28, all is confusion and anxiety and fear and uncertainty. Outside this promise of God’s all-encompassing future grace, there are straw houses of drugs and pornography and dozens of futile diversions. There are slat walls and tin roofs of fragile investment strategies and fleeting insurance coverage and trivial retirement plans. There are card-board fortifications of deadbolt locks and alarm systems and antiballistic missiles. Outside are a thousand substitutes for Romans 8:28.
Once you walk through the door of love into the massive, unshakable structure of Romans 8:28, everything changes. There come into your life stability and depth and freedom. You simply can’t be blown over anymore. The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good all the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience is an incomparable refuge and security and hope and power in your life.
When God’s people really live by the future grace of Romans 8:28 — from measles to the mortuary — they are the freest and strongest and most generous people in the world.
Their light shines and people give glory to their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
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Have you heard God’s word?
James 1:13-14 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
The Cost of Disobedience
“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” John 17:4, 5
This prayer was prayed prior to his going the cross, but, in its scope, it reaches beyond and includes the cross.
Our Lord knew where he was going, he knew what he would be doing in the next few hours and what would be accomplished.
That work included more than the cross. It encompassed his ministry of healing and mercy, and even those thirty silent years back in Nazareth. They were all part of his life, his work, which the Father had given him to do.
He includes this in his prayer to indicate to us the character of his work while he was here.
Jesus is suggesting that his work was characterized by a continual self-emptying, that is, a laying aside of glory.
*We think that God is interested in our activity, that there are certain religious pursuits which we can perform which God will be pleased with no matter in what frame of mind we do them.
That is why we sometimes drag ourselves out to church week after week when we have little interest in attending church — because we think that attending church is what God wants. (A works mentality)
How little we understand God! It is not activity that he desires.
*It was not merely that which Jesus did which glorified the Father.
**It was not his ministry of mercy and good works.
Others have done similar things. But it was the fact that throughout Jesus life he had a HEART that was ready to obey, an EAR that was ready to hear, a WILL that was ready to be subject to the Father.
It was Jesus willingness to be always available, to forever be giving of himself, that glorified God.
** We say we want to do God’s will — as long as it is what we want to do.
At the center of our lives– Self is still king, and that is the problem.
*Our own glory is in view.
*We still want what we want and we are not willing as Jesus was, to walk in glad obedience.
But it is only this obedience that glorifies the Father.
Father, may I be among those who are ready to fling our lives away FOR Jesus Christ, to be utterly careless of what happens to us in order that Jesus may be glorified. Thank you Jesus for showing me–It’s no longer all about me but Your Glory. Thank You for the joy, freedom and peace this surrender brings to the soul. Amen
Read MoreEven when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).
What are the things you’re worried about? The election? Your health? Your bills? Your kids? Are you worried about the future? The fact is there are lots of reasons to be afraid in today’s world. But God’s promise is that, even in your darkest valleys, he is walking beside you. (see Psalms 23)
It’s interesting to note that there are 365 verses in the Bible that say, “Fear not.”
God provided us with one “Fear not” message for every day of the year! Don’t you think God is saying, “Get the message. Don’t be afraid.” It’s interesting that almost every time God talks to someone in the Bible, the first thing he says is, “Don’t be afraid!”
Why? Because our hurts and hang-ups can often cause us to think that God is out to get us, that all he wants to do is condemn us and punish us. But that simply isn’t true. Jesus is the proof of that.
When we understand God’s grace and mercy, then we have no need to fear the future. God isn’t trying to get even with you.
- Jesus has taken the penalty for everything you’ve ever done wrong or will do wrong.
- Jesus paid for the penalty for everything you’ve ever done wrong on the
So when a bad thing happens, you don’t have to think, “God’s getting even with me.” Instead, remember, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me”(Psalms 23:4 ).
Fear not! Thank You Jesus! Amen
Read MoreAfter we have relinquished our sin to God, we must replace the lies with truth from His Word. Meditating in Scripture is a critically important part of this sanctifying process.
* “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Psalm 107:20
Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
What a statement! If we just believed this, how different our lives would be!
