I struggle each day doing the right thing according to God's instruction in His Word. Too many occurrences in the work place or in the way that people conduct themselves that are not right. There are so many things working against being obedient to God. All of them are created by mankind and most are of our own making. Our own minds can make it most difficult for us and will keep us off track if we are left to our own understanding.
Living according to flesh and not according to the Holy Spirit is direct result of not being in the Word of God each and every day. It is His Word that gives us understanding, instruction, wisdom, revelation and allows us to hear from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit should be consulted in every decision we make and be a focal part of our life. Be patient and wait to hear from the Holy Spirit.
Learn to rely on God with relationships, jobs, prosperity, and circumstance that are not pleasant. Give it up to Him and let Him decide what is best for you. Don't take on the burden of life without God.
Lastly, persevere as we prepare for Jesus coming.
Revelation 2:4 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Are you a bondservant to God?
Bondservant - a person who serves in bondage; slave.
TRUTH
Complete surrender of our lives to Jesus frees us to love Him and devote ourselves to God wholly. This is the meaning of "bondservant." When we love God unreservedly, our devotional lives are set ablaze with the fire of God. The Holy Spirit is free to mold and shape us and use us beyond what we thought possible. Devote yourself to God afresh today. Give Him all of you; do not withhold anything from Him. Give yourself to your Master as a bondservant of God.
ACTION
Titus 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness. Be a bondservant of God. Understand that to be a bondservant is to voluntarily become a slave to your Master. Be willing to submit yourself to Jesus as Lord and Master of your entire life. Devote your whole life to Him and follow Him.
Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. Worship God, who promised us eternal life even before time began. Place your hope confidently in His promise, for He cannot lie. He is trustworthy.
Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Worship Jesus; give Him all of your devotion and love. Know that Jesus expresses God's kindness and love toward us.
We can't be bondservant to work, to relationships, to idols, or to habits. We have no other choice than be a slave to God. Everything else falls short in comparison to the perfect will of God.
AMEN
TRUTH
Complete surrender of our lives to Jesus frees us to love Him and devote ourselves to God wholly. This is the meaning of "bondservant." When we love God unreservedly, our devotional lives are set ablaze with the fire of God. The Holy Spirit is free to mold and shape us and use us beyond what we thought possible. Devote yourself to God afresh today. Give Him all of you; do not withhold anything from Him. Give yourself to your Master as a bondservant of God.
ACTION
Titus 1:1 Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness. Be a bondservant of God. Understand that to be a bondservant is to voluntarily become a slave to your Master. Be willing to submit yourself to Jesus as Lord and Master of your entire life. Devote your whole life to Him and follow Him.
Titus 1:2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. Worship God, who promised us eternal life even before time began. Place your hope confidently in His promise, for He cannot lie. He is trustworthy.
Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Worship Jesus; give Him all of your devotion and love. Know that Jesus expresses God's kindness and love toward us.
We can't be bondservant to work, to relationships, to idols, or to habits. We have no other choice than be a slave to God. Everything else falls short in comparison to the perfect will of God.
AMEN
Sunday, May 16, 2010
2 Thessalonians
We are in a time of great hardship and persecution. Most who know the Word of God say we are in the end times. There is great darkness and many believers have been desensitized to the world around them. Especially, in the area of electronics, communication, and information. We have been inundated with so much smut on TV, we fail to see how much damage this is causing the Brethren. Sex and violence is the norm and we continue to watch even though God is very clear on sex and killing.
The enemy has sneaked in to our world and has keep us so consumed with information and technology that we can not properly study God's Word to know what is right and what is wrong. We give hours to computers, cell phones, texting and not even a few minutes to God. Someone once said "We give part of Sunday to God and the rest of the week to Satan.
God's wants us to stand strong but with that comes great persecution.
