20 Good Qualities of Abigail

December 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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The story of Abigail in 1 Samuel 25 is a story of one of the most faithful and honorable women mentioned in God’s Word – definitely a woman of integrity!

Abigail

I promised to give you 20 good qualities of Abigail.

1. SHE was a woman of good understanding (clever and wise). Verse 3

2. SHE was beautiful, but not proud or self-exalted verse 3

3. SHE was humbly and godly – unspoiled regardless of her riches. Verse 2, 6 and 23-35

4. SHE had a sense of appreciation for anything others did to aid her household in any degree. Verse 14-19

5. SHE was reasonable, listened to her servants and sought to protect her unworthy husband as well as all her household from danger. Verse 14-35 [Read more…]

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A Daily Choice

December 8, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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“Choose you this day” (Joshua 24:15). Choosing to side with God’s Word is a continual challenge. It’s not some- thing you do just once. It’s a process of choosing to believe and act upon the Word of God over and over in every circumstance. That’s what everyone has to do.

Years ago I decided I was going to choose Jesus. Since then I’ve had to choose Him again and again in situations every day. I’ve chosen Him as my Lord and Savior. I’ve chosen Him as my Healer. I’ve chosen Him as my Financier. I’ve chosen Him as head of my household.  And I still have to choose Him moment by moment. [Read more…]

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A Christmas Greeting

December 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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by Dave Roberson

This year has been a world of discovery for me.  Every time I find out a little bit more about the love of God, His love always opens the door to find out even more.  And it’s with great pleasure and expectation that I look forward to the days ahead and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Looking back through the years, I thank God for the gift of praying in tongues, which is a foundational revelation gift that not only prays out the mysteries of God, but helps us understand those mysteries once we have prayed them out–such as the revelation the Apostle John shared when he said, God IS love (1John 4:16).

You see, of all the things I have experienced, love is genuinely one of the most powerful, life-changing attributes I have ever learned to draw from.  God does not have love, “He is love.”  What would be the point of being love if there was no one to love?  [Read more…]

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The Parable Of The Ten Virgins

December 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Jeanne Wilkerson

The following are excerpts from a teaching that Jeanne Wilkerson did in the late 1970s: What Was The Parable Of The Ten Virgins?

If you want to keep your spiritual resources built up, you must of necessity, have a time of prayer and getting into the Word of the Living God! You can’t go day in and day out and day in and day out and day in and day out and never exercise yourself in this.

Your spiritual life will ebb away You know the story of Samson. He is known throughout all history. You mention the name Samson and you will hear that they know him as the strong man, the “Hercules” of the Bible. And here it says what Delilah did to him. [Read more…]

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The Integrity of The Soul

December 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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1. It is will that determines the integrity of the soul.

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough". Og Mandino

There is a great struggle in people’s lives and that is the struggle wit the conflicts of the mind. There are things that we want and things that we need in our life, but it seems that they are always affected by our emotions, fears, desires and all the uncertainties of life. We all face struggles of life until we die. This is a fact of life that we need to recognize whether we like this our not.

We as Christians, we love to talk about the power of the Holy Spirit and sometimes even boast about the fact that He lives on the inside of us. Yet, in reality we can fear things that we don’t have to fear; right? Did you know your born—again spirit is not even capable of producing fear? God has not given you the spirit of fear which leads to bondage. In fact, He’s freed you from bondage, and He doesn’t want you going back to it (2 Timothy 1:7)

Every day fear and faith are in an unyielding battle to reign supreme in our lives. When people accept or tolerate fear, they’re unwittingly being lured into Satan’s plan to control their lives. However, using the Word of God to abolish fear creates and develops fearless faith that is bold and unstoppable, and it’s that faith which allows you to obtain the victory God has given you through His Son, Jesus Christ.

We all like to be confident in our beliefs and competent in our responsibilities, but as individuals  we seem to be confused about our plans and purposes. Somehow we have to get our will in full gear and maybe there are some of us have to dust off our will and let it work again. There is something as a passive will did you know that? That is when you always want to go with the flow and do just that what is right in front of you; the thing is though that you will always reap the harvest down the road.

Our will determines the integrity of our soul. That lets us know that our actions have to be in agreement with what we believe in our heart. That is not always easy; sometimes it is even very challenging and might even cost you something. But if you want a change in your life for the good or if you desire that your life goes in a different direction; you have to use your will. It is a gift from God. he has given us the greatest gift; that is our will.

It is a very sad thing if we don’t use our will, because nothing is final or solid then, everything is unstable. We rely on our instinct. Willpower must be developed in our mind, where find dreams, fantasies, hopes, opinions and thoughts about how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us.

Let this article be an introduction to the use of our will; I will be writing more about the topic of “the will” in the coming days. Today we covered one “The Will Establishes/Determines the Integrity of the Soul”. So, I want to ask you to come back soon for the rest of the strategies about the use the will. You absolutely don’t want to miss it. See you then!