From birth we are trained to know our limitations.
*You can’t have this.
*Don’t touch that.
*Don’t put things in your mouth.
*You can’t touch the fire.
*On and on the list goes.
As we grow up, it’s actually a sign of maturity to recognize our limitations and learn to live within them.
There are limits to everything. It’s a fact of life.
BUT God has NO limits.
We have to renew our minds with the truth that God is not like us. He can do anything.
We have an awesome God whose power is so great that we can’t even comprehend it.
*God created the universe and it didn’t even tax His ability. Yet many times we find ourselves wondering if our situation is too hard for the Lord. We can’t see how even God can pull us through.
The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” (Jer. 32:27)
*The answer is a resounding NO! The only thing that limits God is our unbelief (Dt. 7:17).
Today, let’s honor God by believing that nothing is too difficult for Him.
When we seek to acquire anything that God has not given us, we can expect God to respond to us like any good father would to a child. He will remove that which the child is not supposed to have.
David understood this principle. When he was preparing to furnish the temple, he told God in his prayer, “Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand” (1 Chron. 29:14b).
Our God does the impossible day in and day out! It’s no big deal to Him.
Thank You Lord for loving me and doing the impossible in my life! Lord, never let me be boastful or proud. For you are the Almighty God, creator of all things, and everything that is good in my life and every gift I have is from you. Help me to always search for ways to use what you have given me to bring more and more glory to You. Amen
Read MorePsalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.
Poor Wisdom Rots!
Proverbs 28: 2 When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily.
*This reminds me of where we are at as a nation now. We have people in our country that believe morals are negotiable and that’s simply not true.
***We need to stand by the Biblical principles we have been given by God. “His Truth”
Corrupt and selfish leaders within a government will eventually contaminate the whole group leading to “moral rot.”
But the same goes for wise and knowledgeable leaders, they can encourage and build up the whole group leading to “moral growth.“
We as Christians need to pray for our government, both nationally and locally.
One or two with a group can contaminate the whole team.
*If their concerns are selfish and all they care about is themselves and what they think their entitled to, this eventually spoils the whole batch causing moral rot.
It eventually affects all down to supervisors and them to employees.
And then attitudes become selfish with entitlement to perks instead of realizing they are public servants and their job is to serve.
*Moral is down, people can’t get along with each other and things don’t get done.
**But on the other hand, wise and knowledgeable leaders can bring moral growth to government. The saying “IN GOD WE TRUST ” can bring stability to a government.
*When you have wise and knowledgeable leaders, their concerns are not selfish.
*They care about the people they serve and they take pride in their job.
*They build up their government team increasing moral within work groups and developing positive attitudes.
Just like before, this affects all down to supervisors and then to workers causing an increase in work and taking pride in their job.
So pray for you government and ask God to place good Christian people with our system.
We need to get back on track to the saying “IN GOD WE TRUST “ and allow God to work.
Hosea 4:6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
“Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
Thank you for hearing our prayers. Thank You for Moral Growth and for the way it’s changed my life. It’s in Jesus name I pray, Amen.
The phrase “forgive and forget” is not found in the Bible. However, there are numerous verses commanding us to “forgive one another” (e.g., Matthew 6:14 and Ephesians 4:32). A Christian who is not willing to forgive others will find his fellowship with God hindered (Matthew 6:15) and can reap bitterness and the loss of reward (Hebrews 12:14–15; 2 John 1:8).
Forgiveness is a decision of the will. Since God commands us to forgive, we must make a conscious choice to obey God and forgive. The offender may not desire forgiveness and may not ever change, but that doesn’t negate God’s desire that we possess a forgiving spirit (Matthew 5:44). Ideally, the offender will seek reconciliation, but, if not, the one wronged can still make a decision to forgive.
You’ve heard this phrase over and over: “Forgive and forget.” There’s only one problem with it: You can’t do it. It’s impossible! You really can’t forget a hurt in your life. In fact, you can’t even try to forget it. Because when you’re trying to forget, you are actually focusing on the very thing you want to forget.
