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"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son." (John 3:16)
For God so loved the world that He gave...and He gave...and He gave.
That is the message the Bible brings us from beginning to end. It sounds simple enough. Yet few of us really comprehend it.
We can understand the idea of a God of power. We can understand a God who desires to be served. But an Almighty God who loves us so much that He desires, above all, to give to us? That can be hard to believe.
For thousands of years, God has been working to drop the revelation of His love into the hearts of men. He's made loving promises of blessing and protection. But He's always faced that same obstacle--human beings who just couldn't bring themselves to believe those promises were true.
The story of Abram is a perfect example. He wasn't accustomed to the idea of a God who gives. After all, he'd grown up as a worshiper of the moon, and the moon had certainly never seemed interested in doing anything for him. Then he encountered El Shaddai, the greatest Being of all. The one Almighty God. And the first thing this El Shaddai wanted to do was give to him.
God's promises so astounded Abram that he couldn't believe them. "Lord," he asked, "how can I know I'm really going to receive these things?" (Gen. 15:8).
Do you know how God answered him? By cutting a blood covenant with him. That covenant settled forever any question Abram could ever have about God's love and loyalty. Once blood had been shed, he knew God meant what He said.
God did the same thing for you. He cut a blood covenant with you. And He sacrificed His own Son to do it. Jesus' broken body and shed blood have become the eternal proof of God's love for you. Through Communion, He's urged you to remember them again and again so that when your faith in His promises begins to waver, you "might have a strong consolation" (Heb. 6:18).
Get a revelation of God's love for you by meditating on the covenant He's made with you. Get out the bread and the cup. Go before the Lord with them and take Communion thinking about the body and blood of Jesus that enables you to be a blood-covenant member of the family of Almighty God. Let them settle forever the question of God's love for you. You'll never again have to doubt His promises once you believe in His love.
Scripture Study: Genesis 15
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"God does not give us everything we want, but He does fulfill His promises...leading us along the best and straightest paths to Himself."
Tags: A Covenant Of Love
"When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy [priestly] garments as they went out before the army, saying, Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!" (2 Chronicles 20:21)
Praise precedes victory!
You can see a graphic example of that in 2 Chronicles 20. There, the Bible tells us that a multitude of forces were marching against Israel. The army of Israel was so outnumbered, they literally didn't know what to do. So they fasted and prayed until they received a word from God. "Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God's."
Do you know what they did in response to that word? They put together a praise choir! That's right. They appointed singers and praisers and sent them out in front of the army! And when that choir began to sing, the Word tells us that "the Lord set ambushments against the men...who had come against Judah, and they were slaughtered."
When it was all over, not one Israelite had fallen--and not one of their enemies had escaped. What's more, when they came to take the spoil, they found so many cattle, goods, garments and other precious things, it took them three whole days to haul it all home.
Now, that's victory! And it all began with praise.
Are you looking for that kind of victory today? Then stand up and shout, "Glory!" After all, you're in the same situation those Israelites were in. You have an army marching against you, but Jesus has already defeated it. He won that battle for you on Resurrection Morning.
All that's left for you to do is trust Him and begin to praise. Sound out those praises today. Speak them, sing them, declare them in the face of your enemy. Once he hears them, he'll know he doesn't even stand a chance.
Scripture Study: 2 Chronicles 20:1-22
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"A God all mercy is a God unjust." Author: Edward Young
Tags: Victorious Praise
"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."
(1 Timothy 2:3-4)
People go to great lengths trying to wring knowledge from God when all they need to do is go to the Bible. God's not holding Himself back from anybody. It's His will for every man and woman to walk in revelation of Him.
"Well now, wait," you might say, "God's not going to give all these sinners out here a revelation." Really? Why do you think He sends evangelists to preach to them? Why do you think He sent His Word? To reveal the truth!
So, if you want to know that truth, just open the Book and read it. All of it...not just the parts that are in red. Those aren't the only parts Jesus said. He said everything in Genesis. He said everything in Exodus. He said everything in Numbers. He said everything in Deuteronomy. He said everything in Leviticus. He said everything in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He said everything in Romans. He said everything in the Book. He is the Word!
In fact, if you'll read the third chapter of Galatians, you'll discover that every promise made to Abraham was for Jesus! It was the promises that brought Him. It was the promises that enabled Him to heal and deliver people. He didn't minister by some special power nobody else could have. He based His ministry on the revelations He'd received through faith in the written Word of God.