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5 Thoughts About “Abortion Is My Only Option”

December 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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This is a myth that lots and lots of people really DO believe. So, let’s talk about this myth, because it really got my attention through what we are hearing on the news. Right this moment is this couple deciding for a baby to be aborted or being birthed. Their question is: “Help us Decide, a Real Abortion Vote!” They have a poll on the internet and want the whole world more or less to decide for them.

What if the baby gets birthed and gets to know that his/her parents had a poll to make a decision about his/her life.There is a lot to say about this, but that is not what this article is about. Let’s look at this myth that men and women think that abortion is the only option they have. [Read more…]

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4 Reasons To Be Involved In Church

December 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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The last few weeks I received a sequence of 9 e-mails in my inbox from Perry Marshall where he talked about “The Nine Great Lies of Sales & Marketing”; very interesting. It made me think about the lies that we all believe about Christianity; our Christian walk.

Everyday we hear things and subconsciously believe all these things that the world tells us. Satan’s strongest weapon against you is lies. So, let’s expose some of these myths and then explore what God’s Word says so that the next time you hear a myth, you can name the lie and replace it with the truth.  And then we can start making righteous choices for our life to go into the right direction.

Ok, this is my first choice;

Myth #1:

“It’s ok if I am not committed to a church as long as my relationship with God is healthy.”

From high school graduation to age 25 is a 42 % drop in weekly church attendance and a 58% decline from age 18 to age 29. That represents about 8 million twenty something alive today who were active church-goers as teenagers but who will no longer be active in a church by their 30th birthday.” Barna Research Group

I have heard so many stories from people that are not involved in church right now and think that. that really doesn’t matter. They say things like “going to church does not get you saved. It’s your personal relationship with Jesus that matters and church has nothing to do with that. As long as I pray and as long as I am right with God, then church can wait. I will get back eventually”.

Let me tell you I have been in and out of church for quite a long time. We had all kinds of reasons, which actually were excuses if you think about it! It takes an effort to get back into church. You really have to want it, otherwise you never will I believe.

I like this quote from Dwight.L Moody “The difference between listening to a radio sermon and going to church…is almost like the difference between calling your girl on the phone and spending an evening with her.”

No, church attendance doesn’t save you. But the church does matter to God. So what? you may ask. Think about this:

  • Church wasn’t your pastor’s idea or your mother’s idea. It was God’s idea. Because the church matters to God, it should matter to you too. Paul calls the church “God’s household, which is the church of the living God”. 1Tim 3:15
  • Sometimes we approach church with a fast-food attitude – wanting to zip through the drive-through window, get what we want in minutes and not have to interact with other people. Instead we can transform our attitudes about church by approaching it as a place to give, to know and to be known, to invest our time, to develop intentional relationships and to slow down and truly worship.
  • While our personal relationship with Christ is what saves you, the bible also emphasizes that you are a apart of a body with many parts (1Corinthians 12). It is impossible to be a healthy Christian apart from the life-giving local body.
  • We were not designed to live in isolation, plowing through life alone. God intended for Christians to do life together. To raise our families together and meet each others needs (Acts 2:42). To roll up our sleeves and work together. To support each other through the good and the bad times in life. While the church isn’t perfect, it’s the most amazing institution on earth and one worth investing in; both for what you can give and for what you can get.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another… Heb 10:24-25

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12 Things to Consider for A Healthy Self-Image

November 30, 2010 by 1 Comment
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I Am OK And I Am On My Way!

I haven’t arrived and neither has anyone else. We are all in the process of becoming. For much of my life I felt that I would never be OK until I arrived, but I have learned that is not the truth. My heart desires to be all God wants me to be and I want to be like Jesus.

In Romans 7, Paul said the good things he wanted to do, he could not do; and the evil things he did not wanted to do, he always found himself doing. He said he felt wretched. I can relate to that, what about you?

You know, we all have a way to go. I was worried about how far I had to go and it seemed satan reminded me of it daily. I carried a constant sense of failure, a feeling that I just was not what I needed to be, that I was doing good enough, that I should try harder and yet when I did try harder, I only failed more.

So, I heard somebody this  slogan and adopted it for myself as a new attitude: “I am not where I need to be, but thank God I am not where I used to be; I am OK and I am on my way!”

Then we know with all our heart that God is not angry with us because we haven’t arrived. He is pleased that we are pressing on, that we stay on the path. I you and I will just “keep on keeping on,” God will be pleased with our progress. Keep walking the walk. A walk is something taken one step at a time. This is an important thing to remember.

We have been considering how to have a good self-image. One way we do that is by realizing that we have not arrived at perfection, that we have some growing to do, bu that in the meantime we are OK. It is true that we have to keep pressing on, but thank God we don’t have to hate and reject ourselves while we are trying to get to our destination.

