Interesting, many people are being taught that "repent" means to turn around and go the other way, when in fact, it means to have a change of mind.
If it meant to turn around and go the other way it would mean we are to work for our salvation, but when we know it means to change our mind, then we can trust Christ and He does all the work in us.
Hallelujah! I would rather He do it than me, He knows me better than I do and will know exactly what is needed.
Ephesians 2:10 "10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
Friday, October 10, 2014
Religious Ritual Detracts
Religious ritual detracts from the worship of God, it diverts our attention from Christ and His Holy Spirit that lives in us, to self that we might "feel good" about what we do rather than glory in what He did!
Mark 7:5-8
"5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men —the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."
If we feel a need to "do" something for the Lord, we are probably indulging in ritual. If we are born again the Lord speak to us through the Holy Spirit and His Word, there is no need for external ritual to feel close to God. No one can be closer to us than to live in our bodies while possessing all knowledge in His very essence.
John 14:26
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."
Galatians 5:22-23
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Notice that the "fruit of the Spirit" has more to do with attitudes and character qualities than it does with actions. If we are in the Spirit we will have the fruits and they will lead to right actions. The Spiritual always comes first before the actions. If we try to place the actions before the fruit, then we are fleshly and cannot be pleasing to God.
It is actually possible to do wonderful things for God, that make sense to us, but if He never told us to do them, then we are self willed. Our response to God ought to be "Lord what do you want?"
1 Corinthians 6:19
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,"
When we realize that we no longer belong to ourselves but are under the power of the Holy Spirit, we can have great joy about that while anticipating the next thing the Holy Spirit will teach us and the next road He will take us down.
Those who are doing their Christianity in the flesh, thinking they are doing God a favor, are fleshly and missing the amazing blessings Christ has for us as He works in us.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
John 1612-16
"“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."
Isaiah 11:2
"And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord."
When we begin seeking God's Will through His Word and prayer that the Holy Spirit will work in us, then we will have the freedom from self will that God promised. God will not override our will, but He delights in those who want to know His.
Romans 8:9
"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
We are either born again by the Holy Spirit or we are not. If you are not sure where you stand with God, ask Him, let Him reveal to you your status, are you born again or are you without Him and attempting to attain heaven by your works or will power?
Ephesians 2:8-9
"8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Mark 7:5-8
"5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men —the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do."
If we feel a need to "do" something for the Lord, we are probably indulging in ritual. If we are born again the Lord speak to us through the Holy Spirit and His Word, there is no need for external ritual to feel close to God. No one can be closer to us than to live in our bodies while possessing all knowledge in His very essence.
John 14:26
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."
Galatians 5:22-23
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Notice that the "fruit of the Spirit" has more to do with attitudes and character qualities than it does with actions. If we are in the Spirit we will have the fruits and they will lead to right actions. The Spiritual always comes first before the actions. If we try to place the actions before the fruit, then we are fleshly and cannot be pleasing to God.
It is actually possible to do wonderful things for God, that make sense to us, but if He never told us to do them, then we are self willed. Our response to God ought to be "Lord what do you want?"
1 Corinthians 6:19
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,"
When we realize that we no longer belong to ourselves but are under the power of the Holy Spirit, we can have great joy about that while anticipating the next thing the Holy Spirit will teach us and the next road He will take us down.
Those who are doing their Christianity in the flesh, thinking they are doing God a favor, are fleshly and missing the amazing blessings Christ has for us as He works in us.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
John 1612-16
"“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."
Isaiah 11:2
"And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord."
When we begin seeking God's Will through His Word and prayer that the Holy Spirit will work in us, then we will have the freedom from self will that God promised. God will not override our will, but He delights in those who want to know His.
Romans 8:9
"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
We are either born again by the Holy Spirit or we are not. If you are not sure where you stand with God, ask Him, let Him reveal to you your status, are you born again or are you without Him and attempting to attain heaven by your works or will power?
Ephesians 2:8-9
"8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."
The Cart Before the Horse
God will never take from us what He has given to us.
