Jesus
said: “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat,
and the body than raiment?” (Matt 6:25; KJV). The Apostle Peter told us to cast
every care on Jesus as Jesus loves us (1 Peter 5:7); that includes every care!
In
Matthew chapter 6, Jesus illustrated God’s ability to care for us and to meet
our need. Jesus said why would you worry? Look how God feeds the birds. They don’t
even farm; God feeds them. Look at the flowers in summer time. Not even Solomon
with all his wealth and resources could get clothes to match the beauty of a
flower garden.
In
Philippians Chapter 4 and verse 19 Paul said: “But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”. Notice that God
supplies all of your need according to his resources. It gets even better, Paul
told us that God can do more that we can think or ask (Eph 3:20). Again, in our
main passage from Mathews Gospel above, Jesus said that if we seek God and walk
in obedience to him, then: “all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt
6:33). Now that’s good news, not something to worry about.
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others.
“And
when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and
his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed
them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp" (Num 11:1; NKJ).
Do
you ever get the impression that God doesn’t like complaining? When we complain
it is like telling God that we are not happy with what he is doing in our
lives. Don’t worry you are not alone, we are all guilty of complaining. I
wonder how many times I have complained about the weather. Well, God’s word has
some instructions for us in Philippians 2:14: "Do all things without murmurings
and disputings". That’s pretty straight forward.
Complaining
is making a negative confession, so next time you are tempted to complain
remember to count your blessings instead and thank God for all the good things
that are going on in your life. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess 5:18). We need to determine to have
thankful hearts and bring our concerns to God and let his peace fill our minds
(Phil 4: 6-7), instead of the grumbling.
None
of us have got this perfect yet; we are all works in progress and fortunately
God is very patient with us.
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book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and
also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to
others.
We
are commanded to praise God (Ps 150). We praise him for what he does for us but
more especially, for who he is: God above all gods, King of Kings and Lord of
Lords, mighty God and our creator. His love never fails and his mercy endures
forever.
If
you look at the Greek and Hebrew words for praise, we are told to praise him
with our voices (Ps 149) and uplifted hands (Ps 63:4), to rejoice with
exuberance and to make a very loud noise (Ezra 3:11). In Psalm 150 we read that:
"everything that hath breath" should praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6; KJV).
We should praise God using all kinds of musical instruments and also with the
dance (Ps 149). God says he takes pleasure in his people of praise (Ps 149).
Our
praise should perhaps take a cue from God's expression of joy over us as given
in Zephaniah 3:17. Here it says he rejoices over us with joy, love and singing;
He dances and spins for joy with an indescribable intensity. Praise comes from
the heart (John 4:23). We should praise God at all times and in all
circumstances (Ps 34:1). There is power in praise because God is enthroned in the
praises of his people (Ps 22:3). There is power to break every bondage that
holds us, power to lift us up and open doors to set us free (Acts 16:25-26).
If
you are down today, then praise God and he will lift you up.
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book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and
also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to
others.
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt.
28:18; KJV). In Luke 10:19 the apostle records that Jesus gave us power over
all the power of the enemy (satan). Again, in Matthew 10:1,8, we read that
Jesus gave us power to cast out evil spirits and to heal the sick. The Greek
word for power, used in our examples above, is exousia, which means authority.
Jesus has given us authority over all the works of darkness; let that sink in!
Because
of his death and resurrection Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth. Jesus
utterly defeated satan and all his minions; he stripped them of all power and authority
(Col 2:15). As Christians, Christ dwells in us (John 17:23) and we share in his
authority.
The
Bible also tells us that the devil is beneath the feet of Jesus (Eph. 1:20-23)
and again, because of our relationship with Christ, the devil is under our feet
too. No wonder the Bible says: “greater
is he that is in you, then he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Make
sure you go and use the power that God has given you today to share the gospel
and undo the works of the devil; at work, at school, at home, or wherever you
find yourself. If God has given you power, he will show you how and when to use
it.
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pass this on. All rights reserved.
Check out our web site ( www.onthewayinlove.com ) for information on our
book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and
also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to
others.
"For
in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision;
but faith which worketh by love" (Gal. 5:6; KJV) The Greek word for faith
is pistis which means trusting totally in God and all that he says. The Greek
word for love is agape which refers to unselfish, unconditional, love that doesn’t
look for any reward and in fact, tries to do everything it can for the object of
that love.
Agape
is the result of a decision. In other words, in the verse above, the apostle Paul
was writing that we cannot expect our faith to work if we are not developing
our love walk. A good way to check up on your love level is to read 1 Corinthians
13:4-8 and see if there are any areas where you might be missing it.
Here
is our quick summary: Love is never jealous but is patient and kind. Love doesn’t
show off and is never rude, disrespectful or selfish. Love shuns evil but
revels in the truth. Love doesn’t have a short fuse but believes the best of
people, stands fast in trying situations, hoping and believing for God’s best
for people and in all situations.
Spending
time studying the subject of love in God's word will also bring us more
revelation on the subject and facilitate our faith. But remember that after the study we must use
our faith to demonstrate our love. Love must be put it into practice. If you
are like us, I am sure you have lots of opportunities to do that every day.