Sunday, December 29, 2024
No Bitterness When We Trust in Christ
We won't become bitter when we know everything in this life for the believer has a purpose, for now and for eternity.
Bitterness is deep anger at what is happening to us or who is doing it to us, but believers should not be looking to circumstances but to Christ for their strength and purpose. We can look with pity on those who do not have Christ as we pray for their deliverance from the snare of the devil.
When we don't care what others think of us or do to us we can walk with confidence that Christ knows about it, He sees everything and knows what is to be done. All we have to do is trust Him as we battle the devils who attempt to make us weak.
1 John 4:4
"4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world."
Isaiah 40:31
"31 Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary."
Keep Looking up brothers and sisters, we are going home soon!!!
The tactics of the devil need not concern us, we have Christ Who will fight against him for us, we just have to trust Him.
Be Changed by Christ
Many people will "say" they believe in Jesus Christ but have no desire to be changed by Christ into a new creation. They are attempting to be good by their own strength hoping people will think of them as a good person.
They like being members of a happy and safe club but do not want to obey Christ. They even become angry when someone else challenges their stubborn attitude and lack of adherence to the principles of the Bible.
Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"
John 14:15-31
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."
Friday, December 27, 2024
Our Wisdom is Foolishness Compared to Holy Spirit Wisdom
"Want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans." Something I heard, here are some others we might consider.
Want to make God laugh tell Him all the things you want that are better than His plans.
Believe Christ not People
There are so many things I was raised to believe and sadly passed on to my children that were not Biblical but fit into cultural Christianity very well.
When I began to see things that didn't make sense to me, as a result of reading the Bible and praying for wisdom from the Holy Spirit after I trusted Christ, those questionable things began to enlarge so intensely that I became repulsed by them.
The confusion came when everyone I knew believed the things I was raised with and were resistant to questioning them because, "everyone else followed them so they must be right" or so church attendees expressed to me from time to time.
I was accused of arrogance because I didn't have a seminary degree so I was nobody capable of hearing from God. As I began to realize most people were not depending on the Holy Spirit, they were depending on college-educated people who themselves were unteachable by anyone but those professors at those colleges.
The traditions of men are so powerful, dominating the minds that have been trained by them, that intense guilt sets in when those traditions are challenged. There is little faith in the power of the Holy Spirit Who is called our "Teachers."
When we finally have the courage to ask God to show us truth even if it means being maligned and rejected by others, the floodgates of understanding and wisdom emerge.
Once we have seen the truth and dedicated ourselves to it and Christ, our eyes can never be closed again. There is no going back to the old ideas, they are repugnant to us because they are not truth.
When we begin to see clearly the truth it becomes like an addiction to us, we want more and all of what God has for us to learn. It is only then that God will continue exposing lies and imparting truth.
Everyone can have this wisdom but they have to ask God and they must to be willing to discard anything they have learned over the years which is false.
In removing all the false teachings we will be faced with opposition, even if we don't tell anyone else they will see our life very differently from what it was before and it will irritate them.
James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
Proverbs 2:6
"For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."
Matthew 7:7-8
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. / For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
We must never settle for the opinions of others who think they know the truth. They may know some truth but most have only what they have been trained to believe and are impervious to anything different from what they were trained to believe.
It is the Holy Spirit we must trust for the truth, He is the very essence of Truth because He is the Spirit of Christ.
John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."
I am convinced from my personal interactions with Christians that most of them will say they believe in the Holy Spirit but will not consult with Him, they trust only their "pastors", themselves and others but not in Christ.
John 14:26
"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you."
John 15:26
"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me."
When the Lord made known clearly to me the power of Christ in me through the Holy Spirit I could no longer trust a man. I listen to preachers, I enjoy those who are Biblical but I place my trust only in Christ. When a preacher speaks the truth I rejoiced, when a preacher speaks untruth I grieve and reject that message that was wrong.
Colossians 1:15-23
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: 16 for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Why would anyone claim to be a Christian trust in anyone or anything else knowing Christ is the creator of the world and is called the Word AND, lives in us?!!!!!
When I began to see things that didn't make sense to me, as a result of reading the Bible and praying for wisdom from the Holy Spirit after I trusted Christ, those questionable things began to enlarge so intensely that I became repulsed by them.
The confusion came when everyone I knew believed the things I was raised with and were resistant to questioning them because, "everyone else followed them so they must be right" or so church attendees expressed to me from time to time.
I was accused of arrogance because I didn't have a seminary degree so I was nobody capable of hearing from God. As I began to realize most people were not depending on the Holy Spirit, they were depending on college-educated people who themselves were unteachable by anyone but those professors at those colleges.
The traditions of men are so powerful, dominating the minds that have been trained by them, that intense guilt sets in when those traditions are challenged. There is little faith in the power of the Holy Spirit Who is called our "Teachers."
When we finally have the courage to ask God to show us truth even if it means being maligned and rejected by others, the floodgates of understanding and wisdom emerge.
Once we have seen the truth and dedicated ourselves to it and Christ, our eyes can never be closed again. There is no going back to the old ideas, they are repugnant to us because they are not truth.
When we begin to see clearly the truth it becomes like an addiction to us, we want more and all of what God has for us to learn. It is only then that God will continue exposing lies and imparting truth.
Everyone can have this wisdom but they have to ask God and they must to be willing to discard anything they have learned over the years which is false.
In removing all the false teachings we will be faced with opposition, even if we don't tell anyone else they will see our life very differently from what it was before and it will irritate them.
James 1:4-6 "…4 Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."
Proverbs 2:6
"For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."
Matthew 7:7-8
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. / For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
We must never settle for the opinions of others who think they know the truth. They may know some truth but most have only what they have been trained to believe and are impervious to anything different from what they were trained to believe.
It is the Holy Spirit we must trust for the truth, He is the very essence of Truth because He is the Spirit of Christ.
John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."
I am convinced from my personal interactions with Christians that most of them will say they believe in the Holy Spirit but will not consult with Him, they trust only their "pastors", themselves and others but not in Christ.
John 14:26
"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you."
John 15:26
"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me."
When the Lord made known clearly to me the power of Christ in me through the Holy Spirit I could no longer trust a man. I listen to preachers, I enjoy those who are Biblical but I place my trust only in Christ. When a preacher speaks the truth I rejoiced, when a preacher speaks untruth I grieve and reject that message that was wrong.
Colossians 1:15-23
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: 16 for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
18 He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross."
18 He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross."
Why would anyone claim to be a Christian trust in anyone or anything else knowing Christ is the creator of the world and is called the Word AND, lives in us?!!!!!
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