"For
I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me" (Acts 27:25; KJV).
This was Paul speaking to the sailors on a ship that was caught in a huge
storm. An angel from God had spoken to him and told him they would all make it
safely to their destination. In Luke chapter 1 (verse 38) we have the account
of the angel who appeared to Mary and announced that she would give birth to
the Messiah. She also believed God’s word and said to the angel: "be it unto
me according to thy word."
We
know that Abraham was also someone who took God at his word. In Romans 4:21 we
are told that Abraham was: "fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he
was able also to perform".
Then
in Luke 7:7 we read about a roman centurion who had a servant that needed
healing. Jesus offered to go to his house to heal the man but the centurion
said to him: "but say in a word, and my servant shll be healed" and
he was. As you can see from all these examples there is great power in the word
of God that is believed and acted on in faith.
Take
God at his word today, believe it, speak it over your situation and watch God
turn things around for you. “Nevertheless when the son of man cometh, shall he
find faith on the earth” (Luke 18:8)?
Hand
this along to someone. All right 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.
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord
of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a
blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Mal 3:10; KJV).
Wow, that sounds good to me. God goes on to say in that passage from Malachi,
that he will prevent satan from stealing his (God’s) blessings from us and
people will see how blessed we are (Mal 3:11-12).
So
often we limit God in our lives and this is the only place and context in the word
where God says: “prove me”. However, there is a condition that we remember
first to tithe to God. You might say well, that was Old Testament, under the
law and does not apply to us today. The whole bible was put together under Gods
direction to speak to us all today as Christians. (2 Tim 3:16) Nowhere does it
say that tithing was ever done away with by God. Jesus said he did not come to
destroy the law but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17-19).
Abraham
and Jacob tithed before the law was given (Gen 14:18-20; Gen 28:22). Abraham
tithed to the king and priest Melchizedek (Gen 14:18-20) and we are told that
Jesus is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek (Heb 7:17). Jesus even
commended the Pharisees for tithing; giving no indication that this practice
should cease (Matt 23:23). Tithing was given by God to his people that they would fear him ( honor, respect and revere) (Deut 14:23), not as an onerous regulation. When we comply:
my,my,my, the blessings abound.
Send
this to a friend. 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.
“And they come unto thee as the people cometh,
and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will
not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after
their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that
hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy
words, but they do them not” (Ezek 33:31-32; KJV).
I
love how the word of God gets right to the basic issues of life. How often we
ask ourselves, why am I not growing in my walk with God as I would like to, why
don’t I experience God as I should?
Are
we like the people God spoke about to Ezekiel? Do we hear and read God's word
and enjoy it but don’t do it, don’t allow it to change us but go about doing
our own thing? As we hear and read God's word, we need to ask ourselves, what
does this word say to me, what does it mean, what is God trying to tell me?
The
parable of the sower shows us so clearly how satan can steal the word from us
or prevent it from bearing fruit in our lives through the pressures and
busyness of life (Matt 13:3-9; 18-23). The word has the power (Heb 4:12; James
1:21) to change us, to bring good fruit into our lives (Matt 13:23; Gal 5:22-23)
and make us doers of the word. (James 1:22) We just need to prayerfully apply
ourselves to read, study and meditate it. (1 Tim 4:13;15).
We
need to ask the Holy Spirit to show us what God is saying to us in his word, to
open his word to us (John 14:26). Then we will not need to tell people we are
Christians, they will see it in our lives (1 Tim 4:15).
Pass
this on to a friend. 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.
Do
you have children that have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior or who
have turned away from God? Nothing can be more heartbreaking than raising your
children in a Christian home but then see them rebel against what they were
taught. However, it does not have to be that way forever, because God has some
promises concerning our children.
In Isaiah
43:6 (KJV) it says: "I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south,
Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the
earth." Isaiah 60:4 is a very similar verse. If God did this for his children,
the people of Israel, he can bring our children back into fellowship with him.
In
the New Testament Paul and Silas told the prison jailer that he could be saved
along with his whole household. (Acts 16:31). In Proverbs 22:6 it is written: “Train
up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from
it”. These are all promises that we can stand on; but
this requires faith as well as patience and much prayer.
We
know that the promises of God are: "yea, and in him A’-men" (2 Cor.
1:20). God is faithful to his word. In Isaiah 59:21 we are told that God's
words’ will not leave our mouths nor of the mouths of our descendants or our
descendants’ descendants. Now that's a promise.
Please
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.
Have
things come against you? People? Problems? Pressures? Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego were thrown into a furnace so hot that the guards who threw them in
were killed by the heat (Dan 3). The 3 were thrown in the fire because they
refused to worship the image of King Nebuchadnezzar. When in the 3 were in the
furnace, the King noticed a fourth person: "like the Son of God" (Dan
3:25). Jesus was in the fire and delivered them.
Paul
described the tribulations, persecution and afflictions that came against him
as he obeyed God in ministry (1 Cor 11:24-28; 2 Tim 3:11-12). He was beaten
stoned, hungry, tired and threatened by angry crowds and robbers. However, Paul
said triumphantly that God delivered him every time.
Jesus
said we would have challenges in this life but he also said not to worry
because he is victorious over everything that can come against us. (John 16:33).
Jesus was in a boat with his disciples when a fierce storm arose. The disciples
woke him up in a panic: “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the
sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark
4:39). Isn't it wonderful to know that
when the storms of life come against us, we have Jesus in our boat (Mark
4:35-40)?
Been
in the fire lately?
Please
pass this on. All right 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.