Practical teachings from the Bible for every day living.
Many times we are tempted to bug God about changing things in our lives and we pray over and over again but I want you to know today and understand how faith works – faith is a rest – you don’t have to worry; you don’t have to fret because God wants you to know that He has Already heard you and though the manifestation seems to be NOT YET, I am here to prophesy to you today that God is going to change your NOT YET to IT’S HERE because with Him it’s ALREADY!
Everyone in the world today is looking for happiness. We all want to be glad and pleased with our current circumstances. It is amazing that we seem to think that we have to work for it so diligently. Consider that children, on average laugh 400x per day while the average adult laughs only 15x per day 1. Maybe we need to become more childlike in our outlook? Jesus mentioned this when He said in Matt. 18:3 that we are to receive the Kingdom of God as little children. Believers in Jesus are supposed to receive the things of God, the Word of God with childlike faith and wonder. As Jeremiah the prophet stated, “Your words were found, and I did eat them; and your word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts (Jer. 15:16).” Today, we are going to look briefly at two Bible words that, when embraced and ‘eaten’ will cause your heart to be full of joy and rejoicing.
There are reasons why sometimes Christians struggle to receive from the Lord. Faith comes by hearing God’s Word. If you are unknowledgeable about what the Word of God says in an area of struggle, you can’t have faith in God to help you in that area. Help from on High is received by faith. A second handicap to receiving from God is engaging in the sin of worry. Along this line there are two verses you should become familiar with.
James, writing to born again believers in his epistle, tells them to “count it all joy when you fall into tests”. How important is joy? Mark it down when serving God, a joyful attitude is important. Moreover, it is a choice that a person has to intentionally make. You can choose joy when you are in the midst of trials. You can choose joy when you are literally in the valley of sorrows. Here are two principles that will help make it easier.
Forgiveness is a huge issue in the Bible. Jesus alluded to it’s importance on several occasions. He told us that not operating in forgiveness, that is harboring things against people, holding people’s past sins against them will hinder our own faith. One of Jesus most memorable parables is the ’70×7′ parable. Let’s take a look at this subject of forgiveness and getting past the bitterness of offense in our everyday life. We want to demonstrate that forgiveness is not a mechanical formula but is a ‘from the heart lifestyle attitude’ to be exercised without limits.
In the book of Jonah, we have a tale of two hearts. We can see God’s heart of compassion for the city of Nineveh. We can also see that God’s prophet Jonah has no heart for Nineveh. What is the problem here? Jonah knows the Lord. Jonah knows His voice. Jonah was gifted spiritually, operating in the prophetic. Jonah was not a big time sinner. And yet with all of these spiritual credentials, Jonah simply has no heart for Nineveh. As it turns out, is heart was not tuned into the heart of God. So, what does the Lord do? He confronts Jonah with a situation that shows him how out of tune he is.
God is the Master planner. If anyone can put a complex plan in motion and bring it to its desired end, it is God the Father. The most complex plan the world has ever seen was when He bought Jesus to planet earth to give His life in exchange for ours. The fulfilling of this plan was no cake walk. It was no Sunday stroll through the park. Here are a just a few elements in the political arena that had to happen in order to bring this plan to fruition.
God’s plan was thought up and set in motion before the foundations of the world (Eph. 1:4). Particular courses of events and situations, at times, align to bring into a focus a particular aspect of God’s wisdom and plan. Today, we are going to look at the birth of Jesus in this way. We are going to look at some of the events that came into view and we are going to ask a rather startling question about one of those events, the appearing of the star. Here is the question: ‘What would have happened, had the star not appeared?’
How long have you been after your loved ones to come to know Jesus as their Savior? Has it been a struggle? Are they resisting the message of the gospel more and more. Do they seem to be getting further away from Him with each passing day? Here are some things you can do to cooperate with God in the salvation of your loved ones.
The more we align with God’s Word the more efficiently things work. They do not work as well the less you are in line with His Word. The church would get better results, you as an individual believer would get better results, the more you line up with God’s plan, God’s thoughts, and God’s ways. God’s way is the leadership of the Spirit in one’s life. The more you flow with the Holy Spirit, the less you try to do things on your own, the more efficiently things work. But there is a problem that has developed in America that is blocking the flow.
Phillip had a divinely inspired encounter with a lost person. The woman at the well had a Holy Spirit laced encounter with Jesus as did Nathanael. And what about the day of Pentecost? Are these encounters a pattern of how soul winning can be carried out? Let’s investigate God’s Word on the matter and see how the Holy Spirit encounters lost people.
This stuff of betrayal, and wounding and being deserted and being stabbed in the back has been going on since the fall of man. It is not a new thing under the sun. It is an old thing that has always been. The fact that the Bible teaches forgiveness indicates that trespasses against your person can occur. It is not fun, it is not cool but it does happen. People have been abused, hurt, let down, wounded, deserted, betrayed by a spouse, stabbed in the back by a fellow church member, and rejected by friends, family and even parents. 1 You can overcome it though. You can overcome all of it through the power of God’s love and by operating in forgiveness.