What is a normal, healthy Christian attitude toward self? here are a few thoughts that reflect that kind of wholesome, God-centered self-image:

  1. I know God created me and I know He loves me.
  2. I have faults and weaknesses and I want to change. I believe God is working in my life. He is changing me bit by bit, day by day. While He is doing so, I can still enjoy myself and my life.
  3. Everyone has faults, so I am not a complete failure just because I am not perfect.
  4. I am going to work with God to overcome my weaknesses, but I realize that I will always have something to deal with; therefore, I will not become discouraged when God convicts me of areas in my life that need improvement.
  5. I want to make people happy and have them like me, but my sense of worth is not dependent on what others think of me. Jesus has already affirmed my value by His willingness to die for me.
  6. I will not be controlled by what people think, say or do. Even if they totally reject me, I will survive. God has  promised never to reject me or condemn me as long as I keep believing.
  7. No matter how often I fail, I will not give up, because God is with me to strengthen and sustain me. He has promised never to leave me or forsake me.
  8. I like myself. I don’t like everything I do and I want to change, but I refuse to reject myself.
  9. I am right with God through Jesus Christ.
  10. God has a good plan for my life. I am going to fulfill my destiny and be all I can be for His glory. I have God-given gifts and talents and I intend to use them to help others.
  11. I am nothing and yet I am everything! In myself I am nothing and yet in Jesus I am everything I need to be.
  12. I can do all things I need to do, everything that God calls me to do, through His Son Jesus Christ.
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The Bible tells me I am a New Creation; how can that be?

November 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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The Bible tells me I am a New Creation; how can that be?

by Olga Hermans

 

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
The Message Bible says it this way: “Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!”

We all know so many people that try to live godly lives without a clue on how to BE the new creature God says they are. Many times they go as far as being saved and glad they go to heaven and that is as far as they go.  They don’t want to learn more than “being saved” so they live out lives of struggle and defeat, waiting to go to heaven.

Of course people want to be good people; change a few things here and there ad change their old nature themselves. They do all their things in their own strength. When they fall, they pick themselves up and so forth.  They fall, pick themselves up, fall, pick themselves up, and then fall and stay down. They act in the same way as they always did before their salvation and try to walk right and do the right things and make themselves right without any help.

At the time of salvation our spirit was renewed immediately but our mind still thinks the same old way. We were spiritually resurrected the day we made the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives. That day we passed from death to life. Think about it. When you made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, the Spirit of God hovered over you. The glory of the Lord came into your being. And that glory consumed the old, sinful man that you were.

So, what is it all about this new creation? How do we go about it and what do we do about it? God says you are a new creature, so you are a new creature. Being a new creature in Christ is just that—you are brand spanking new and have a fresh, clean slate. You may be sitting there thinking, “Well, if I’m so”new and free, why can’t I quit smoking? Why can’t I lose this weight? Why am I always sick?” Because you’ve let Satan convince you that you’re still under his power. You’ve let him talk you into living as if you’re still spiritually dead!

But the truth is that you have a new life, new choices, a new future, new options—a new YOU. That old man died. And in his place a new creature was born. Who you were and what you did before you took Jesus as your Savior is now called the “old man.”

Just because I tell you that you are a new creature doesn’t mean you will act like one. First of all, the new creature in you comes out by renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2).  Today is a new day for you and You can begin considering yourself alive! Begin thinking of yourself as one who already has the life of God instead of an earthly being who’s waiting for the resurrection. Consider yourself dead to sin and alive to the power of Jesus. You’ll find yourself living a whole new life today!

In our natural life, we learn and grow into maturity. It is the same with our new spirit life. Learn and grow into maturity.

Colossians 3:9-10 says you’ve put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new one with his renewed mind. A renewed mind is simply that you’ve changed your thoughts from your old way of thinking to God’s thoughts.

This in turn will change your old way of acting into the way He wants you to act. New thoughts change old actions. Read these affirmations EVERY DAY!
Ephesians 4:22 says, “put off concerning the former conversation the old man”—so what you say is vitally important. Don’t run around telling everyone what your old man used to do. It has been my experience that people who constantly talk about their past never get past their past.

“Christianity is a journey, not a destination.” You don’t “get there” and find you know it all. Always learn and grow until Jesus comes back. Ephesians 4 and 5 show areas YOU have to take responsibility for. YOU put on the “new man” by reading your Bible, YOU put away lying, YOU quit stealing, and YOU speak faith-filled Words.

Realize as you choose to do these things, when you renew your mind to the Word of God, you will find help. You won’t be doing it on your own. If you blow it, remember that God’s mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23). Repent, renew your mind daily (2 Cor. 4:16) and go forward.

The more you renew your mind to God’s way of thinking (His Word), the less you will act like that old man. You have His Word on it!

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The Power of Forgiveness.(Mark 11:20-25)

November 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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The instruction to forgive others who have hurt us is very difficult to keep.  Our natural human tendency is to hold on to the hurt inflicted upon us, to nurse our wounds and hold grudges. Or, at the very least, we separate ourselves forever from the individual who is the source of our pain so that we cannot be hurt by that person again.

There are times, such as in cases of abuse, when physical separation is necessary. When a crime has been committed, justice and forgiveness go hand in hand. The courts of law must hold a perpetrator accountable and God will hold that person accountable in the final judgment, but we must still forgive that person. In these verses, Jesus was talking about the spiritual obligation that we have to forgive each other because we have been so graciously forgiven by our heavenly Father. To refuse to forgive others reveals that our hearts do not understand the level of forgiveness we have received. [Read more…]

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