Forgetting is not what God wants you to do. Instead, he wants you to trust him and see how he can bring good out of it. That’s more important than forgetting, because then you can thank God for the good that he brought out of it. You can’t thank God for things you forget.
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” .
It doesn’t say that all things are good, because all things are not good. Cancer is not good. Disease is not good. Death is not good. Divorce is not good. War is not good. Rape and abuse are not good. There are a lot of things in life that are evil. Not everything that happens in this world is God’s will.
But God says he will work good out of the bad things in life if you will trust him.
When you come to him and say, “God, I give you all the pieces of my life,” he will return peace for your pieces. He gives you peace in your heart that comes from knowing that even if you don’t understand the hurt in your life, you can still forgive, knowing that God will use that pain for good.
The ideal is to forgive and forget. Love keeps no record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5) and covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). However, changing hearts is God’s business, and, until an offender has a true, supernatural heart change, it is only wise to limit the level of trust one places in that person.
Being cautious doesn’t mean we haven’t forgiven. It simply means we are not God and we cannot see that person’s heart.
Proverbs 20:22 Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you. Amen
Read MoreGod’s supernatural Love is not affected by the other person’s response, nor is it dependent upon circumstances.
* “If you love someone [with God’s Love] you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him. God’s love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:7-8
The “pearl of great price” is no mere piece of jewelry but the very Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:46). To pursue God’s many rewards over God Himself is to misunderstand and forfeit those rewards!!!
A man who searches for wealth his whole life will not achieve his goal unless he discovers that one pearl of infinite value.
What do we value the most ? .. It SHOULD BE God and the Words He has spoken in our Bibles!! And not anything worldly.
**Let’s put Jesus on the top of our priority list and have our personal values match what Jesus has taught us. (Jesus Character in the Beatitudes Matthew 5:3-12)
1 Corinthians 3:13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.
Investing your life in Gods cause!!
1. Live for eternity!!
2. Live with urgency!!
Philippians 3:8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.
The only thing significant about us is what God can do through us.
*We are important because God loves us and God had a plan for us.
*We are important and significant because of what God can do through us.
*God had given us gifts, use your gifts to lead a significant life, a life that changes someone else for the better, a life that takes advantage of what God did for us, what happened to Christ on the cross.
*We are significant only if we build up a life on God, and if we allow ourselves to fulfill out true purpose as God’s servant and God’s Temple.
*That is our significance. And without God, we will feel insignificant forever. (see Matthew 6:19-21)
Father, help me to see that the only impact I can have in this world is by being faithful to You and to the message that has been given to me. May your church (the Body of Christ) be made up of people who, above all, obey Your orders. and give all Glory to You and share Your Love with others through Your words and Our Actions. Amen
Read More“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and prayfor one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” James 5:16
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins” (Mark 11:24-25).
What Jesus is saying is, “The great hindrance to having faith in God is pride, the pride that refuses to forgive (an inflated sense of one’s personal status or accomplishments).
*You have the power to have that removed if, when you stand and pray, you will forgive those who have offended you.” Because the only thing that stops us from forgiving one another is pride.
We feel justified in wanting others to forgive us but also in feeling that we have to exact a price for the hurt they have caused us. So, in many ways—subtle, or direct and open—we insist that we will not forgive, that our offenders have to pay for what they have done to us. Somehow, we are going to make them crawl, make them beg or plead for forgiveness.
“And that,” Jesus says, “is a great mountain that needs to be removed, for it is blocking the flow of the life of God to your faith.” So when you stand and pray, life will flow from God when you are able to recognize that you, too, need forgiveness. God has forgiven you. God has offered it freely to you; give it just as freely to the one who has offended you.
The one thing above all else that seems to block the flow of the life of God to an individual, to a church, or to a nation, is:
- this unwillingness to forgive, this holding of grudges,
- this desire to put somebody down in order to feel good yourself,
- this unwillingness to set these things aside and let God heal all the hurts of life.
