More like Jesus

     The problem with many, who say they believe in Jesus, is they are commodity-oriented going out to have their car or cars washed, florist’s shops, boutique shops, spas and restaurants.  Not all of this is bad in itself.  The items that were consider extra yesteryears, are considered standard of living today.  Lots of us live with little interest for tomorrow or even today.  Living a lifestyle buying too much of what later owns us.  Pleasure can be expensive.  The more you own the more it cost to insure, for upkeep and fuel.  If we would live modestly, making money, keeping it and sharing it responsibility, while picking up a basin of water and towel to wash feet with, maybe the world around us would sit up and listen.  On the other hand, maybe they wouldn’t.  However, either way, we would be more like Jesus.

Statism

            Statism is one of the greatest threats to Christianity in the 21^st Century.  It is the belief that the civil government is the ultimate authority on earth and as such is the source of law and morality, defining what is right and wrong, moral and immoral.  The state becomes the de facto god of society or as the president of Harvard Law School said in the 1920s, “the state takes the place of Jehovah.” ~~ Stephen McDowell

Birthday party in heaven

Today Betty is celebrating her first birthday with Jesus.

Blessings lead one to God's feet

     “Yea, he loved the people; all the saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of the words” (Deuteronomy 33:3, KJV).

            No miracle will replace the Word of God.  Miracles from God will lead you to His Word not away from it.  True miracles from God will not replace the Word of God; they will strengthen your faith in God’s Word.  Moses when he was dying gave testimony (all His saints are in His hand) about God and His people and His Word. ~~ Jack M. Skinner, Miracles and Missions Digest

More Grace

     The grace of God is unmerited love to man in the form of Jesus Christ! ~~ Unknown

Love like crazy

Be your best friend, tell the truth, over-use "I Love You", go to work, do your best and don't out smart your common sense, never let your praying knees get lazy and love like crazy. ~~ Kevy

Sanctification

God does the justification and will do the sanctification if I will let Him. However, there needs to be a deep repentance with a ravaged and impoverished spirit.

A word of Love

Repentance might be a lost word and practice of today’s church but it is still the only way to reach out and grasp the Gift of God offered to all and to attain the perfect will of God by a life in Christ, a life that is to the Laws of God found written in the Holy Bible and led by the Spirit of Truth down the pathway of repentance! ~~ Jack M. Skinner, The Perfect Will of God

Success

God never called me to be a success; He called me to be faithful. ~~ Mother Teresa

Anfechtung

For God does not deal, nor has he ever dealt, with man otherwise than through a Word of promise. We in turn cannot deal with God other wise than through faith in the Word of his promise. He does not desire works, nor has he need of them; ... But God has need of this: that we consider him faithful in his promises [Hebrew 10:23], and patiently persist in this belief ... [P]romise and faith must necessarily go together. For without the promise there is nothing to be believed; while without faith the promise is useless, since it is established and fulfilled through faith. ~~ Martin Luther

Reconcilation

The book of Genesis through the accounts of the fall in Eden, the Tower of Babel and the flood teaches that the source of evil in the world is man’s rebellion and independence from God. The scripture also teach that the fundamental condition for healing and delivering from evil is man’s repenting of sin and his union with God through the saving action of Jesus Christ. ~~ Michael Scanlan

A people

What the world needs now are a people who believe so much in the afterlife that they cannot help but implement it in their lives today.

Regeneration

As soon as the Holy Spirit has initiated his work of regeneration and renewal in us through the Word and the holy sacraments, it is certain that we can and must cooperate by the power of the Holy Spirit, even though in great weakness. Such cooperation does not proceed from out carnal and natural powers, but from the new powers, but from the new powers and gifts which the Holy Spirit has begun in us in conversion. ~~ Book of Concord, FC SD II, 65: AC XX, 27-34.

Kind words

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. ~~ Mother Teresa

Don't believe it

Dwight Moody said about his death – “you will read that D. L. Moody has died. Don’t believe it for moment. I will be more alive than every.”

