 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
browse by:
TOPICS
DATES
|
|
|
Who Are We as Christians
|
|
|
| Years ago a dear old missionary came to visit us. This gave me a chance to ask him questions about my Christian life. "Is it really true that jesus lives in me since I asked Him to come into my heart?" "Absolutely! And He will never leave you. That is His promise to all who receive Him as Savior and Lord," he said. This was gerat news to me. I began to recognize the presence of the Lord and rejoice that He was not just with me but in my heart. Ever since I learned this glorious truth I renew my relationship with Hi daily. I may pray something like this: "Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm glad to greet you this morning as I awake in the new day that you have made. I yield my life to your control and depend upon your guidance. Warn me of the pot-holds that may trip me and give grace so I will not fall to temptation..." In the O.T. there is a warning about a man who defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. That temple of the Lord was destroyed and never rebuilt. Since Jesus came and died for our sins, we Christians are the Lord's temple. We keep His temple clean by daily confessing our sins as soon as we are aware that we have done wrong. Don't allow the little sins of others against us to stay in our heart. Temptations to moral impurity assails us from every angle and source. We must keep a guard on our eyes and not even look at impure things. That is, be careful what we watch on TV, movies or print media. Temporary satisfaction has consequences. Memorize Psalm 19:14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Prayer: Lord, I need help. All around me there are temptations that lure me into sinful practices. help me recognize what is happening before I fail. And please give grace that I will turn to You for help because You are always with me. In fact You and I live in the same body! | ||
|
"Come up here..."
|
|
|
| Have you ever imagined the door bell ringing and finding the Sweepstakes folks standing there with a million dollar check? A hope like that causes many orders for magizines. We may think, "The more I buy the better my chances of winning the jackpot." But no matter how many we subscribe to we never win the "big one." The best we can hope for is that a friend will coall and invite us to dinner! Here's another big thing to think about. Can you imagine a voice inviting you to come up to heaven and see what is going to happen in the future? That really happened to the Apostle John! The Lord said "Come up here..." Jesus wanted to to show him "what must take place after this." John was given the great priviledge of seing the future and what would happen on earth and in heaven. Today we don't need that kind of revelation because everything we need to know is already written in the Bible. But as I thought of Jesus' invitation to John, I was reminded of the fact that "God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6) Yet, most of the time our thoughts are so earth bound we don't take advantage of being there with Jesus at the right hand of our Father! Our spirit is not bound to the earth like our body. So in spirit we can go right into our Father's presence and tell Him all that is in our heart. We can ask Him anything and know that He hears us. There are two parts to asking God to do tings for us. First, "that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (John 5:14a). How do we know His will? By reading the Bible. It is the Word of God. The second part is, "No good thing will He withhold from those whose walk is blameless" (Psalm 84:11). Our "walk" (actions) is never perfect, but we should make progress in putting away sins, and confessing them when we do. We can have confidence that our Father will forgive us when we "fess-up." God promises to forgiv and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). Then with clean hearts we ask for what we need. And the good news is "We know that we have what we asked of Him" (I John 5:14) Our spirit can take our place in Christ beside the throne of God. We pray to Him and He answers. Most of the time He doesn't speak verbally. He may put a verse of Scripture in our mind, or give a quiet assurance that our request is granted. SCRIPTURE TO MEMORIZE: "This is the confidence that we have in approaching God: if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of Him." PRAYER: Father, there is so much I don't know. Please grant that I will act on what You have said in the Bible. I ask for a hunger and thirst for the Word of God and faith to act on what I read and learn. In Jesus name, Amen." | ||
|
Psalm 103
|
|
|
| Verse 1 -19 calls for our personal praise of the Lord: Three times every morning I will bless the Lord! I will bless His holy name! And again I will bless God and not forget any of His benefits to me and my famly. Forgive me, Father, when I forget to do this. And please remind me to give thanks for all things. This is what God does for me: He forgives all my sins. He heals all of my diseases, He redeems me from hell and saves me from the snares of life. He wraps me in goodness which is His eternal beauty. He renews my youth so I can keep on living. And in His presence my youth is renewed. Praise God for He works all things out for our good for those who love Him. Thank you, Father. Your sheer mercy and goodness are alway with me. You are not easily angered because You are rich in love. Grant that I will be like you about anger.You don't nag and scold or hold grudges. I pray you will fill me with the Holy Spirit so I will be like you in my relationship with family and friends. Praise for Your love is as high as heaven is over earth and strong for us who fear You. Praise that You have separated us from our sins as far as sunrise is from sunset. Read the whole Psalm and pray it for yourself and family. | ||
|
Paul's prayer for us
|
|
|
| "Lord, help me understand what you want me to do and make me wise about spiritual things" (LB). I ask that I "might walk worthy of the Lord, so that I "will always please" (LB) you and be faithful in doing your will. Grant that I will "be frutifl in every good work" so that I will honor you, Lord. This is my purpose in life. Grant that I will be "increasing in the knowlede of God" so that I will know Father, Son and Holy Sprit. Please form my character to be more like Jesus - "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." These are not natural to me but they are to Jesus. Since He lives in my heart I pray He will control my life and His character will be demonstrated in me. I need to be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." Only then will I keep on going no matter what happens. Grant that "the joy of the Lord" wil be my strength.Then I can "give thanks unto the Father" because He has made me a "partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light." "Deliver 'me' from the power of darkness" for you have translated us into the kingdom of Your deae "Son in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Amen. | ||
|
I wish I knew...
|
|
|
| "I wish I knew if God ment me when he said...? This may be how you feel aout the promisses of God. If it is I can tell you the answer is YES! In the Bible He is speaking to you and me and everyone who will read it and believe. An old song tells it like this - "This so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His Word. Just to rest upon His promise, Just to know 'Thus saith the Lord." "Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, How I've proved Him o'er and o'er! Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more!" You can throw away your doubts about wheather your sins are forgiven, and know that you have the righteousness of Jesus credited to you if you have asked Him to come into your heart and forgive you. You will never be sinless in daily life, so when you are awear that you have done wrong ask our Father to forgive you and wash you clean again. He has accepted you as His dear child and He will recieve you into His gloeious presence when you leave this earth. But even here and now you can know Him and His peace. The old song continues: "O how sweet to trust to in Jesus, Just to trust Hs cleansing blood; Just in simple faith to plunge me 'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!" Stop doing those recuring sins. How? By admiting that they are wrong, confessing them and asking our Father to forgive you. Then see yourself as clean in His eyes. This is possibel because our Father loves us and sent His Son to die for all our sins! | ||
© 2004-2024 www.insightstofaith.com