When the devil came to tempt Him, He didn't fight him off with a special legion of angels who'd been assigned to protect Him because He was God's Son. He fought him off with the phrase, "It is written."
God has equipped you to do the same. He's given you His written Word, and He's given you His Holy Spirit to help you understand it. He's more than ready to give you the knowledge you need. You don't have to wring it out of Him--just open the Book and let the revelations begin.
Scripture Study: John 16: 7-15
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"Where I found truth, there found I my God, who is the truth itself."
Tags: Let The Revelations Begin
"For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work."(James 3:16)
Have you ever noticed that the easiest place to remain self-centered is at home? There's an incentive to be lovely with others, but with your family you are tempted to allow yourself more selfish privileges as if it didn't count there.
Before I was a Christian, I was more courteous and nicer to friends than to my own family. I was more demanding and less forgiving with those dearest to me than with anyone else.
But after I made Jesus Lord of my life, I realized all that had to change.
I began to learn through the Word how important harmony is within family. I learned that if we wanted the power of agreemeent (see Matthews 18:19) to work in our lives, we could not allow strife in our home.
Strife drops the shield of faith, stops prayer results, and invites Satan and his cohorts into your midst. Discord is deadly. It paralyzes the power of God in your life.
Don't allow the enemy to stop at your own front door by allowing strife in your home. If you do, you'll be no threat to him anywhere else.
Put the power of harmony to work in your family.
Determine that.
Scripture Study: Philippians 2:1-13
Tags: Peace At Home
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2)
Inside, you're perfect--born again in the image of Jesus Himself. But outwardly do you find yourself falling frustratingly short of that perfection? Is there a solution? Yes! The secret lies in "the renewing of your mind."
Romans 12:2 tells us that, if you'll renew your mind, you can actually be "transformed." That word "transformed" is translated from the Greek word from which we get the term "metamorphosis." It's used in Scripture in two other places.
One of those places is when Jesus was transfigured on the Mount as He spoke with Moses and Elijah. The other is found in 2 Corinthians 3:18. It says, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Changed, transformed, transfigured! Those are powerful, exciting words, and they describe what will happen to you as you spend time beholding the Lord in the Word and in prayer. As you spend time renewing your mind, your outer being will be transformed in much the same way as a caterpillar is changed into a butterfly. Instead of conforming to the image of the world, you'll begin to conform to the image of the reborn spirit within you which is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Take time to get away from the world and study God's Word. Meditate on it and let it change you from the inside out. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind and release the beautiful spiritual butterfly that's living in you!
Scripture Study: 2 Corinthians 3:6-18
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"Character is not made in a crisis, it is only exhibited."
Tags: Behold The Lord
"The joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10)
Joy. It's not a warm, happy feeling you're supposed to have now and then when things are going well. It's much more than that. Joy is one of the most powerful spiritual forces in the world.
Look again at Nehemiah 8:10 and I'll show you why. If you were to diagram that scripture and remove the phrase, "of the Lord," you would find what it's truly saying is this: Joy is strength. The two are interchangeable.
That's what makes joy so crucial. You can't live a life of faith without being strong in the Lord--and when God wants to make you strong, joy is what He uses to do the job!
Joy is not just a state of mind. It is not a fleeting emotion. Joy is a very real force, and the devil doesn't have anything that can stand up against it. Just as fear has to yield to faith, discouragement has to yield to joy.
Since joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, you already have it residing within you. But you must develop it, confess it, and live by it if you want to enjoy its power.
Whatever circumstances you are facing today, you can be full of joy. You can be strong in the Lord. You can draw on the supply of the Holy Spirit within you and come out on top.
Rejoice!
Scripture Study: Psalm 18:28-50
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"Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed, not by strength, but perseverance."
Tags: Joy A Very Real Force
"Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee." (Proverbs 4:5-6)
Recently, God has been raising up ever-growing numbers of people who are hungry. Hungry to know their Lord in a deeper way. Hungry to serve Him--in pulpits, on mission fields, in homes, in office buildings, and anywhere else He might choose to send them.
They are people who simply aren't content to find the path of least resistance and coast their way into heaven. No, they're determined to run the race...to run, as the apostle Paul said, to obtain the prize. Spiritually speaking, they are on the road to excellence.
Are you among them?
If so, I want to share four simple words that, I believe, will enable you to run the race like a winner:
Put the Word first.