TRUTH
GROWING IN GODLINESS: Jesus warned us that in this world we would experience persecution (John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”) The Apostle Paul tells us that we are to endure these trials with faith and patience, knowing that it is for the kingdom of God that we suffer. We are also to intercede and pray for other believers and look expectantly for the return and vindication of Jesus Christ.
ACTION
2 Thessalonians 1:4-8 Endure persecution with faith and patience. Be willing to face persecution, knowing that your suffering is for the kingdom of God. Know that God will punish those who persecute you.
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 Follow Paul's example of prayer and intercession for those being persecuted in the church. Pray that they would fulfill all of the good purposes of God for them and that Jesus would be glorified through them.
My prayer for you all is to stand strong in the Lord and have a warriors heart like Jehu who did not deviate from what he was called to when he destroyed the house of Ahab (2 Kings 9).
AMEN!
The enemy has sneaked in to our world and has keep us so consumed with information and technology that we can not properly study God's Word to know what is right and what is wrong. We give hours to computers, cell phones, texting and not even a few minutes to God. Someone once said "We give part of Sunday to God and the rest of the week to Satan.
God's wants us to stand strong but with that comes great persecution.
TRUTH
GROWING IN GODLINESS: Jesus warned us that in this world we would experience persecution (John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”) The Apostle Paul tells us that we are to endure these trials with faith and patience, knowing that it is for the kingdom of God that we suffer. We are also to intercede and pray for other believers and look expectantly for the return and vindication of Jesus Christ.
ACTION
2 Thessalonians 1:4-8 Endure persecution with faith and patience. Be willing to face persecution, knowing that your suffering is for the kingdom of God. Know that God will punish those who persecute you.
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 Follow Paul's example of prayer and intercession for those being persecuted in the church. Pray that they would fulfill all of the good purposes of God for them and that Jesus would be glorified through them.
My prayer for you all is to stand strong in the Lord and have a warriors heart like Jehu who did not deviate from what he was called to when he destroyed the house of Ahab (2 Kings 9).
AMEN!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
The Greatest Gift
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Let Love Come Alive, CALL TO UNITY
All non-biblical literary efforts to define love fall silent before the apostle Paul's amazing hymn of love. It is a description of Christ and the love He enables in us when He comes to indwell us.
This passage will come alive if you read it three ways: 1)read it as Paul wrote it; 2)put the word "Christ" in place of the word "love" and read it again. 3)read the passage also as a prayer for your own life, that the virtues of love will be manifested in you. The miracle of Christ's indwelling power is that the love He revealed is exactly the love He will communicate to others through us. When this quality of love is the basis of a relationship, the miracle of unity is possible.
If we had love we would not need commandments. We would not have to repent. We would not offend anyone. Nor would we be offended. We would not be unrighteous. We would forgive. We would love those who come against us. If we had true love, the love Jesus Christ has for us, we would not sin.
I shared this with a few of my co-workers and I was surprised at the feedback on how it hit home with them. It surely has affected how I need to express my love to all that come across my path.
Blessings, Tony
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Let Love Come Alive, CALL TO UNITY
All non-biblical literary efforts to define love fall silent before the apostle Paul's amazing hymn of love. It is a description of Christ and the love He enables in us when He comes to indwell us.
This passage will come alive if you read it three ways: 1)read it as Paul wrote it; 2)put the word "Christ" in place of the word "love" and read it again. 3)read the passage also as a prayer for your own life, that the virtues of love will be manifested in you. The miracle of Christ's indwelling power is that the love He revealed is exactly the love He will communicate to others through us. When this quality of love is the basis of a relationship, the miracle of unity is possible.
If we had love we would not need commandments. We would not have to repent. We would not offend anyone. Nor would we be offended. We would not be unrighteous. We would forgive. We would love those who come against us. If we had true love, the love Jesus Christ has for us, we would not sin.
I shared this with a few of my co-workers and I was surprised at the feedback on how it hit home with them. It surely has affected how I need to express my love to all that come across my path.
Blessings, Tony
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