The Discipline of Prayer

I am the ground of thy beseeching; first, it is my will thou shalt have it; after, I made thee to will it; and after I make thee to beseech it and thou beseechest it. How should it then be that thou shouldst not have they beseeching? ~~ Juliana of Norwich

Moment

The moment you make a man feel the weight of an obligation he is apt to become your enemy.

I thirst

It is very important for us to know that Jesus is thirsting for our love for the love of the whole world... Ask yourself. Have I heard Jesus directly say this word to me personally? Did I ever hear that word personally? “I thirst.” “I want your love” ...If not, examine yourself: why could I not hear? ~~ Mother Teresa

Committed

Henry Varley with no introduction at all, began to speak. He spoke low, but he handled his words as if they were a goad for prodding people.
“We try hard. We fail. We are sure we can succeed if we try harder tomorrow. We fail again. And if we succeed, it is only half success, half of what it would have been with God.” Dwight L. Moody listened closely. “We are all guilty. All. For I tell you tonight – the world has yet to see what God can do with one man wholly committed to Him.”
Dwight L. Moody came to a place in his life where he said, “By the grace of God, I’ll be that man.” D. L. Moody, The Greatest Evangelist of the Nineteenth Century by Faith Coxe Bailey, p 85

Stay vigilant

I urge you to be especially vigilant regarding the faithfulness of priest and consecrated persons to the commitments made at their ordination or entry into religious life... The authenticity of their witness requires there be no dichotomy between what they teach and the way they live each day. ~~ Pope Benedict XVI, speaking to the bishops in Cameroon

Do not give up

Do not accept the temptation to give up! The adage “Prayer changes things” is more than a trite phrase, a willful wish or a powerless Christian cliché. I know that on the surface prayer seems like an incredibly ineffective weapon in the face of such malignant hatred and violence toward the Jewish people. Yet I am convinced that if we were ever to realize the true power of Spirit-directed and Spirit-inspired prayer, we would be shocked.
...The significance of the power of prayer is not based upon the strength or ability of the person praying. Rather, it is rooted in the immeasurable power of God and the awesome force He releases in response to fervent intercession. As the Scriptures declare, “The effective prayer of righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16). ~~ James W. Goll, The Coming Israel Awakening

The Discipline of Prayer

I am the ground of thy beseeching; first, it is my will thou shalt have it; after, I made thee to will it; and after I make thee to beseech it and thou beseechest it. How should it then be that thou shouldst not have they beseeching? ~~ Juliana of Norwich

Holding His Name Holy

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” (Exodus 20:7) “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be you name.” (Matthew 6:6) Reflect and repent if you have not regarded the name of the Father or Jesus Christ with awe, reverence and repent if you have not regarded the name of the Father or of Jesus Christ with awe, reverence and respect or if you have held it in contempt and used it in damning or casual cursing. Offer prayers of repentance for how multitudes of celebrities and entertainers mock, degrade, ridicule, and blaspheme the name of God and of Jesus. Pray that the Holy Spirit instruct you and Christians in your area to “hallow” the name of God as Jesus did. ~~ Intercessors for America prayer letter

With God

Have the faith of God. Christ in us is greater than we know. With God, all things are possible if you dare to believe rather than assume.

In His Face

The Lord has shown me the key to Job’s salvation, the thing that brought him through to the other side. Despite all his wrestlings, his questions, his anger, his self-pity, his depression and his indignation, he kept his face toward God. You can get away with almost anything if you do it in the face of God. (Please do not misunderstand me; I am not saying you can get away with moral failure or outright sin.) You can rant, you can rave, you can kick, you can yell, you can have a temper tantrum, you can have a pity-party, as long as you do it in God’s face. I’m not saying it’s okay to do those thing; but I am saying that if you do them in the face of God, He will bring you through. ~~ Bob Sorge, In His Face

Early Church

In the early Church, the power of the corporate body watching and praying in one accord was the key to the release of what we define as the apostolic ministry: preaching the gospel with signs, wonders and miracles. ~~ Mahesh Chavda