Friday, December 3, 2010

Called to love ; Walk worthy of the name.

Luke 6:27-28 "But I say unto you which hear,Love your enemies,do good to them that hate you, Bless them that curse you,and pray for them which despitefully use you".

      What would happen if, as Christians, we started actually living out what Jesus taught us?Jesus teachings on love attacks several traditions and misinterpretations of scripture that we sometimes use to justify our sinful and unloving nature.While we have learned to love thy neighbor, we sometime seem to exclude our enemies. But Jesus shatters this line of thinking by instructing us to love and do good to our enemies. The love Jesus instructs us to love with, does not result from any merit or attractiveness in the other person, but comes solely from the heart of the one loving, and we are to seek the best interest of that person, despite their behavior toward us. Now this love does not result from a weakness or failure to stand up for truth or justice, it is a purposeful love that flows from a strong heart that seeks the eternal salvation of others. This sacrifical love demonstrates that our purpose for living is larger than ourselves.
      Jesus commands us to pray for and bless those that offend us. Our natural responce is to strike back when mistreated, but Jesus teaches us to do the opposite. Jesus gave two illustrations to show the extent of how far our love for others should go, there is a blow to the face and stolen clothes, in such cases we are not retaliate.The purpose is to reach out in love instead of satisfying ourselves through revenge.
    Our love must be strong and purposeful in accepting mistreatment,as it shows our trust in the Lord and his ability to use the situation for his Glory. Jesus not only taught us our love must be strong and purposeful when mistreated, but we must also be merciful to others in our daily lives, as the Father daily pours out new mercy on us.
    The standard of sacrificial love goes beyond what others might do or what we might feel we should, but it is what Jesus teaches us to do, it is what he did.The prime example of selfless giving is our heavenly Father himself, who showed kindness to all humanity regardless of how they treated him, as he gave his only begotten son that we might have everlasting life. When we love others the way Jesus instructed us to, we show the world we are his.We often ask WWJD, well now you know, will you follow!  Got Jesus? Tell a friend change a life....

Thursday, December 2, 2010

He upholeth me ;He lifts me up, with his right hand

Isaiah 41:10 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: Be not dismayed; for I am God: I will strenghthen thee; I will help thee; Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

    How do people handle going through life without God? Gods promise to never leave or forsake us, is perhaps the best of all promises. In spite of our rebellious hearts toward God, with love he still tells us "I have chosen you and have not rejected you".Did we we earn this love?deserve it?, ask for it? No. God is committed totally to his children, even though our walk with him is inconsistant and shakey. What would we do without God? Many seek solis in a number of false gods, they enter into bad relationships of all kinds, they chase careers, money, material goods, sex, substance abuse and even religion.These are just a short list of the false gods he create.But there is only one true God. He says " fear thou not", we have nothing to fear, for he offers his presence to support us in life, for he is with us, the Lord is our shepherd, he provides for us, he is our provision, our hope, our guide, our direction and his two wonderful sheep dogs goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life to protect us.With Gods presence in our life we are never at a loss. He is God, so let us be grateful to him, and thankful for him, in our worship and praise to him,(not with an empty shouts of joy, or a ritulistic hand praise), But by living a life before men, worthy of the name we bear, we are children of the most high God, he is our strenght, so let us walk like it; he is our ever present help, so let us talk like it; and he upholds us with the right hand of his righteousness! so let us  live like it.Jesus the Christ, the righteousness right hand of God, that hold up all who believes.......Live victoriously in Christ..............

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Take no thought:

Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;and all these things shall be added unto you."

    We are living in very uncertain times. These days it is very hard for one to plan ahead, we have people in washington who can't seems to come together on what is best for the american people. One side pulling this way and the other side pulling that way, and we are left in the middle full of doubt and uncertainties.We just don't know, will we have a job or not,will we have a income, will we have a house to live in, what will we eat and what shall we wear. We just don't know what we should do, yes saints these are some tough times.But we have comfort in Gods word. He says "take no thought" take no thought for tomorrow for tomorrow will take care of itself. Take no thought for what you will eat, or wear for your father in heaven knows you have need of these things."But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you." He starts off with "But" see saints God has a but for everyone of our doubts and fears. You say " I don't see no way thru this", But "I am the way" a way out of no way. You say " what are we going to eat" But "I am the bread of life". So he says "But",then, seek ye first; Saint this has to be the first thing on our agenda, let him who is first have the first, the first of our thoughts, the first of our day, the first of all our fruits, let all our waking thoughts be of God first.( In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path) "seek ye first the kingdom of God" now when we seek him , we must really seek him. Seek him like we do when we can't find the car keys and we are about to be late to work. Turn over everything , move everything, look even in places you know they are not, and that you've look in before. So move greed, and pride out of your hearts,turn over unrighteousness, self pitty, doubt and fear,remove all things and people which might hinder you seeking and finding the kingdom of God.(This action will bring you to a moment of self actulization, allowing you to see where you are, in contrast to where God needs you to be, if you really seek him that is). He says" But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" When seeking the kingdom, make sure you also seek the righteousness of that kingdom; Jesus the righteousness of God, seek him diligently for he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you". Saints just trust and believe Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide.....So take no thought