Whether your goal is to be an excellent evangelist or a first-rate engineer in the service of the Lord, it is the wisdom that comes from the Word of God that will get you there.
Jesus said it this way: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).
So commit yourself right now to do whatever it takes to totally saturate yourself with the Word of God. Use every available moment to read, study, listen to, and meditate on it.
I know it won't be easy, but if you've made a definite decision to amount to something in the ministry of Jesus Christ and you are determined to take the Great Commission seriously, then be diligent. Put the Word first and there will surely be glorious victories ahead.
Scripture Study: Proverbs 4:1-18=========================================================================== ======== "Yes, it is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams, the most abundant and most marvelous liquor that has ever flowed to relieve the thirst of men! Through it , God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men."
Tags: Put The Word First
"For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption--the Spirit producing sonship--in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba! [That is,] Father!" (Romans 8:15)
One night after a worship service a friend of mine and I stepped outside and were suddenly awed by the beauty around us. It was one of those crisp, clear winter nights when the brilliance of the moon and stars nearly takes your breath away. I said to my friend, "Will you look at that!" Then he looked up with one of those Holy Ghost whole face smiles and with a voice full of tenderness said, "My Daddy made that!"
"My Daddy...." I'll never forget the way he said that.
Some people might think he shouldn't have been talking in such familiar terms about God, but they'd be wrong. It's scriptural to talk that way about Him. In the New Testament there's a Greek word for father-- Abba. The most accurate translation for that word in English is Daddy. It's a word that signifies closeness. It speaks of a relationship that's been developed through time spent together.
Father is one thing. Daddy is another.
Growing up, my father was sometimes my Father and sometimes my Daddy. When we were out duck hunting, he was Daddy. When he gave commands he meant to be obeyed instantly, he was Father.
God is like that too. He's your Father and He's your Daddy. There are times you'll be very serious and down to business with one another. Other times you'll be more lighthearted. But either way, once you fellowship with Him enough to get to know Him, I guarantee, you'll want to be close to Him all the time.
Scripture Study: Romans 8:14-18
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"When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others---not because He has favourites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favourites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one."
Tags: Know Him As Daddy
10 Great Quotes from Jesus of Nazareth Submitted by Ross Kendall on Mon, 21/05/2007 - 11:36pm. Here you will find 10 sayings of Jesus that I have collected together. Finding quotable passages from Jesus was not that easy, as most of what is recorded of what he said (in the gospel books: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are either metaphorical stories, or Jesus responding to particular questions that had been put to him. Neither work very well when taken out of context. Of the more direct teachings of Jesus, most of them are contained in what is known as the sermon on the mount, which is a veritable goldmine of counter-cultural wisdom. 1. Love Your Enemies! OK, you have to admit this is a pretty radical concept... (Matthew 5:43-47 ) 2. Don't Worry About The Future Sometimes insightful sayings seem obvious once you hear them - I think that is the case here. Live in the moment you're in! (Matthew 6:34) 3. How To Treat Others (Matthew 7:12) 4. The Most Important Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) 5. Spiritual Greatness In the topsy-turvy world of the Kingdom of God it seems the usual understanding of things is reversed. Here is yet another example: (Mark 10:42-45) 6. Gaining The World, Losing Your Soul Here Jesus highlights that the eternal and spiritual dimension is more important than the temporal physical one. Those who choose to follow His teaching will make physical sacrifices for spiritual rewards. Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, (Mark 8:34-38) 7. The Kingdom Of God Is Not Physical Christian faith should not be militant, things like the crusades were not in line with what Jesus taught, or even the concept of christendom. He also taught that the Kingdom of God was in the hearts of men. The statement below was said in response to questioning in his trial before the roman govenor. (John 18:36) 8. God Loves Everyone This very well known passage is actually a quote from Jesus. (John 3:16-17) 9. Ask, Seek, Knock (Luke 11:9-10) 10. His Claim To Be God While it seems Jesus didn't make a point of telling everyone that he was God, he did make it clear on a few recorded occasions. This quote is taken from Jesus' court trial, from which the resulting conviction of 'blasphemy' led to his crucifixion. I include this quote, not because it's a great teaching, but because it affects how one perceives his teaching. It's hard to think of Jesus as [just] a good moral teacher when you know that he thought himself to be God. Either he is a weirdo, or he is God! (Matthew 26:63-64)
Tags: 10 Great Quotes From Jesus Of Nazareth
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