John 1612-16
"“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."
There is no example in the Bible of God removing the Holy Spirit from a person who has become born again, and made into a new creation. NOT ONE!!!!
No one can find a Scripture that says "and God removed His Holy Spirit."
Those who think one can lose their salvation have put the cart before the horse, they have place their own works above the works of the Holy Spirit. Negating the power of the Holy Spirit while elevating self will and personal actions.
John 1612-16
"“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."
There is no example in the Bible of God removing the Holy Spirit from a person who has become born again, and made into a new creation. NOT ONE!!!!
No one can find a Scripture that says "and God removed His Holy Spirit."
Those who think one can lose their salvation have put the cart before the horse, they have place their own works above the works of the Holy Spirit. Negating the power of the Holy Spirit while elevating self will and personal actions.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Define the Terms
Beware, one of the tactics of the enemy is to to change the terminology in cults to make believers think the cults are Christian.Mormonism and Catholicism are adopting the same words as evangelical churches, but the meanings are different.
Be sure to define the terms when in discussion with a person from a cult. You will find that they think that the difference in meaning is not a problem, as long as we use the same terms. This is part of the deception of the last days to confuse many people.
We have those who say they are Christians beginning to ask if "Allah" is the same God of the Bible. It is not, simply because the Muslims say there is only one god, does not mean it is the God of the Bible.
The Koran clearly states that "Allah has no son." That is our first clue and the only clue we need to determine that Allah is not god but demonic.
When we take the time to know our Bibles, we can easily see the important descrepencies between the cults and Christianity. Those from cults can know just enough of the Bible to stump believers who don't know their Bibles.
Psalm 119:11
"Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You."
There is not excuse for a believer to be fooled, it is sin to neglect the Bible to the degree that we do not know truth in terms of these cults. We don't have to know all about the cults, if we know the Word of God then we will know error when it waltzes past us all dressed up in terminology to deceive.
1 Peter 3:15
"15 But sanctify the Lord God[a] in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;"
We are commanded to know the Word of God, we cannot obey God or revere Him if we don't care what He told us in His Word.
Be sure to define the terms when in discussion with a person from a cult. You will find that they think that the difference in meaning is not a problem, as long as we use the same terms. This is part of the deception of the last days to confuse many people.
We have those who say they are Christians beginning to ask if "Allah" is the same God of the Bible. It is not, simply because the Muslims say there is only one god, does not mean it is the God of the Bible.
The Koran clearly states that "Allah has no son." That is our first clue and the only clue we need to determine that Allah is not god but demonic.
When we take the time to know our Bibles, we can easily see the important descrepencies between the cults and Christianity. Those from cults can know just enough of the Bible to stump believers who don't know their Bibles.
Psalm 119:11
"Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You."
There is not excuse for a believer to be fooled, it is sin to neglect the Bible to the degree that we do not know truth in terms of these cults. We don't have to know all about the cults, if we know the Word of God then we will know error when it waltzes past us all dressed up in terminology to deceive.
1 Peter 3:15
"15 But sanctify the Lord God[a] in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;"
We are commanded to know the Word of God, we cannot obey God or revere Him if we don't care what He told us in His Word.
Let God Be Our Guide Not The Culture
There are those who come to our facebooks, not to learn, but to use terms accusing us of being "judgmental", "ignorant", "uninformemed", "mean spirited" and other manipulative terms to intimidate us into silence, hoping that those looking on will doubt what we say and that we will begin to doubt ourselves.
It is one thing to disagree and place the scripture that supports the disagreement, and quite another to use manipulative words to embarrass and malign a believer.
When I encounter those who call into question our character, I can easily discern that they do not know the Bible. Intimidation is a tactic of the devil to foster a sense of shame in us, for the purpose of making us unsure whether or not we did the right thing.
We can ignore these attacks, answering with the Word, or we have the option of deleting comments and even blocking if someone is belligerent. It is best not to answer the insults, but to keep our writing to the Scriptures.
Proverbs 26;4
"Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Or you will also be like him."