The Lord brings us through a time of testing and adjustments. There are corrections to be made to our path of life, and those corrections will begin to bear fruit as soon as we let go of the things that have been a distraction and a hindrance to our progression.You will now be able to see with greater clarity and understanding, as you walk in the Spirit.
Proverbs 10:17 He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, but he who refuses correction goes astray.
Father, how many times I have refused the forgiving word, the restoring act, only to be tormented by fears and anxieties and worries. Thank You for the forgiveness that is mine in Jesus Christ. Teach me to extend it to those around me. Take my pride from me! Amen
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By John Piper
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.(Colossians 1:3–5)
The problem with the church today is not that there are too many people who are passionately in love with heaven. The problem is not that professing Christians are retreating from the world, spending half their days reading Scripture and the other half singing about their pleasures in God all the while indifferent to the needs of the world.
The problem is that professing Christians are spending ten minutes reading Scripture and then half their day making money and the other half enjoying and repairing what they spend it on.
It is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love. It is worldly-mindedness that hinders love, even when it is disguised by a religious routine on the weekend.
Where is the person whose heart is so passionately in love with the promised glory of heaven that he feels like an exile and a sojourner on the earth? Where is the person who has so tasted the beauty of the age to come that the diamonds of the world look like marbles, and the entertainment of the world is empty, and the moral causes of the world are too small because they have no view to eternity? Where is this person?
He is not in bondage to the Internet or eating or sleeping or drinking or partying or fishing or sailing or putzing around. He is a free man in a foreign land. And his one question is this: How can I maximize my enjoyment of God for all eternity while I am an exile on this earth? And his answer is always the same: by doing the labors of love.
Only one thing satisfies the heart whose treasure is in heaven: doing the works of heaven. And heaven is a world of love!
It is not the cords of heaven that bind the hands of love. It is the love of money and leisure and comfort and praise — these are the cords that bind the hands of love. And the power to sever these cords is Christian hope.
I say it again with all the conviction that lies within me: it is not heavenly-mindedness that hinders love on this earth. It is worldly-mindedness. And therefore the great fountain of love is the powerful, freeing confidence of Christian hope.
Amen
Read MorePaul wrote [1 Corinthians 1:10–17] in a letter to the divided body of Corinthian believers.
*The church was allowing a disagreement to hinder their fellowship. Paul knew the steep danger of dissension among believers.
Scripture is clear about the church’s mission.
Some of its highest goals include;
• Sharing the gospel with all nations
• Caring for those in need
• Worshiping together, along with loving, encouraging, and admonishing one another in God’s truth.
None of these is fully possible if a church is divided, whether physically or mentally.
God wants His people to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3, NIV).
So if all Christians base their beliefs on the Bible, they should be able to settle every argument according to its truth, right?
Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Our human nature, preferences, and different interpretations of Scripture can cause disagreements.
Consider, for example, how many churches have experienced strife over music styles.
Tragically, when differences are divisive, our mission becomes blurred and we are ineffective. Just as fishermen cannot catch fish with a broken net, we are unable to effectively share Jesus with the world when our fellowship is not intact….
Are your actions and words strengthening your fellow Christians?
*Or do you gossip, express negativity, and push your own preferences and opinions?
God never meant for his children to become separated, and when we allow issues like denominations or political leanings to cause strife between us, the message of the Cross becomes obscured.
- We were meant to be one body, one family, unified, as brothers and sisters.
- In his infinite grace, Christ called us to be Christians.
Be careful. God has mandated that our conduct positively impact the church’s unity. This is essential if we are to accomplish His purpose.
What you say is a direct reflection of your heart, and your speech reveals whether or not you walk in the Spirit or in the flesh.
Pay attention to the words of your mouth, and deal with the issues within yourself that cause a negative overflow.
*The Lord has called you to righteousness, faith, and peace.
*When you walk in unity with the Lord, the fruit will be evident.
Psalms 141:3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount never blessed a material thing! The richer we get in the church, the poorer we get in the spirit.
Lord I pray for all to KNOW You more and also to understand the Mystery which is Jesus, Himself. Here is where all the Wisdom and Knowledge lie. Amen (taken from Col. 2:2)
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