Praying hearts

May we have praying hearts.

Prayer is its own answer to faith: you ask God because you know He answers, so you ask some more.

And if you don’t believe He answers, you don’t ask.

Incongruent

Can you imagine how incongruent it would be for someone to say they love and accept you as a friend, but don’t believe the things you say, or don’t even want to hear what you say?

 

Then, apply this to God and His word.

Backsliders

If a regenerated person backslides, the indwelling Holy Spirit is grieved, but He doesn’t leave, for if He leaves He will never come back and cannot come back. If you have back-slidden, and you believe this, that you have grieved the Holy Spirit and yet He has not left you, and, in fact, His grief registering within you is a proof He is still there inside you, then return to Jesus in repentance, with great thankfulness for His grace and mercy.

The Left

“The Left accepts no laws other than those dictated by its ideology.”
~ Daniel Greenfield

Cling to Him

“Choose to love the Lord your God and to obey Him and to cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days...”       (Deut. 30:20a)

Cling to Him.

He is your life.

A beautiful life

Luther could have had a beautiful, hassle free life had he decided not to nail his 95 thesis to the door.

Healing and the Atonement

A comment i made on FB: Healing must not be placed as equal with forgiveness of sin in the Atonement, and this is a common error these days. The Atonement deals with sin, not sickness. It’s obvious, otherwise our bodies would never die, we would keep on living, there could be no organ failure if this was dealt with by the Atonement. Also, if sickness was taken away in the Atonement then it would be a sin to get sick, even catching a cold would be sin, for it would mean you don’t believe in the Atonement. This doesn’t negate the fact that Jesus still heals today, and God’s general will is we be healthy.

 

The fact that Jesus healed multitudes BEFORE He made Atonement for our sins is an indication that physical healing is something separate from the Atonement.

Unbelief

“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” (Hebrews 3:12)

 

Unbelief is the opposite of faith. It’s presented here as something tangible, and not just the absence of faith. And if there is an “evil heart of unbelief” it means that evil is defined as unbelief, meaning that unbelief is defined in moral terms, it’s not something morally neutral, it’s immoral to not believe or trust God, it’s a moral issue, which people will be judged for.

 
So, we are warned to take heed lest there be any unbelief in our hearts, and we begin to justify departing from God, and lose sight of the fact that unbelief is evil, the product of an evil heart.

Life

These days I’m fascinated to contemplate the life which is in living creatures. I suppose that if we could analyze and define what that life is then we would be able to create it, therefore,  only the Creator of life really knows what life is,  it remains a glorious mystery from our glorious God, the life-giver, and a perpetual source of awe, wonder and joy in Him.

Man can no more define what the life force is in creatures any more than he can understand what a spirit is.

Lens

When people try to see or understand God thru any other lens than Scripture they see a god of their imagination.

The ball in our court

Jesus said:

“If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority.”

And, paraphrased:

“If any of you really determines to do God’s will, then you will certainly know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.”

(John 7:17)

He is hitting the ball back into our court.

What hinders us praying

The two forces which hinder us from praying are us (our flesh) and the demonic realm.

The call of the hour

“Then he [Elisha] picked up Elijah’s coat and returned to the bank of the Jordan River, and struck the water with it.

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‘Where is the Lord God of Elijah?‘ he cried out.

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And the water parted and Elisha went across!” (2 Kings 2:13-14)

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This is the call of the hour.

Hiding

You only need to fear the cops and hide from them if you’re guilty, and you only need to hide from God if you’re guilty.

 

If you’re guilty, be afraid, be very afraid, but look to Jesus and be saved.

Wind beneath our wings

When others are praying for us it’s like the wind beneath our wings.

Holiness

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)

So, we take it from the Lord’s own mouth that if we turn back from living a holy life we will not see the Lord.

Of course, scripture says much about this issue, and yet this text stands on its own merits.

This will only become an issue for those contemplating an alternative to holiness.

Seeking Him

If we don’t seek the Lord with all our heart we miss out on so much – we miss so much of Him, and the things He shares with His close friends.

It may help to consider that Biblically “seeking” God, for those IN Christ, is more waiting on God who is always present, and it’s not trying to find Him.

 

Perspective

A little perspective: With no disrespect to President Trump, there’s thousands of men who could do a better job, and he’s possibly aware of this. It’s just the way the world is. And, likewise, in the religious world, there are also thousands of ordinary, unknown people who understand and know the Lord Jesus and the Bible better than the celebrated ones, that’s just the way it is. It’s good to have perspective.

Unity

Compare these two truths:
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3)

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” (Romans 16:17-18)

True unity always means, not only forbearing one another in love, but marking and avoiding those who serve themselves.

False unity is all inclusive of anyone and anything which claims to be Christian.

True unity discerns the body of Christ, as per the above scriptures.

Unlearned and immature Christians are often outraged when you mark and avoid false teachers and leaders.

The Liberal trend is toward an all inclusive false unity.

Do not “include” in your inclusiveness “Christians” whom the Apostles exhorted us to mark and avoid.

And on the other hand, do not make fleshly judgments, marking and avoiding those with whom you should forbear and keep the unity of the Spirit.

If you are in any way attracted to the religion industry or business then you will have to ignore this, it won’t “work” for you.

This reality is not easy to “walk out” in real life, yet there’s no way to avoid facing this reality.

Important meeting

The most important meeting you will have today is with God.