We don't have to address the foolishness that come from the mouths of manipulators, simply address the original subject with more Scripture. They will eventually give up and go away or they will see their own foolishness.
Proverbs 23:9
"Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words."
I have had several people give up and run away because all I wrote was scripture, they wanted me to enter into an argument leading to silliness, making me look as absurd and unreasonable as they sound. Do not let them draw you into their childish banterings.
Sometimes God will tell us to hang in there with someone, but many times He says to get away, they will only attempt to make us look silly, and for many weak minded people their tactics work.
Matthew 10:14
""Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet."
The Lord will tell us when it is time to withdraw from a foolish person who will not listen.
Matthew 7:6
""Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
We are to be more concerned about those who will listen, those who will not, waste our time fighting over foolishness, bringing no value to the discussion while there are others who are eager to learn but frustrated by the silly bantering that stubborn people bring.
Keep in mind that God does not need us, if someone will not listen and we have to remove ourselves, God can send someone else to bring one more chance for them to listen. We live in a culture that says we are never to reject anyone, but that is not what the Bible says.
Titus 3:10
"As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,"
Our witness is greater when we obey God no matter how it looks to the world. God will be the judge of the results. Too often we try to figure out what the culture will accept or like, when God told us just to obey Him, He will take care of the effects.
Let God be your Guide, not the culture!
It is one thing to disagree and place the scripture that supports the disagreement, and quite another to use manipulative words to embarrass and malign a believer.
When I encounter those who call into question our character, I can easily discern that they do not know the Bible. Intimidation is a tactic of the devil to foster a sense of shame in us, for the purpose of making us unsure whether or not we did the right thing.
We can ignore these attacks, answering with the Word, or we have the option of deleting comments and even blocking if someone is belligerent. It is best not to answer the insults, but to keep our writing to the Scriptures.
Proverbs 26;4
"Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Or you will also be like him."
We don't have to address the foolishness that come from the mouths of manipulators, simply address the original subject with more Scripture. They will eventually give up and go away or they will see their own foolishness.
Proverbs 23:9
"Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words."
I have had several people give up and run away because all I wrote was scripture, they wanted me to enter into an argument leading to silliness, making me look as absurd and unreasonable as they sound. Do not let them draw you into their childish banterings.
Sometimes God will tell us to hang in there with someone, but many times He says to get away, they will only attempt to make us look silly, and for many weak minded people their tactics work.
Matthew 10:14
""Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet."
The Lord will tell us when it is time to withdraw from a foolish person who will not listen.
Matthew 7:6
""Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
We are to be more concerned about those who will listen, those who will not, waste our time fighting over foolishness, bringing no value to the discussion while there are others who are eager to learn but frustrated by the silly bantering that stubborn people bring.
Keep in mind that God does not need us, if someone will not listen and we have to remove ourselves, God can send someone else to bring one more chance for them to listen. We live in a culture that says we are never to reject anyone, but that is not what the Bible says.
Titus 3:10
"As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,"
Our witness is greater when we obey God no matter how it looks to the world. God will be the judge of the results. Too often we try to figure out what the culture will accept or like, when God told us just to obey Him, He will take care of the effects.
Let God be your Guide, not the culture!
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Confession is the Beginning of Cleansing
James 5:16
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."
We cannot grow in holiness as long as we refuse to admit our sin. God will not move us forward if we hold stubbornness in our hearts.
Often we miss blessings that God has for us because we will not humble ourselves.
James 4:10
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."
We cannot grow in holiness as long as we refuse to admit our sin. God will not move us forward if we hold stubbornness in our hearts.
Often we miss blessings that God has for us because we will not humble ourselves.
James 4:10
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Read Your Bible
Read Your Bible
The most important thing you can do today is READ YOUR BIBLE!
The only way we gain wisdom from the God to carry on in His principles, is to read His letter to us, while asking the Holy Spirit to open the understanding.
The most important thing you can do today is READ YOUR BIBLE!
The only way we gain wisdom from the God to carry on in His principles, is to read His letter to us, while asking the Holy Spirit to open the understanding.
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